a gift from the brothers of another leaf :) (flake prep)

[somedumbjerk]

mejoshee got me to try this. it works pretty well. i figured i'd document it for anyone who wants to try it out!

so this is something from those who enjoy a more controversial leaf...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0023X32MA/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 - the grinder

it was under $7 shipped so i figured i'd try it. my wife gave me a look when she saw it. so onto peformance:

i picked four tobaccos to try and rub out

• Full Virginia Flake

• Luxury Bullseye Flake

• St. James Flake

• Brown Pigtail (rope)

note: all tobaccos are moist. fresh out of the tin moisture level, i.e. too moist to smoke.
first contender: FVF

folded in half and put on the grinder. press down while twisting. twist back and forth for a few seconds until the resistance changes. the result:

ended up pretty nice.

second contender: LBF

just put it on top of the grinder. same deal as before, took less time to grind. the result of two flakes:

third up: SJF
this flake was pretty thin, the kind in the bulk box that should rub out pretty easily. same as FVF, fold and put on top of the grinder

twist back and forth, etc:

all three turned out pretty well. now the wildcard: Brown Pigtail. very moist, and kind of a PITA to prepare. you generally slice it very thing and rub em out a little. so what i did is slice a chunk off with my awesome blackhorse knife and grind em:

this one was more difficult to grind, took about twice as long. still turned out pretty well i think. some bigger leafy bits from the outside of the wrapper:

so there you have it

 

[williamcharles]

Mine works too. Got two of them. One for unflavored and one for flavored tobacs.

 

[Brewdude]

Jeb

Ya, but how did they smoke after that treatment? And did you let them dry down and for how long?

Questions, questions...........


.............Nosy SOB ain't I?...............



 



Cheers,

RR

 

[somedumbjerk]

Jeb

Ya, but how did they smoke after that treatment? And did you let them dry down and for how long?

Questions, questions...........


.............Nosy SOB ain't I?...............



 



Cheers,

RR

yup, sorry, let them dry like you normally would. i tend to like my tobacco a little moister than most on here, so about ten mns tops. the bullseye smoked great. then next i did a mix of the st james flake and the brown pigtail. it was awesome. burn characteristics seemed fine, packed well. closer to ribbon than when you rub it by hand. that may not be considered a plus to some. i'll use it about 50% of the time. probably only on the hard to rub flakes. i'll get around to FVF soon, that's the one i'm most interested in to be honest. forgot to bring it to the pipe shop today. mejoshee has been using it a lot, maybe he'll chime in?

 

[Dave_In_Philly]

For the most part, I have been perfectly happy rubbing out flakes in my palms (and most of what I smoke is indeed rubbed out flake). The one glaring exception being McClelland's 2035...I may have to pick up one of these thingers just for that purpose...

Just looked a bit closer at the Amazon listing, is the storage portion of it large enough to be useful?

 

[mejoshee]

I've been using this grinder on almost everything not already rubbed out since I got it. It does take a little doing, but if you want a nice, even grind that beats palm-mashing, check it out.

I've tried FVF, SJF, Black XX twist rope, OGS, GLP Gaslight (post- slicing), and aged Escudo. It seems to work great for all, especially if you let it dry after grinding! I think the size is sort of in-between thin cube cut and short ribbons.

I find that the flavor and burn of FVF is somehow improved in the sense of it being smoother and more even. Plus, by grinding it first, drying is significantly faster, as Jeb pointed out. For example, the brownie of Gaslight directly out of the tin is...soggy. It's meant to be aged, but it can be smoked now. After cutting (like any plug) it's still moister than any ribbon cut out of a tin or bulk, so it's gotta sit. But it doesn't take nearly as long after it's been ground, maybe 15-20 min for my preference. It already has a crumbly texture to it due to moisture, so you're not really losing anything by grinder it further.

Others will probably malign this approach as it's sort of destroying the integrity of the flakes for expediency, but I think it goes beyond that with the way that it comes out more even flavor and burn, so that's the angle I'm approaching it from. YMMV. I figure, it's worth the $6 to try it out.