Infusing Cigars with Flavor
Choose your desired flavor. The kind of flavor you desire in your cigar will influence the kind of cigar you use when flavoring. The flavoring you use should come in a liquid form or should extractable to a liquid form.
Select a suitable cigar. Most cigars already come with a certain flavor profile, so you should be careful when selecting the cigar you want to infuse with flavor. Some flavor profiles might not pair well with the flavor you want to infuse. Generally, you can expect that: Cigars with a smooth and/or buttery flavor profile will often pair well with lighter, fruitier flavors. These are excellent for sunshiny, open-air smoking. Cigars with deep and rich flavor profiles match well with liquor flavors, like whiskey and rum.
Prepare cotton pads to soak with your flavoring. You can use absorbent, sterile cotton pads to flavor your cigars. These are available at most pharmacies and drug stores, and can usually be found in the first aid section. Cut the cotton pads into 1½" (3.8 cm) squares for each of the cigars you want to flavor.
Soak your flavoring pads with the flavoring. Depending on the strength of your flavoring agent, you may need to douse your flavoring pad completely or apply a few drops. This pad will be placed in a Ziploc plastic baggie with your cigar to infuse it with the flavoring that has soaked into your pad. In most cases, you'll have to douse your flavoring pad, but if using essential oils, or similarly potent flavorings, you'll likely only want a few drops maximum. If you plan on storing your cigars outside of a humidor, you can maintain humidity in the plastic baggie by soaking a second pad per each cigar in distilled water. Keep the water soaked pad with the flavoring pad in the baggie. If cotton pads are not an option, you can also use paper towel squares cut to the same dimensions as the cotton flavoring pad. You may want your paper towel square to be a few layers thick to improve its absorbency.
Stash your cigar with the flavoring pad. First you'll need to remove your cigar from its packaging, if necessary. Then you'll want to store your cigar with the flavoring pad so the cigar can infuse with the flavoring, but you don't want the cigar to touch the pad. This could cause your flavoring to become too strong. Insert each cigar you're flavoring in separate medium sized plastic baggies with the flavoring pad, and use tissue paper to keep the two apart. When preparing several cigars of different flavor, it can be easy to mix up which is which. You may want to write the flavor on the outside of the baggie to prevent confusion later on.
Place the baggie in your humidor. It will take some time for your cigar to infuse with the flavor of the pad you have stored it with. Depending on the strength of the flavor you used, this could take anywhere from a few days to several weeks. When checking to see if your cigar is ready to be separated from the flavor pad, remove the cigar from the baggie and allow it to sit for a while, then smell it closely. If the original scent of the cigar is fully blended with the scent of your flavoring pad, the flavor has infused. It may take some trial and error before you get the knack for how long your cigars need to be infused. Depending on the cigar you use and the flavoring, storing it longer may result in a stronger flavor. If you do not have a humidor, a piece of gauze or paper towel moistened with distilled water can help maintain the moisture of the cigar while in the baggie.
Enjoy your flavored cigar. Now that your cigar is infused with new flavor, it's ready to smoke or store. Once you get the hang of this simple method for infusing your cigars with flavor, you can start experimenting with different mixtures of flavor, like vanilla and cherry, for example.
Flavoring Pipe Tobacco
Determine your target flavor. Knowing the flavor you are aiming for will help you pick out the best tobacco to use for the flavoring process. Pipe tobacco, much like cigars, has a base flavor profile that may or may not go with certain flavors. Whichever flavor you decide on, you'll want it to come in liquid form.
Acquire your tobacco. There are many different kinds of tobacco you could flavor, and many of them have unique base flavors that could affect the end result of your flavoring. Some popular kinds of tobacco you may want to consider include: Virginia tobacco. This comes in many varieties (red, black, lemon, etc.), each with slight differences in character. It is generally considered a mild leaf that has a light taste and is also sweet. Burley tobacco. Burley is a dryer form of tobacco, making it more receptive to flavoring. You can expect this kind to burn slow and have a cool flavor. Oriental tobacco. This kind of tobacco covers many different sub-categories, like the kinds grown in Turkey and Russia. In most cases, you'll find that this leaf is dry and has a moderately sour aroma.
Place your tobacco into an airtight container. This ensures your flavoring agent permeates your tobacco when it is added and also helps to prevent spillage. Spread your tobacco around the container so it is in an even layer. This will encourage an even distribution of your flavoring. A snuff box/snus tin can be made relatively airtight by covering the edges of the box/tin where it opens with tape. Electrical tape or duct tape work well for this purpose. Sturdy tupperware containers also work well for this, though you should make sure that the one you use is airtight for best results. A durable plastic baggie can work well as a substitute for a container. One with a double seal will often provide a more airtight barrier for your tobacco. While getting the hang of flavoring your tobacco, you may want to start flavoring in small batches. This way, if you make a mistake when flavoring, less tobacco is wasted.
Add your flavoring agent to the tobacco. You can drizzle your liquid flavoring over your tobacco, but you may find you have a better distribution of flavor when using an atomizer, like a spray bottle. Use your flavoring agent sparingly. In many cases a single capful of liquor/liqueur will be enough to flavor several ounces of tobacco, depending on your preferences. Essential oils are very potent, so when using these to flavor your tobacco you should dilute the oil in distilled water.
Seal the container and allow the flavor to infuse. To help the infusing process along, as well as encourage a uniform distribution of flavor, you should shake your container so the tobacco mixes thoroughly with the flavoring. Then, you'll have to give the tobacco time to absorb the flavor. Depending on the kind of tobacco and flavoring agent you've used, keeping the tobacco in the container for longer may create a stronger flavor. Generally, your tobacco will have sufficiently infused with your flavor in one to five hours.
Remove the tobacco and let it dry. Open your container and spread your tobacco in a thin layer on a piece of parchment paper or paper towel. You'll need to give your tobacco some time to dry before adding more flavoring to it. When your tobacco is approaching your desired level of moistness, you should sniff it to determine the potency of the flavor. If the scent of the flavoring is weak, you'll likely need to apply another round of flavoring. In most cases, an hour should be enough for your tobacco to reach the level of moisture common in most kinds of pipe tobacco.
Reapply your flavoring agent to intensify the flavor. If you find that your tobacco has not yet reached the potency or level of moisture that you desire, return your tobacco to the airtight container and apply the flavoring agent as you did before. After allowing time for infusion, remove the tobacco and allow it to dry until it is at your preferred level of moistness.
Store your tobacco in an airtight container. Mason jars are available at most grocery stores and are excellent for this purpose, so long as you buy the kind with an airtight rubber seal. You could also use tupperware or the kind of airtight jars often used to keep coffee fresh. Remove your tobacco from the jar whenever you want to smoke and enjoy. Thrift stores are a great place to purchase cheap airtight containers. You'll want to look for those that have a rubber seal on the lid. You can check air tightness by sealing the container and submerging it in water. If no water leaks in, it's airtight. As long as the seal on your container is not broken, your tobacco can keep for a long period of time. Airtight seals should be used for any storage exceeding 2 months. You should check your tobacco regularly to ensure the seal has not broken and the tobacco is still good. Once a month should be enough to prevent major losses.
Determining Your Flavoring
Attempt to flavor your tobacco with popular infusions. It is very common for cigars to tobacco to be infused with fruit flavors, like cherry, apricot, and blackcurrant. Alcoholic drinks are also popular for tobacco infusion, especially: Rum Whiskey Wine
Infuse your tobacco with liqueurs. Liqueurs are generally strong flavored alcohols with a pungent scent. Common liqueurs include flavors like amaretto, coffee, chocolate, berry flavors, hazelnut, melon, and anisette (licorice flavor). Creamy or sugary liqueurs can create stickiness in your tobacco and should probably be avoided or used extremely sparingly.
Try infusing flavors with essential oils. Popular essential oils used in tobacco flavoring include citrus flavors, like lemon and orange, flower scents, like lavender and rose, and more. You should always look up the usage information of an essential oil before using it in your infusions. Some essential oils are not safe to ingest or smoke. Essential oils are very potent and should be used very sparingly for your tobacco infusions. In most cases, a few drops on a flavoring pad or diluted in water or a carrier liquid (for pipe tobacco) will be enough.
Perk up your tobacco with a shot of coffee. Coffee is a popular flavor that is used in everything from liquor to candy, and coffee might add a pleasing flavor to your tobacco. You may be able to store fresh ground coffee tied off in a filter with tobacco/cigars to impart this flavor to it. When infusing cigars, you should probably keep the cigar from touching the grounds directly. Cigars are very absorbent, and an overpowering infusion could ruin the cigar.
Experiment with combining flavors. You may have noticed that some of the more nuanced flavored tobaccos use more than one flavor in its profile. You may want to imitate these or try a new combination of your own to create a unique, personal flavoring for your tobacco. Some combinations you might want to try include: Blackcurrant and wine Vanilla and cherry Cinnamon and whiskey Coffee and amaretto
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