Tobacco Blending Part 1. Intro.

This week a federal judge ruled in favor of the FDA in a lawsuit challenging thier regulations against the premium cigar industry. From Cigar Aficionado-

....A ruling just in from Washington, D.C. upholds much of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s stance against the American premium cigar industry, striking down most of the arguments made by the three main lobbying groups in their fight against FDA regulation. At the same time, the ruling judge expressed his displeasure with the FDA’s  saying that it “smacks of basic unfairness.”

But in this lost battle, small tobacconist shops managed to pull off a small Victory- Federal Judge Amit Mehta also ruled that Tobacconists who blend their own tobacco do not meet the FDA's definition of a "Manufacturer". While the FDA may choose to reevaluate it's definition of a manufacturer (I don't think they'll waste time and money on it, frankly) Watch City and other shops who blend tobacco can continue to do so.

     Great news, but the American pipe tobacco industry has another challenge- one the late Craig Tarler of Cornell and Diehl expressed to me years ago when I visited his operation in North Carolina- There aren't many young blenders out there. (or growers or sellers etc...) I'll add to that- there are at least two generations out there that don't even know what a pipe is, and they've been so frightened by health groups, they would rather inhale seemingly "safe" vaporized glycol and flavorings than light a cigar or pipe anyways! Our numbers dwindle...McClelland closes up shop...venerable blends are discontinued.

     When I first had a notion to put several different tobaccos together to make a new blend, getting information was like pulling hen's teeth. "A little of this, a little of that" or "Less is more" was all experienced blenders would offer. How do you make an Aromatic? Do you just soak your tobacco in extract? What about Rum Curing? What does Curing even mean? What is Casing? How is it applied? How can it be done on a small scale? What is a top note? etc.... Sadly, there's no book on tobacco blending, and venerable blenders weren't talking. 

     I was on my own...and I wasted a mega crap ton of tobacco! One of my first "Magnum Opuses" (sarcasm emoji) was an attempt at a rum cured Burley. I had a 5 gallon Home Depot bucket, a 5 pound bag of plain cubed Burley from C&D, some cheap spiced rum and a little free time. How tough can this be?, right?  So i dump the Burley in the bucket, proceed to dump an entire quart of rot-gut rum in with it, seal the lid an start a'shakin! 24 hours later I was all a'twitter with excitement. I opened the bucket, grabbed a handful of the slop and let it dry for the day. When I left the shop to go home it was dry enough. I packed a pipe and hit the road certain that i'd just come up with the greatest codger Burley since Edgeworth! When I lit up, I came up with a new name for it. "Crapworth". It wouldn't burn, and when it did it tasted so awful I wished it didn't. Note to self- Don't ever try this again.

    As time went on, I managed to glean little bits of information from veteran blenders which, if interpreted by someone with a good knowledge of tobacco varieties, helped me on my way. I don't consider myself a "Master Blender" of any sort, but I do know what I like and have learned enough to produce some blends that people really enjoy.

     Having read extensively through some of the "Blending" posts on internet forums, I can see a lot of people are stuck where I was...devising concoctions of vanilla extract and cocoa powder and rum in proportions that make my toungue burn just thinking about them. I see no reason why I shouldn't share a little knowledge with people who want to learn. In the next few weeks (months?) I'll try to do that in these blogs. Stay tuned!