PIX of your STIX

[Marc L]

Puro Cibao

[Bruck]

Nice looking sticks, @Marc L !

[rodwha]

Here's my second go at making two:



The feel of them seems to be a bit firmer and I did the pigtail thing much better though that also needs improvement. I didn't care much for trying to cut a larger cap. One of my binder leaves had a few tears in it. I figured that since it would go under the wrapper it might not be a big deal. I could hear it tearing while rolling. So the foot looked horrible. But then so did the next one. This time I cut the me to get rid of the craptastic looking foot. I didn't bother capping the second stick, though now I'm wondering if I should have left a bit of the pigtail.

On the DVD that came with the kit he uses a cover from a magazine to roll up the end product. That gave me an idea of using a magazine cover to roll the filler. Maybe I'd get a smoother more linear roll and be able to feel loose spots better.

[Marc L]

40 X 5-ish , 0.25 Cibao Criollo ligero / 0.25 Cibao Corojo ligero , 0.5 Cibao Corojo Viso / 0.5 Piloto Cubano Viso Fillers. 0.75 Dom Seco Binders. Corojo Oscuro Wrappers.

[rodwha]

I rolled two more today and these have turned out much better so far. I still need to add the wrapper tomorrow. However I was curious what was in my scraps bag. I was surprised and how big some of them were so I decided to go ahead and try rolling a cigarillo. As it doesn't have a mold I added the wrapper as soon as I was done with the binder and didn't bother with a cap.



I've named it Lumpy. I suppose on average it's probably about a 30 ring and is 3.5" long. Couldn't really begin to tell you what all is in it... The larger end is a little squishy.

[rodwha]

After coffee and a couple of chores I sat down and finished last night's endeavor. I didn't care for using the little piece of copper to make a cap so I took a quarter and used my knife as I couldn't find Karmen's exacto knife.



These have turned out much better but I still need a bit more work. The foot is always splayed and the other end (head?) a little loose.

I've been eyeing the 1/4 lb leaf options from LeafOnly. Sure would prefer a bit more character and I'm uncertain as to how these leaves will all work out (leftovers of this or that). I could always go for a Maduro wrapper! Yum!

I also tried something different with putting the filler together. In essence I used a leaf to roll the rest in along with a little bit of scrap to fill in places. This way I was better able to get a feel for it and to keep it together better while I preped the binder leaf. I'm pretty happy with the results for the most part. Getting the diameter right is hit or miss. I'm using 5 filler leaves, the max suggested for the mold. Some slightly overfill the mold and, as the one is, a little bit undersized.

[Marc L]

[Bruck]

@rodwha - you're making good progress!

[rodwha]

I worked on these yesterday:



I did much better at feeling the size but found the mold didn't do much of anything as they were rolled to size. Not perfect but pretty good for a hand roll I think.

And I decided to not place the two cut ends (middle of the leaf pile) together to form the head. It seems a bit better but still needs work. I initially set out to try what Marc recommended, which is to cut that end before rolling the wrapper. I still want to try that too.

And somehow Lumpy morphed into a better looking stick which I decided to try last night:



More flavor than his bigger brothers. Burned nicely and even.

[Bruck]

More flavor than his bigger brothers. Burned nicely and even.

Once you've got those things nailed, you're pretty much there