Step by Step Adventures in Home Topping

This afternoon I set about topping some tobacco in order to make a light vanilla aro (similar in some ways to my beloved Dan SVHD). I thought it would be fun to document the steps.

Step one:

I pulled half a pound of ribbon cut blending Virginia out of my cellar and spread it out on two metal trays:

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Step Two:

I combined Cuarenta Y Tres, pure vanilla extract, and some simple syrup in an aluminum pan.

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Step Three:

I brought it to a low boil and then turned the heat down to a simmer

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Step Four:

Once most of the excess water was gone, I removed the reduction from the burner

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continued in next post...

Step Five:

I made a cold water bath to chill the mixture quickly

http://i495.photobucket.com/albums/r...g/DSC03234.jpg

Step Six:

I poured the topping into a spray bottle and spritzed the pans of tobacco, stopping halfway through each in order to toss the leaf and coat evenly.

http://i495.photobucket.com/albums/r...g/DSC03235.jpg

Step Seven:

I placed the trays in the oven for 45 minutes at 170* ("warm" setting)

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Step Eight:

Enjoy an iced coffee and the smell of tobacco that inevitably wafts through your house. After removing the trays from the oven I sprayed them liberally with distilled water to both to retard the baking process, but also to get the tobacco back above proper Rh so that it could naturally dry to a smokable level.

I'm planning on lighting some up tomorrow once it's had a chance to let it cool and finish drying out. Right now the Rh in my house is around 55, so I'm simply allowing the trays to sit on the kitchen counter. Obviously you could substitute any liquor and/or extract for this depending on what you are trying to accomplish.

UPDATE: The stuff smoked great, and I even passed a bag onto @Bruck who was able to use it wisely in some nice flake recipes.

Awesome.

I've been wanting a chocolate/coffee infusion. I may have to try something like this soon.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cool Breeze

Awesome.

I've been wanting a chocolate/coffee infusion. I may have to try something like this soon.

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Make sure to let us know how it turns out. In my experience, the crux of it is re-hydrating with distilled water after you take if out the oven. Otherwise it crumbles to dust when you try to bag/jar/handle it. Just get it nice and damp again, and let it dry out naturally, like you would tobacco that was too wet in the tin.

JM Boswell Piper's Dream description from their website:

Piper's Pleasure- Aroma - one of the most important aspects of any smoking tobacco. Perfect burning quality. Rich flavors of chocolate, vanilla, coffee, and a mild sweetness. A mild, slow burning, cool smoke.

Excellent Post Tobias. I was wondering how this was done.

Wow. Very cool! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks very much for the how-to.

Some questions:
1. Why boil the mixture? Was the resulting reduction still easy to spray?
2. Why bake in oven vs drying naturally?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by spyder

Some questions:
1. Why boil the mixture? Was the resulting reduction still easy to spray?
2. Why bake in oven vs drying naturally?

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1. I was trying to get the excess water out of it...I wanted the topping to be very concentrated when sprayed on.
2. The topping was very sticky (due to the simple syrup and liquor), by baking it I was able to negate that. It came out the oven, was spritzed with a little DW to make it less brittle, and then was able to be tossed and bagged. Had I let it sit and dry naturally I would have ended up with a single gummy sheet of tobacco the size of my pan.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tobias Lutz

Had I let it sit and dry naturally I would have ended up with a single gummy sheet of tobacco the size of my pan.

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I wonder if there would be a market for TL's Sticky Vanilla Flake. :)