Making a twist or rope...

If you really want to mimic Escudo you would need some whole leaf Perique and Virginia. Fair Trade Tobacco sells both. Don't put any tobacco into a pressure cooker if it has Perique in the blend. It leaves (pun) an odd taste.
You do not need any casing unless you want to add some.

If you want to explore making twists I'd suggest starting out with Burley leaf. It is incredibly stretchy when moist. Much more so than a Virginia. Just spritz all your leaves (after de-stemming) and let set in a container for a few hours for the moisture to get evenly distributed. Then go a head and start twisting. AS for moisture content, this is the "art" part of tobacco blending/processing. The best I can describe the proper case is you do not want the leaves to crackle when you handle them but you also so do not want them so wet that they are as limp as a wet noodle. Err on the side of too dry. The worst that will happen is your leaf will start cracking and tearing apart as you twist it.