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Rolling your own Cigar

by Michael Randall

Get some cigar tobacco leaf.
Take some dry cigar leaf and put it in a plastic bag. Moisten it lightly with a fine spray and close the bag gently so that you don't crumble the leaf. After an hour, the leaf is supple enough to squeeze into a bundle, so wrap the bag tighter. This will get all of the leaf nice and pliable (after about another hour).
Take the leaf and remove the center vein. Set the leaf aside in the open plastic bag to let it dry until it is more leathery and not too wet.
Take the conditioned leaf and set it out in a line approximately 3 feet long. Get a good mix of different leaf. Keep layering the line until it is thick enough that when you grab a section and squeeze it gently, it will be the size that you prefer your cigar to be. When you actually roll the cigar, it will be a little smaller that this, so allow for it. It will take a little practice to get the right ring size (thickness).
Grab a fist's worth of the layered leaf and cut it with scissors about 1/2 to one inch on either side of the fist. Lay this aside. Keep doing this until all of the 3 foot length is cut. You now have your raw un- rolled filler.
For the binder, take a large leaf and make it pliable. Fold it in half lengthwise over itself with the center vein facing you. "Cut" the center vein out with scissors. You now have two halves of pretty good leaf (not your best leaf but a good one). The best, most flawless leaf should be saved for the wrapper. Cut these halves in half again, so that you now have four quarters that measure about 4" by 4" or so. The top of the leaf will be more triangular in shape and the bottom quarters will be more squarish. You now have four wrappers.
Do the same thing with a finer leaf, and there is your wrapper.
Make a mixture of 1/4 teaspoon of flour and about 2 to 3 tablespoons of water. You can work this out more precisely, but I would keep the flour to a minimum. I'd put my mix in the microwave for 15 seconds, stir another 10 seconds, and do it again until it's a thin paste. Usually about three to four times will do it. When you set this aside to cool, it will thicken a bit. You don't want a thick paste, just something with the consistency of pancake syrup.
Take a binder leaf and set it on your rolling surface with the thick veins (the underside of the leaf) facing up. Don't roll too tightly or you won't get a draw. On the other hand, if it is too loose, you've got something fat and weird. This takes a little practice. Do all your binding and set all the bound cigars aside. Now get your wrapper and do the same thing.
You can twirl the ends, cut them, or put that little piece of cap on the end (like the professionals do). It's your thing, right?

This article was published on Friday 06 October, 2006.

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