Cold Pressed Flake

[Bruck]

In the spirit of recycling old how-to threads...

Made another batch of flake over the weekend. Received a nice pressure chamber from @emperorzurg, 4"x4" steel, with a steel pressure plate. This batch is a mixture of cigar scraps and VA flue cured. A few posters suggested flavorings, but for this batch I wanted to see how straight tobacco would taste.



Here's the chamber as it's being filled. I applied alternating layers of VA flue cured and cigar scraps, slightly moistened with DW for pliability.



Here's a pic of the whole setup - the floor plate is a piece of 1x8 pine with a layer of waxed paper on top. Also, I coated the chamber and pressure plate with vegetable oil to minimize rust and interaction between the tobacco and the steel.



Here's the setup in action. Approx. one plastic grocery bag of loose cigar scraps plus a little less than 1/4 pound of VA flue cured with stems removed pressed down to about 1".

Result: flavor is pretty good, although not as good as commercial VA flake (what was I expecting?). Burned pretty well - nice and cool, only requiring 1 relight in the 45 minutes that it burned, and no gurgling

[Bruck]

Update: I now use a piece of steel (another gift from @Emperor Zurg ) for the floor plate, and instead of vegetable oil, I just line the chamber with a plastic grocery bag to separate the tobacco from the steel.

[Bruck]

Just pressed another batch of flake, batch 24 to be exact. I actually pressed it a week ago, then after the usual fashion, squeezed it under a couple of weight plates (50# total) for a week. I usually squeeze them for a couple of weeks, but this one felt about right after a little over a week so I pulled it. Here it is in solid form:



It's composed of Dark Air, Bright VA, prilep, cigar scraps, cigar scrap cavendish, burley, and I quote from my notes, I can't remember what all else Cased w/ DW and added some rum and vanilla before pressing. I had originally intended for this to be a twist, hence the cigar scraps, but it sort of fell apart, so I pressed it for flake instead. Twists can be tricky if you don't set them up just right. Here it is sliced:



I didn't add any of the stronger flavored leaves e.g., latakia or perique as I wanted to keep it mellow for use as chaw for the long northern VA car trips we call commuting. It will need to dry out for a couple of weeks before it's smokeable but I did tuck in a plug between the cheek and gum for a while. Nice flavor, like Levi Garrett but smoother, and about medium in the vitamin N department.

[Bruck]

It is with great regret that I must report the demise of batch 24 to mold Never got as far as smoking any but it made pretty good chaw. Guess I didn't let it dry enough, plus the heat of sitting in my truck during the day probably didn't help.

Currently hydrating/casing batch 25, which is basically the same as batch 24, but I added some peach flavoring.

[Emperor Zurg]

It is with great regret that I must report the demise of batch 24 to mold

LOL!!

It's funny because I tried a couple of casing experiments and they all succumbed this way.

[Bruck]

LOL!!

It's funny because I tried a couple of casing experiments and they all succumbed this way.

I'm tempted to toast this batch just to be sure!