I had a strange situation occur this weekend that I'd like to get some opinions on. I shared a home roll with a friend. Since I have not yet wrapped or capped my sticks, I've taken to adding a band of different colored tobacco at the head to indicate which end the fire gets applied to. Friend grasped the stick with the wrong end facing the match. I gently pointed out the band and suggested he turn it around. Then we both got distracted with other conversations and I was horrified to turn back to see him merrily drawing on the foot. I reminded him that he lit the wrong end and suggested he set it aside. He replied, naw, I'll, just go with it. I watched him smoke the entire stick, down to maybe 2 inches. Every draw I was expecting the whole bunch to dissolve into a flaming mass. It didn't. It held together, even after the burn line was well past the head glue. Is this typical? is there a sticky substance in the tobacco leaf that is released when the binder is cased? Have I found magic tobacco leaf? Or did I just get very lucky?
Is cigar glue even necessary?
- Thread starter ras_oscar
- Start date
Glue to stick.stick to glue.....
er.... toasting the edges? is that a thing? I have never seen that done in any of the videos I have watched. Please elaborate.
I recently purchased a wallpaper seam roller and last night used it to flatten the thicker seams in the binder. When I pressed firmly I noticed the leaf slightly stick to the board, and at the end of the session there were copious yellow stains on the roller wheel. Perhaps tobacco juice serves as a glue substitute?
yes
What I mean is when lighting a cigar, we toast the edges first to assist in an even burn. maybe it's just me.. www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmBeg5YLpns
In a sense I guess. I can't say I have seen or heard of glue made from tobacco being used myself. It does get sticky for sure.
I theorized the opposite before thinking it had a rope like clinging affect to it.
when I posed the question to stogie fresh if there was a preferred methodology ether way, he relayed from his master roller that there was not.
Having then taking notice, searching, watching and, in practice found that there are the benefits to rolling in the same direction.
Mario and Yanko did confirm this to my satisfaction. not so much if we use glue when binding but, still recommended. try both when you go to wrap them and you will see.
btw, I can tell you are a good study using the term doll. another standard not used. impressed I am.
I actually molded it 2 days. Turned it 90 degrees after the first day as a pro forma., since the marks were very slight. Also, I'm using a plastic mold so there is likely less moisture pulled out than with a wood form.
Oh, I see. Yes, That's also how I light a cigar.
Dominican56
CRA #99997657
Rolling the same direction:
When I bunch I know where the foot and head are. I roll the foot first. The direction of roll (for me) is dictated by the direction of the veins in the binder leaf. I try to keep them all going right down the length of the stick with binder and wrapper.
I glue the binder a tad on the head, simply because my wrapper rolling may go one direction or the other, either with or against the binder roll.
If I were super organised, which I'm not, I would coordinate the binder half leaf with the wrapper half leaf so everyone rolls the same direction.
Doing that would be much too much a pain in the ass, so I dab a bit of glue on the binder. It's just easier for me that way. Necessary, probably not, but it makes life a lot easier for me.
I'm learning that there are multiple ways of "skinnin' the cat," so to speak.
I'll take the easy way.
When I bunch I know where the foot and head are. I roll the foot first. The direction of roll (for me) is dictated by the direction of the veins in the binder leaf. I try to keep them all going right down the length of the stick with binder and wrapper.
I glue the binder a tad on the head, simply because my wrapper rolling may go one direction or the other, either with or against the binder roll.
If I were super organised, which I'm not, I would coordinate the binder half leaf with the wrapper half leaf so everyone rolls the same direction.
Doing that would be much too much a pain in the ass, so I dab a bit of glue on the binder. It's just easier for me that way. Necessary, probably not, but it makes life a lot easier for me.
I'm learning that there are multiple ways of "skinnin' the cat," so to speak.
I'll take the easy way.
I do that as well. When I was smoking wrapper only I glued the head for obvious reasons.
That makes sense. When I roll a stick, after the binder is applied I will continue to roll it between my hands and the board before applying the glue to verify there are no soft spots. I believe it also tightens up the roll. I have been rolling both left handed and right handed to ensure I can use both halves of each leaf. Also matching the direction of the binder roll complicates things a bit. I'm trying to visualize a situation where I could not use a particular leaf half on a particular stick. My head is beginning to hurt.
I do like to keep things organized left and right. even when loading the mold. I've been trying to shoot for having no leaf left when I do a batch. I think I could pull it off but, it seems that I'll always have left overs. I think I'm doing it on purpose. It does keep me looking to the next batch.
Last half dozen batches, I've gotten so organized it's sick --- and it turns out to be way more convenient. Last batch, for example, I pulled out ten Mata & ten piloto, & stripped the stems. Then stacked two halves of each in a big bag. It's so easy. You pull the big bag out of storage, yank out what you'll need, stuff the rest of the stack back in the bag, and the bag back in storage. What's the big deal? So much easier than continually accessing the storage bag. And way easier on the leaves, too. Next, turned to my binders, pulled out five leaves, split 'em, stacked five right hand halves on the right & five on the left in another bag, with a little spritz, so they'd spread out flatter when needed. Pulled out five wrapper leaves, gave 'em a big spritz, split 'em, likewise five lefts here & five right halves there. Now I was ready to set to work. Bing, bang, boom, ten bunched quick as a wink, cause I wasn't continually fetching one of this & one of that & shoving the rest of the stack back in it's bag. The five bunched in right hand half leaves went into... wait for it.... yep, into the right hand of the mold. The bunches wrapped in left hand binder leaves went, of all places, in the left hand half of the mold. By now, my wrappers were ready for their first stretching & flattening. Three or four hours later, wrapped 'em. Lefties on lefties; righties on righties, all easy to find. It's just a snap to do.
It's just no chore at all to wrap the left bound bunches with left hand wrappers. If you inspect your store bought sticks, wherever you can discern the binder veins below the wrapper leaf, guess which way they go. Yepper.
Since you're so darned organized and efficient, how do you get your wrapper to lay flat? The you tube videos show spraying the rolling board and kinda sticking it down. My leaves were nowhere near floppy enough to do that. I ended up kinda stretching the leaf at the bottom, then holding it while I cut the display edge ( I just made that term up, do you like it?) in segments, which makes a less than perfect edge. To my credit I have never torn a leaf, so perhaps I'm not casing the leaf wet enough, or stretching it tight enough? I have considered somehow pinning it to a flat surface after initial casing but I'm afraid the leaf would tear, and I'd need a whole lotta board space within a humid environment.
I prepared my wrapper by first stemming 5 leaves and then stacking them all veins up. Hadn't thought about stacking as lefts and rights, but that's a good idea.
Also, Do you prepare your binder in a method similar to the wrapper?
I prepared my wrapper by first stemming 5 leaves and then stacking them all veins up. Hadn't thought about stacking as lefts and rights, but that's a good idea.
Also, Do you prepare your binder in a method similar to the wrapper?
Sticking the wrapper to the board is for the thickest leaves which can tolerate the saturation. true maduro needs to be thicker to take the extra fermentation it takes. notice those wrappers are all dark. Those wrappers are fully stretch out. the dolls just get rolled straight up with out any further stretching. I will save final stretch for application because, there is a degree of lack of memory. binder and wrappers are done the same but, what will determine how much is the thickness. for me, more time for absorption is the best investment. if I spray the leaf directly, I'll shake out or, rub out the access. I'll use tubs and spray the inside of the lid. de-veining comes right before application.
Look: That youtube vid where I lay a drenched wrap on a wet tile and press it out with a board --- No one seems to notice that vid is expressly for a first time roller. It's not THE way to do it. It's not THE way I do it. It is simply A way to do it ... specifically aimed at showing how a beginner can succeed in twenty minutes. It's an EASY way to do it.
What I do now is, I bind my bunches, stick 'em in a mold, & spritz some wrapper. See, I'm using some ultra dry, ultra delicate CT shade leaves I scored from FX Smith's Sons... so they do have to get spritzed or you'd tear them up just trying to unfold them. So I spritz them & stick 'em in a bag. If I were using, say, LO Ecuador Seco Shade, then I would skip this step. Bout half an hour later, step two, I can spread them out & split the halves off & spread again. Maybe another spritz if they need, then back in the bag. I have an extra wide bag for this, by the way. Three or four hours in the mold is enough. By now the wrap is plenty damp enough. No wet surface, cause they stretch out on the rolling tabla nice enough. Wrap 'em up.
As I go forward, I wet less and less. I used to use a tile surface. No more. I used to wet the surface. No more. Prep the leaves, stretch 'em out, and get busy.
A third hand really helps when cutting your neat edge, just as it does for binding. Get yourself a good paperweight and try it.
Dominican56
CRA #99997657
I've been getting more organized, too.
For binder and wrapper I'll get them at pretty high case so I can smooth them out and remove the center stem. I'll work the leaf quite a bit to get it to be as wrinkle free as I can before removing the stem. I'll usually trim the wrapper outer edge while I'm at it. By the time I'm done with the pound of leaf most are reduced to a lower case for storing. If not, I let 'em dry out a bit before putting them into storage.
I'll fold the half leaves over in a stack (when they are dry enough to store) and place the leaf halves in a bag or tub. On the outside of the bag I'll write the name of leaf so it's easy to find when I need it.
Tubs have a similar label on the top and the sides so I don't get lids placed on the wrong tub.
It takes me an evening to do a pound or two but it pays off when it's time to roll. It's actually rewarding handling leaf so I don't mind at all. My goal is to have all of my leaf in a plastic bin even if they aren't really air tight. At present, I've got about 10 of the 1.5 gallon flat tubs with leaf in them. So far, it's working OK.
For binder and wrapper I'll get them at pretty high case so I can smooth them out and remove the center stem. I'll work the leaf quite a bit to get it to be as wrinkle free as I can before removing the stem. I'll usually trim the wrapper outer edge while I'm at it. By the time I'm done with the pound of leaf most are reduced to a lower case for storing. If not, I let 'em dry out a bit before putting them into storage.
I'll fold the half leaves over in a stack (when they are dry enough to store) and place the leaf halves in a bag or tub. On the outside of the bag I'll write the name of leaf so it's easy to find when I need it.
Tubs have a similar label on the top and the sides so I don't get lids placed on the wrong tub.
It takes me an evening to do a pound or two but it pays off when it's time to roll. It's actually rewarding handling leaf so I don't mind at all. My goal is to have all of my leaf in a plastic bin even if they aren't really air tight. At present, I've got about 10 of the 1.5 gallon flat tubs with leaf in them. So far, it's working OK.