Homegrown, Hand-Rolled Cigars

 Tobacco varieties we grew

In response to a question about rolling cigars on this post, my brother Chris steps in to guest post. Take it away...

So after reading everything I could on the internet, and still not fully sure what I was doing, I decided to try my had at rolling a cigar.

First step - Create a form for the cigars to be pressed into to make a somewhat uniformly sized cigar. 

Second step - Find a binder wrapper.  This is the initial leaf that's used to wrap the filler to create your rough cigar.  Even though we had 3 types of leaves, I found it was easiest just to find a leaf that was in good enough shape (no holes or tears, as well as being pliable enough roll).

Pause while H2 inserts a photo of Chris's first drying step--hung them in his garage (hi Elvis). When they started getting dry he moved the leaves to his cellar, where there's more humidity, keeping an eye out for mold, though none appeared. This photo illustrates how tobacco grows in different-sized leaves, some better for use as a wrapper. (It also illustrates how nice it is to have a garage to store stuff in.)

Third step - Filler.  Some sites recommended cutting the filler to create a more uniform cigar.  But I hate to chew a cigar with cut tobacco, so I opted to use the full leaf.  I grabbed enough leaf, hoping  it would fit in the mold.  Wrapped that leaf in the wrapper (the initial roll needs to be pretty tight), glued it with egg white, and pressed it into the form.  Some seemed a little loose, others I needed to really press in.  I guess the correct amount of leaf comes from experience.

Fourth step - Pressure.  After filling the form with 10 cigars, place a piece of wood on top and press.  The cigars are left in the form for a few days to dry. Some sites say to put the forms in the oven on low for an hour to dry, but I just let them dry naturally.

Last step - Final wrap.  For the final roll, I sprayed the leaves (probably should spray the leaves for the initial roll, too) with a sprayer and let them soak up the water. This made them much easier to work with. I had enough good leaves to make a smooth final wrap. 

Postprandial Thanksgiving cigars 

Growing Tobacco Using Sub Irrigation

Quick update on growing tobacco in SIPs (sub irrigated planters), a project started by a friend this spring and carried forth by a village of curious folk.

Cut to the chase: tobacco loves sub irrigation.

Part of the harvest, drying upstairs, from our roof and Bruce's.

And on Thanksgiving, cigars to share, hand-rolled by my brother, who grew the same varieties in his in-ground organic garden...

Fresh-Dug Potatoes from Bruce's Roof--Cranberry Red

 

My my my. I cannot begin to describe how creamy these gems are, fresh from the steamer (nestled in with some inferior farmer market potatoes).

But let's back up a sec. Occasional GRG blogger Brad shared some cranberry red seed potatoes with us in April. Bruce chitted them before planting.

Last day of July, my tobacca-harvesting pal Marc and I went over to cut down the plants Bruce had grown for the project.

And Bruce wondered aloud if the 'taters were ready, so we checked one of SIP bins.

As he dug around, he found a beauty.

 But there were more to come...

A gorgeous bunch of cranberry red, gifted to me.

(Meanwhile, Carl monitors activity on the street from his post near the potato SIPs.)

So how did we enjoy the gumball-sized 'taters included in our bunch? With this bad pic, you'll see: after light steaming, we ate them lollipop style, rolled in French butter and kosher salt.

Life does not get better than that.

Derecho! and the July Roof Garden

The derecho that slammed Chicago Monday morning brought winds of up to 75 mph. Our summer 2011 weather had already featured pummeling hail, evidence of which can be seen on the tobacco leaf at upper right in this photo. 

Even the tough eggplant leaves show battle scars. Still, we feel lucky. While the derecho was over as quickly as it hit, it knocked out power to some 900,000 people. My sister north of Chicago remains without power three days later.

We made it through with a bunch of broken tomato leaf stems, despite my tying up our current crop more conscientiously than any previous year. I started this after early-season high winds snapped a Black Prince tomato in two at the main stem. The weather is weird, with string and scissors more necessary than ever.

On to some happier pix. Here's a Matina tomato (Reimer's Seeds) setting some nice early fruit. I love this tomato for our region. While larger fruit is nice, Matina's a reliable bearer...and always one of the first. Thanks to far-flung GRGer Russ for buying those first seeds.

A Valencia tomato (Johnny's Seeds) across the roof--click to enlarge. It's a beautiful thing to see fruit emerging from flower.

 Rampant tomatillos shading out the okra in the adopted earthboxes

Nice crop forming up.

Jimmy Nardello peppers.

Little bells peppers proliferating.

This year I brought a jasmine plant to the roof and put it in a SIP (center below). 

It took a while to establish but now scents the melon-pepper run like heaven. Remains to be seen if it will grow up the PVC arch I've guided it onto.

Here's our old friend agretti. Planted April 6, it's taking its time and I nibble judiciously, still hoping for seed for 2012.

The joker and jester lettuces from Wild Garden Seed are going to seed, and yet there's no detectable bitterness to the leaves. What a beautiful lettuce. Definitely growing it again next year.

The lettuce sits amongst the going-to-seed lineup.

Tomatoes are all flowering and moving toward fruit, though there's some leaf curl I'm not happy about (and I'm not showing you pictures of it either).

Pepper and melon run...

The cool-weather greens run, transformed to hold beans, tobacco, extra tomatoes, and Erik's Greek squash.

Once I knew a guy who said: What's lookin' good 'sides you, me, and the weatha?  It's a beautiful, moderate summer day. How's your garden growing?

May 30 in Chicago: 91 Degrees, 30 mph Winds

The last couple days have been all about rain. Rain, rain, and more rain. And cool. On Saturday nephew Marc and I planted out the tobaccos in 5-gallon SIPs, his first SIP effort and a fine job.

 

We tucked them into the greenhouse as the winds were stiff.

I walked over to Bruce's and said hello to the girls. They're very sociable.

Bruce's allium are alluring.

His peppers  are setting up nicely, planted the weekend of May 21 (a good planting weekend I missed because we were out of town).

He's growing a few of the tobaccos as well.

And his potatoes are flourishing.

Carl, a portrait

(naturally, click for larger cuteness)

And with his beloved bone

I have nicest sister in the world who's also a talented seamstress (she'd live at the fabric store if permitted). She brought me another fat roll of pellon thermolam plus to use in retrofitting our SIPs for the new wicking method. You can see below that the criss-crossed strips all but cover the hole where the wicking cup once sat.

Was up at 6 today and on the roof planting tomatoes. Got a few in, but not the best day for planting due to brisk winds. Returned mid-afternoon and discovered it's both windy and hellishly hot up there. So I cut fabric strips instead.

We like to experiment with other SIP types, this one the EZ Grow. But, maddeningly, it's larger around the rim than the base, which makes tying on the evaporation barrier (aka, shower cap) with string impossible. So I tape it.

 Tape is your friend

Love this perpetual spinach (chard) from Bountiful Gardens Seed. That's precisely what the label says: Perpetual Spinach (Chard). Which is it, I wondered. Turns out it's a kind of mini-chard, complete with salty flavor.

Our second floor has never been rehabbed. Its patina and energy are beautiful.

Art found a dumpster across the street with a boatload of like-new treated wood (ripped up from a poorly installed deck), which he uses as decking around here. He's been hauling wood for three days...