Thread: Any fellow brother of the leaf in here?

I do wonder though, how does one know how much leaf for a specific sized cigar? For instance how much for a Churchill as opposed to a panatella?

Geek

Originally Posted by TheGeek

I do wonder though, how does one know how much leaf for a specific sized cigar? For instance how much for a Churchill as opposed to a panatella?

Geek

For a Churchill, use more filler. For a Panatella or Corona or other small cigar, use less. A bigger cigar needs a bigger binder and wrapper. A smaller one can get by witl a smaller binder and a smaller wrapper. You can use two binders or two wrappers either in tandem or one after the other or one on top of the other, as you see fit. You can even tandem wrap a cigar with a light and a dark wrapper for a barber pole look.

There's no formula except what you make up yourself. Different batches of filler have leaves of different thickness. Different leaves have different sizes. Light case will have less water weight. Full case will have more water weight.

Usually, you just start with the filler leaves that you want outside the bundle, depending on your personal recipe. Add leaves that belong more toward the center. Most rollers will have Seco on the outside and Viso or Ligero on the inside, due to their different burning characteristics but there is no law that you must follow or have your cigar card revoked. When it feels like you have the amount of filler you want, tear off the ends and put them on top, tips pointed inward toward the middle, and roll up your bundle. Then roll it in your binder to set the basic size, shape, and tightness of draw. Classically the final layer, the wrapper, is only for sealing and cosmetic purposes but I often use the wrapper to further refine the shape and adjust tension, because I roll pretty much only figurados. I cut my wrapper into an S shape, to conform to the taper at either end, and the wrapper does a lot of the work of shaping the tips in my cigars.

There is a forum with a lot of growers and rollers at fairtradetobacco.com you might have a look at. It is sponsored, and posts are sometimes heavily editorialized to favor certain suppliers, so I don't hang out there as much as I probably ought to. There are other forums with fewer members or more emphasis on smoking factory rolled cigars. Their preferred leaf supplier is Whole Leaf Tobacco and they have good products including good kits. I have had better luck with Leaf Only but WLT is actually pretty good. There are members/sponsors that sell seeds and leaf, too.

https://www.leafonly.com/cigar-tobac...f/tobacco-kits

A kit is a great way to get started. There are instructions and links to videos on the leafonly.com website. The FAQ at fairtradetobacco.com has a lot of good info, too.

Another thing. As a beginner, don't fall into the trap of buying a mold and trying to roll a cigar of a precise length, shape, gauge, etc. Just grab some bakky and roll, and try to get the tension correct and get a good draw and an even burn. Trying to make a conformal cigar and getting the burn and draw right is just overwhelming when just starting out. If you end up with a 42ga instead of a 34ga, who cares? Correct the filler amount and thereby the bundle size on the next one, and see what you get. I don't even own a mold and I don't want one. My stogies come out purposely in an old school double perfecto shape, mostly because some early attempts just came out that way. I find my personal shape to be easy for me to roll and get right. I don't shoot for a particular gauge or length, just a particular draw and burn, and overall shape. I like the big fat middle for the mighty volume of excellent cool smoke. I like the pointy foot because it lights easily with a single match, even a big fat bomber. I like the tapered head so I don't have a massive sausage like stogie clamped in my jaws. The bite is much easier when it tapers down to about a 40 to 44 gauge. It just works for me. Lately I roll a bit shorter than before, so my smoking session can be a bit shorter and not leave a depressingly large and wasteful butt in the ashtray. I dislike relighting a cigar that has been out for long enough to cool and the smoke and vapors condense inside. The tapered head also reduces waste. The discarded butt contains less tobacco. But many rollers find a parejo, or straight sided cigar easier to roll and more convenient to store and age. Parejo rollers often use a mold so that a rolled box looks more like a factory box, and in fact factory rollers almost always use a mold. Once the bundle is in the binder, it is too late to add or subtract filler, and when it goes in the mold, the mold can change the draw. Skilled factory rollers get it right 99% of the time and when not, they smoke their mistakes. As a home roller you can disassemble and re-roll but I prefer not to do that.

You might well intend to roll a Corona and end up with a Robusto or a Toro. Smoke it and enjoy it! Don't worry about the CSLD. (Chicken Stuff Little Details)

After putting down god knows how many seeds, dotted around the house and greenhouse. I have for all my efforts, one tiny sprouted plant.

I shall nurture him in the hope he will grow into a towering baccy plant, but to be honest, I reckon I am a bit late in the year, and just wanted to experiment to see where was good to germinate (my study window ledge). If it comes to anything I might get a bit of baccy for my pipe lol.

Geek

Originally Posted by TheGeek

After putting down god knows how many seeds, dotted around the house and greenhouse. I have for all my efforts, one tiny sprouted plant.

I shall nurture him in the hope he will grow into a towering baccy plant, but to be honest, I reckon I am a bit late in the year, and just wanted to experiment to see where was good to germinate (my study window ledge). If it comes to anything I might get a bit of baccy for my pipe lol.

Geek

LOL that IS the hardest part! The seeds are tiny, the sprouts are tiny, and they MUST remain moist and MUST get sunshine immediately or perish. The seeds, unlike most seeds, have no energy supply contained inside for the embryo. The sproutlet must begin doing photo synthesis right away, or, you guessed it, DIE.

Watering has probably killed more tobacco sprouts than there are stars in the sky. Watering washes them away, since seeds must be sown on top of the soil and absolutely not buried. That's why I like the Jiffy Self Watering Greenhouse Kit so much, with the peat moss pucks. They suck up the water from underneath and keep the seed moist, and you don't have to top water at all. When they are about an inch tall, you can remove the wrapper from the puck and stick it right in on top of a cup or pot of good potting or seed starting mixture. Once they are about two inches tall you can start leaving them outside 24/7.

Tobacco is pretty hardy once your seedlings are aobut 6" tall and you stick them in the ground. It seems like from knee high to waist high takes only a couple of weeks, and before you know it your baccy is 8' tall, depending on variety.