Just got some tobacco out of the press.

So I have been experimenting with pressing(at the amateur level) different tobacco's to see if it improves the flavor and how it smokes.  Thought I would share what I have found so far.

My setup is a container made up of 2" and 1" pvc.  I have vice from Lowes that is rated up to 1200lbs.  Since I am hand cranking it I guess that I getting 800-1000lbs when doing the pressing.

The first batch I did was 80 grams of Hobbits Friend which is a flake aromatic(cherry/vanilla).  I had it pressed for four weeks and 3 times a week would tighten the vise till it would not turn anymore.  After about two weeks I noticed a dark brown liquid start to come out(figured that was the casing).  When I opened it at four weeks I had puck that was dark brown to black.  A little goopy around the edges.  Did not notice any change in how it smelled or tasted when I lit up several bowls.  The big difference was that once it got burning there was almost no re-lites needed.  Pretty cool I thought.

The second batch was 80 grams of Docs Blend which is sort of light entry level English blend(black cavendish with a little bit of latakia and perique).  Once again pressed it for four weeks and would tighten the vise 3 times a week.  Did not have any leakage on this one.  On opening it again had a nice puck.  This one was a bit lighter in color.  You could also see the little bits of latakia and perique mixed in with the black cavendish on the sides.  So smoked several bowls and this one was a disappointment.  The flavors were mellowed out so much that you did not even get the little bits of latakia and perique that it used to have.

And finally my latest batch(got pics on this one).  This was 80 grams of Hearthside, another English blend that is heavy on the latakia with loose and cross-cut Virginias, Burley, and a little bit of Oriental and Perique.  So once again pressed it for four weeks with tightening of the vise 3 times a week.  No leakage on this one either.  On opening another nice puck.  You can see the latakia, virginias, burley, oriental and perique in the sides.  This one when smelling the puck it actually had a more pungent smell then it had originally.  So i smoked several bowls of this and had some interesting results.  First off it was much harder then normal to get it to stay lit(once it was going it was fine but that took a while).  Second though was while it had all of the original flavors I was used to I was also getting a sort of smoky cocoa flavor that I never had in this blend before.  So I overall I would say that this press was a success.