Ever watch a pro roller's vid and think "That cheatin sumbidge! If I had a team of gals in back prep all my wraps so perfect all I had to do is reach one out & lay it down, Jesus! I could do as fast as him!" He unrolls one half leaf from a fat wad like a gangster peeling off a hundred to tip the stripper. BAM! lays it down flat as a pancake and gets to work.
Well, now YOU can TOO.
I went riding cross country. Gone a month. Two days later, rode to McSherrystown to catch up, cause I just had to ride some more. Brought these three items back ^ outta their gigantor FXSS basement fulla mysteries. The leaf is some flavor of Sumatran. It's not Bezuki, cause it doesn't have that toothy texture, nor is it green. Not the pale Sumatran we get from whosis. Not sure what. Smells good. I haven't played with it at all.... cause I got caught up with the other two items. That sleeve lower right contains fifty bunches labelled as 7"x50 rg Churchills. The bag above that contains eight wads of prepped wrappers, about 25 wraps to the wad; so about a hundred fifty wraps. I'm having a gas slapping the one on the other.
Story is, a guy wanted to send a torcedor to the cigar show to sit there and demo all day. Shipped out a huge stash of bunches and wrappers for FXSS to store until the day. Then it never happened, one reason or another. So for years and years, they've been settin there aging in the dungeon. Orphans in need of good homes. Orphans! You know, Vivaldi made his living under contract by a girl's orphanage to provide a concerto a week, week after week, for the little angels to play in Sunday afternoon concerts. The orphanage figured the best way for them to place these girls in good homes, centuries before radio or recordings were invented, remember, was to show them off a fiddling & a fluting, & luting lively tunes. Nothing to do with this topic, but it's my fave orphanage story, and the word "orphans" set me off. Just the mental pic of this stage full of charming sweethearts in white pinafores raising a cheery racket, & some old nobleman thinking "I wonder what else she can do with that emboucher," while his young wife thinks how to improve the entertainment at her next festa... it's a genius idea! Adopt that girl!
OK. Enough stream of consciousness. Point is, holy schidt, after all these years aging in the oubliette, this wrapper has become as lissome and limber as stone-washed silk on a rainy day. And the odor! My Gawd! If these leaves could grow titz I would marry them! There's about 25 per wad and a half dozen wads in a double-bagged bunch. I'm positive these are your best CT shade, from before the 2012 crop went small. These are the leaves FX used to buy in the good old days. A representative half leaf goes about 18" or 19", even after it's all stemmed and smoothed:
So thin that they are literally diaphanous, in that you can count your fingers on the other side of one:
... and yet, tho I have wrapped about 40 of these Churchills so far, I haven't busted or torn any of these wraps doing it. Plenty big for a Churchill. Plenty strong for an amateur.
Here's what I do: I have a two slot Churchill mold I got from Maks the Slovenian farmer. I place a pair of bunches in there, cause all the years bundled together tight up against one another has put them out of round. I spread a wad of 25 wraps in the leaf conditioner... a day is all it takes ... after that I keep them in one of Don's acrylic canisters... no spritzing at all at all. Do not spritz CT shade cause it gets spots if you do. I do cut an extra long flag, long enough to go like three times round the head, cause I like the head to be strong enough to chomp on when I smoke it. But even so, to wrap and flag and cap a pair of Churchills, less than 10 minutes by the clock:
Worst I can say, I'm having a challenge cutting the foot off clean. Maybe my blade needs sharped. Maybe it's just the stuff is delicate.
So here's my point: I'm going up there again early next month. Thinking I might score me a pile of bags of wads of wrappers. Thinking if anyone is interested, I'll grab some for you, too. No idea what they weigh. Imagine he prolly wants like $25 a bag. So I'll ask $35 to cover shipping. If you want some of those blanks, I'll score you however many sleeves, fifty bunches per sleeve. They actually smoke alright. Not moody enough for my taste; but good quality, nonetheless. A dry & woody mild flavor. Super easy draw. Let's say $30 per sleeve shipped. The worst I can say about these blanks, some have small stems that you need to pinch out if they come near the head. I don't worry about it ... I just live with the bump.
At the same time, I have gobs of leaf which I never use. I don't regret buying all this stuff -- that's the only way to find out what you like, you know. But now that I do know, I don't need to keep it. So anyone gives me your address, you know to expect lagniappe.
Tried one of these wadded CT shades on a quickie fecto, too, & now I'm trying to match a good blend for that:
But here's what I've mostly been doing, stealing time while catching up on work:
Let me know if you want in. I don't intend to stock up & become a leaf merchant; but I'll grab enough for myself and anyone who gives me a shout.
Well, now YOU can TOO.
I went riding cross country. Gone a month. Two days later, rode to McSherrystown to catch up, cause I just had to ride some more. Brought these three items back ^ outta their gigantor FXSS basement fulla mysteries. The leaf is some flavor of Sumatran. It's not Bezuki, cause it doesn't have that toothy texture, nor is it green. Not the pale Sumatran we get from whosis. Not sure what. Smells good. I haven't played with it at all.... cause I got caught up with the other two items. That sleeve lower right contains fifty bunches labelled as 7"x50 rg Churchills. The bag above that contains eight wads of prepped wrappers, about 25 wraps to the wad; so about a hundred fifty wraps. I'm having a gas slapping the one on the other.
Story is, a guy wanted to send a torcedor to the cigar show to sit there and demo all day. Shipped out a huge stash of bunches and wrappers for FXSS to store until the day. Then it never happened, one reason or another. So for years and years, they've been settin there aging in the dungeon. Orphans in need of good homes. Orphans! You know, Vivaldi made his living under contract by a girl's orphanage to provide a concerto a week, week after week, for the little angels to play in Sunday afternoon concerts. The orphanage figured the best way for them to place these girls in good homes, centuries before radio or recordings were invented, remember, was to show them off a fiddling & a fluting, & luting lively tunes. Nothing to do with this topic, but it's my fave orphanage story, and the word "orphans" set me off. Just the mental pic of this stage full of charming sweethearts in white pinafores raising a cheery racket, & some old nobleman thinking "I wonder what else she can do with that emboucher," while his young wife thinks how to improve the entertainment at her next festa... it's a genius idea! Adopt that girl!
OK. Enough stream of consciousness. Point is, holy schidt, after all these years aging in the oubliette, this wrapper has become as lissome and limber as stone-washed silk on a rainy day. And the odor! My Gawd! If these leaves could grow titz I would marry them! There's about 25 per wad and a half dozen wads in a double-bagged bunch. I'm positive these are your best CT shade, from before the 2012 crop went small. These are the leaves FX used to buy in the good old days. A representative half leaf goes about 18" or 19", even after it's all stemmed and smoothed:
So thin that they are literally diaphanous, in that you can count your fingers on the other side of one:
... and yet, tho I have wrapped about 40 of these Churchills so far, I haven't busted or torn any of these wraps doing it. Plenty big for a Churchill. Plenty strong for an amateur.
Here's what I do: I have a two slot Churchill mold I got from Maks the Slovenian farmer. I place a pair of bunches in there, cause all the years bundled together tight up against one another has put them out of round. I spread a wad of 25 wraps in the leaf conditioner... a day is all it takes ... after that I keep them in one of Don's acrylic canisters... no spritzing at all at all. Do not spritz CT shade cause it gets spots if you do. I do cut an extra long flag, long enough to go like three times round the head, cause I like the head to be strong enough to chomp on when I smoke it. But even so, to wrap and flag and cap a pair of Churchills, less than 10 minutes by the clock:
Worst I can say, I'm having a challenge cutting the foot off clean. Maybe my blade needs sharped. Maybe it's just the stuff is delicate.
So here's my point: I'm going up there again early next month. Thinking I might score me a pile of bags of wads of wrappers. Thinking if anyone is interested, I'll grab some for you, too. No idea what they weigh. Imagine he prolly wants like $25 a bag. So I'll ask $35 to cover shipping. If you want some of those blanks, I'll score you however many sleeves, fifty bunches per sleeve. They actually smoke alright. Not moody enough for my taste; but good quality, nonetheless. A dry & woody mild flavor. Super easy draw. Let's say $30 per sleeve shipped. The worst I can say about these blanks, some have small stems that you need to pinch out if they come near the head. I don't worry about it ... I just live with the bump.
At the same time, I have gobs of leaf which I never use. I don't regret buying all this stuff -- that's the only way to find out what you like, you know. But now that I do know, I don't need to keep it. So anyone gives me your address, you know to expect lagniappe.
Tried one of these wadded CT shades on a quickie fecto, too, & now I'm trying to match a good blend for that:
But here's what I've mostly been doing, stealing time while catching up on work:
Let me know if you want in. I don't intend to stock up & become a leaf merchant; but I'll grab enough for myself and anyone who gives me a shout.
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