Recommended sticky: Rubbing out?

[oldbear58]

I am a bit green to tobacco technology. I have a couple of tobaccos (Mac Baren Virginia #1 and Bayou Morning) that are compacted and sliced and I would guess need to be rubbed out.

Is there any advice or technique to this or should I just break it up with fingers, throw on floor and stomp, shoot with 12 gauge, put in blender, chop with axe, give to dog?

Oldbear

 

[Hermit]

I rub everything out.
Just makes things easier.
Fingers are usually adequate.
If not, I deploy scissors.


BTW, the dog and the 12 gauge are really bad ideas.  

 

[Puff Daddy]

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[Brewdude]

Lots of different viewpoints. Rubbing out, cubing, fold & stuff, loading vertically, etc.

I think you just need to figure out what works best for you in a specific 'baccy and pipe.

The best approach is the one that works best for you!

(damn, now I'm sounding like monbla)


:twisted: 


Cheers,

RR

 

[RDPipes]

Lots of different viewpoints. Rubbing out, cubing, fold & stuff, loading vertically, etc.

I think you just need to figure out what works best for you in a specific 'baccy and pipe.

The best approach is the one that works best for you!

(damn, now I'm sounding like monbla)


:twisted: 


Cheers,

RR

Yeah ya do but, it sounds good coming from you. 

 

[Brewdude]

Lots of different viewpoints. Rubbing out, cubing, fold & stuff, loading vertically, etc.

I think you just need to figure out what works best for you in a specific 'baccy and pipe.

The best approach is the one that works best for you!

(damn, now I'm sounding like monbla)


:twisted: 


Cheers,

RR

Yeah ya do but, it sounds good coming from you. 

Cheers,

RR

 

[monbla256]

Take a Flake 'bac, try it in one pipe fully rubbed out ( just crumble and rub a flake btwn your fingers onto a small saucer or the 'bac tin top.) load that pipe with that 'bac, smoke it and take mental notes how it was. Take another Flake, same 'bac, fold -n-stuff as shown in video, smoke it, take notes again and do this with THIS 'bac all the ways you've been told in different pipes then YOU decide how THIS Flake works best for you. NOTHING is hard and fast in pipe smoking except that you are burning an organic plant material in a vessel and intaking the smoke into your mouth. ALL the rest is COMPLETELY subjective based on ones personal TASTE ! It aint rocket science  :twisted: :twisted:

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

I agree with Brewdude.

A lot of times for me it's tobacco specific. I love Old Dark Fired folded, for me it's so much better that when it's rubbed out that it makes no sense to do otherwise. McClelland's broken flake stuff (ala Blackwoods, St James, Dark Star, X-mas Cheer etc.) is so firmly pressed that it's practically impenetrable out of the tin. You can cube and dry it, I have done that, but rubbing it out is so much more expedient and just as flavorful, that it just doesn't make sense for me to do otherwise. Delicately pressed stuff like G. L.  Pease's Fog City broken flakes (Embarcadero, Union Square, Fillmore) are practically perfect as is or just simply roughed up a bit. Either way the complexities shine. Anyway by now you get the idea.

Do what works best for you blend by blend and do experiment some on those blends that allow for more flexibility in preparation.

 

[Anonymous]

Mr. Jensen's packing technique is different than what I thought was Mac Baren's fold and stuff method. I'm going to try it!

 

[rothnh]

I cube cut my flakes (1/8" cubes) most of the time.

On a whim, I sometimes fold & stuff (thinner flakes or the coins work better for this IMO), occasionally do the French fry (thin vertical strips) and, rarely, I'll rub it out.

As others mentioned here, I think it's based on the blend and personal preference.

 

[LordTemplar]

Hello all,

I generally rub mine out or use a Timberline Skinning Hatchet to chop it very small (mincing).  I will try Peterson’s method for folding because it looks great with large square flakes.  Crumble flakes and broken up flakes I attack with the hatchet,  

 

[MisterE]

I've known people who put a few flakes in their coffee grinders and "rub them out" that way. I've never tried it, but it seems like it'd work well.

I think one of the cool things about flake tobacco is all the options it gives you. Folded, rubbed out, cubed, stripped, minced, whatever. Each way is just a little different and gives you a broader view of what a blend can do.  

My personal favorite is cubing it up. I make a "bed" by ripping off a 1/4" strip from the whole flake and wadding it up into a ball. I drop that in the pipe. It will expand to fill out the bottom of the bowl in a minute or two. While that is going on, I cut strips of tobacco across the grain about 1/8" wide, break them up a little, and dump it all in the bowl. A little tap on the side of the bowl to settle it, and presto--you're good to go.