How do you make your blend?

[MM154]

Wouldn't mind dipping my toe in the water and try to roll my own cigars. My only hold up is I wouldn't know how much of each leaf to add to the binder and filler to get a cigar I would like smoking. How have the rollers in here determined the amount of each to add? Was there a trial and error process to get to an end result that you really enjoyed?

I know there are kits you can buy and I would assume they give you a certain flavor profile at the end, maybe even instructions included on how much of each to add?

Thanks

 

[Marc L]

Your almost there. All you need to do is decide to try it. There is a learning curve. Most of your query can be sensed through these threads in this sub-forum and, there are some other rolling forums as well. In short I'll say that if you have the will it will come your way. but yes, there is a trial and error process. you may be a natural.

 

[Jim D]

Blending Thread

Hey everyone, Figured I would start a thread dedicated to creating and developing blends which would be helpful for all of us home rollers First, let's start with the basics. There are an endless variety of tobacco plant breeds and locations these tobaccos are grown. For example Nicaraguan...

www.botl.org

There are 519 pages of how we've come to our blends....
Some are productive, some show what didn't work, and some are in between.

For me, I stick to 2 or 3 filler leaves in a cigar. Typically 1 seco and 1 ligero, or 1 seco, 1 viso, 1 ligero....

Recently, I even just used 1 viso and 1 ligero for fillers...bound with a seco.

I've gone with just 2 visos (corojo visos)

I think after you find what you like, you start making small adjustments and tweaks to have fun. You just have to get started and the rest will fall in place.

 

[MM154]

Blending Thread

Hey everyone, Figured I would start a thread dedicated to creating and developing blends which would be helpful for all of us home rollers First, let's start with the basics. There are an endless variety of tobacco plant breeds and locations these tobaccos are grown. For example Nicaraguan...

www.botl.org

There are 519 pages of how we've come to our blends....
Some are productive, some show what didn't work, and some are in between.

For me, I stick to 2 or 3 filler leaves in a cigar. Typically 1 seco and 1 ligero, or 1 seco, 1 viso, 1 ligero....

Recently, I even just used 1 viso and 1 ligero for fillers...bound with a seco.

I've gone with just 2 visos (corojo visos)

I think after you find what you like, you start making small adjustments and tweaks to have fun. You just have to get started and the rest will fall in place.

Thanks! The first post helps a lot, especially with how many leaves you need to achieve the ring gauge your looking for.

Down the rabbit hole I go!

 

[MM154]

Well it looks like i got my nuts kicked in.

Now that I have all this leaf, I need to figure out what I need to mix together to make a stick I will enjoy.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

[Southpaw]

Lol! That should do it! I'm sure you have surmised notes in one fashion or another are going to be key to producing the cigars you love.
I was all thrust and no vector the first week and have a pile of cigars that I can only guess at the blend. So sad...... I think I'll grab a cup of coffee and burn a mystery stick to console myself.

 

[blisscigarco]

Well it looks like i got my nuts kicked in.

Now that I have all this leaf, I need to figure out what I need to mix together to make a stick I will enjoy.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!View attachment 166157View attachment 166158View attachment 166159View attachment 166160View attachment 166161

Just slap something into that Los Rios wrapper and pray. Buen suerte!

 

[webmost]

The rolling is so much easier than the blending. For one thing, an ugly stick can taste good; but an ugly blend, who cares what it looks like. For another thing, you can describe shapes and textures; but who the hell can describe tastes? So it takes experience before you can imagine: "If I put this with that, would it work out?" Even after years, I can spend weeks trying to come up with the next blend worth stashing. Or else, like today, I hit a home run first pitch.

Here's what I would counsel:

1) KISS. You have a couple dozen kinds of leaf there... use two. If you load in too many, then you can't tell what affected what.

2) Set an artsy mood in your mind before you begin. Really. I usually make the band before the blend, for instance. I set down with some Bach and my budgie. I look at the paintings hanging from the knotty pine paneled walls, and the mural on the wall behind. I admire my Deejo. I set the rolling station out tidy. I brush my teeth. Only then do I start smelling bags of leaf. Do not discount your mood. Tell me no matter who is good at no matter what art without first setting his mood. Any good performance requires mental prep. A good anejo rum with a good gar helps too.

For example, with Thanksgiving coming up, imagine a turkey smelling up the kitchen, guests smelling up the couch, them stinking Cowpunks smelling up the gridiron. Make yourself a turkey band. Then devise a blend as wholesome and rich as turkey stuffing with gravy yum. Don't care if it makes sense, long as it works.

3) Never let yourself convince yourself that just because you made it it must be good.

 

[webmost]

Today's home run comes courtesy of Charlie, who gifted me his ample stash. Among the items he loaded on me were three primings of Piloto and Sumatra wrapper & binder. The binder is unusable, cause the leaves are tiny and fragile. So I'm using the wrapper as binder. Of the three primings of Piloto, the seco leaves are about the size of Izmir. One of my bidges about LeafOnly is I don't think they always label their leafs what they are. So two leaves of the seco don't equal one of the viso, and the ligero is even larger. Anyhoo, I blent two seco and one viso with one ligero, wrapped and bound in Sumatra wrapper. Sacre vache, quel delicieux! I'm going to stash fifty or sixty of these gems.

Just so you know I wasn't making it up about band before blend, here's the band:





... cause I did at least hope it would be all about Piloto.

 

[blisscigarco]

Today's home run comes courtesy of Charlie, who gifted me his ample stash. Among the items he loaded on me were three primings of Piloto and Sumatra wrapper & binder. The binder is unusable, cause the leaves are tiny and fragile. So I'm using the wrapper as binder. Of the three primings of Piloto, the seco leaves are about the size of Izmir. One of my bidges about LeafOnly is I don't think they always label their leafs what they are. So two leaves of the seco don't equal one of the viso, and the ligero is even larger. Anyhoo, I blent two seco and one viso with one ligero, wrapped and bound in Sumatra wrapper. Sacre vache, quel delicieux! I'm going to stash fifty or sixty of these gems.

Just so you know I wasn't making it up about band before blend, here's the band:

View attachment 166300



... cause I did at least hope it would be all about Piloto.

That's pretty much all I smoke the last year or so. My wrapper's Ecuador Sumatra, binder's Habano, all filler is various Piloto. The Piloto "seco" I buy is a mixed bag. I don't even need to buy the ligero anymore since there's plenty of that in the "seco." I literally have three bags of leaf ("wrapper," "binder," "seco") for all my blends now, and they're the best they've ever been for me. I see these people with their 57 varieties, and I'm like, Whatever dude, good luck with that.