Rolling Tobaccos

Throughout the day i smoke roll ups, there quick and if you choose the right blend it can be tasty and not to heavy for you. I avoid cigarettes at all cost, well 99% of them, American Spirit & Dunhill are the exception. Both are pure natural tobacco and dont taste like badly flavoured floor scrapings. Dunhill make the use of a resealable pack to keep the tobacco fresh, a little springy and very smooth, flavoursome and fresher. American Spirit while being 100% Gold Virginia they are very dry, Light and slow burning but a little harsh (no worse than any other big tobacco brand) . Bellow is a little on some of the smaller specialist tobaccos.

Pre Blended

• American Spirit - In the UK we have only 1 option, the Golden Virginia blend. 100% pure tobacco not additives have been added. With the lack of additives this leaves the tobacco a little dry, this leads to the tobacco becoming powedery and harsh. You can get round this by either using a cheap home made Humidor (explained bellow) or Pueblo Stones (if your lucky to own one).
• Pueblo – Much like American spirit, a pure Gold Virginia blend. Tends to go dry, but a mild smoke. One of the most popular Additive free tobaccos.
• Crossroads Original -A blend of Virginia, Burly & Oriental, with a little honey (yes honey!).  Much like American Spirit & Pueblo, Crossroads has no artificial additives, Well other than Honey. The adding of honey helps maintain the moisture within the tobacco and keep the smoke cool without being too light to taste. Out of all of the NATURAL blends Crossroads is on par with Golden Virginia, Cutters Choice & Amber Leaf in terms of strength. I will also so i smoke this 75% of the time, like now.
• Crossroads Virginia – The Virginia blend fills a small void in the range of the Natural tobaccos. Being made up of a mixed grades of Virginia, again with the added honey produces a smoother & slightly stronger alternative to Pueblo & American Spirit. (Only been out 2-3 months)
• Lookout - Is a typical “Dutch” tobacco, made up from a mixture of tobaccos from (former) Dutch colonies. Indonesia, Indian, Brazilian, Kenya along with a little Italian.  Much like Drum but at a cheaper price. The mixture is a good Medium-Strong smoke.
• Georgia Blend –  One of Kendals best rolling tobaccos. The medium strength Virginia blend has a smooth and cool smoke with plenty of flavour and enough nicotine to keep you happy. A great alternative to GV, Cutter Choice & Amberleaf.

Apart from the pre made blends theres an endless number of blends you can make.  One of my favourites is a mixed bag of

13g Pueblo
5g  Kendal Mixed Aromatic or No7 Aromatic
5g  Kentucky
5g Oriental
2g Latakia or Perique depends

Its a little heavy, replacing the Kentucky with Georgia removes the heavy edge. The Mixed aromatic has a strong Turkish Delight and the No7 is very strong with a Cocoa flavour.

Dry Tobacco

If you find your tobacco is dry, either due to the lack of moisture retaining additives, or beacuse like me you often leave your pouch open. Theres a number of ways you can bring moisture back into your tobacco.

• Pueblo Stones – When Pueblo was first launched a large amount of Terracotta disks where also given to Specialist Tobacconists. The slightly porous nature of terracotta allows moisture to be absorbed by the disk. Placing a disk in clean water for 10 minutes will load the disk with moisture. Wipping of surface water and placng in the middle of your tobacco will allow the moisture to transferred from the disk to your tobacco. This can also be done with a bit of broken terracotta plant pot (watch for sharp edges)
• Homemade Humidor – This technique can be used to bring back life into cigars. If you take a empty ice cream tub or any seal able plastic tub, place a small shot glass with sponge and water (inside the glass) into the tub along with your tobacco spread out as thin as possible and leave the tub sealed. Store away from direct sunlight, heat and heavily odoured food for a day or more, checking the tobacco regularly. Dont allow the water to come in direct contact with the tobacco as this will cause mould to grow on your tobacco.