Creating Shisha - The Tobacco

My real appreciation of hookah has come down to tobacco.  When I first started smoking shisha, I loved the big fruity flavors, the classic double apple, and the massive clouds.  Somewhere along the line that took an abrupt turn and I find myself smoking unflavored shisha 75% of the time.  This led me to the idea that instead of taking a semi-flavorless tobacco and giving it different flavors, why not make a variety of tobaccos with the intent of experiencing the nuances of the leaf itself.

That's not to say that I don't still love my flavors.  Two of my favorites that I make are a banana/clove blend and a peppermint/blueberry blend.  I smoke them all the time and I love the experience.  And I'm also still addicted to Al Fakher's Double Apple with Mint.

But for me, the leaf is where it's at.  Here are a few that we use to make our shisha.  Each has their very own personality, look, and feel.  Each requires a different cut based on the build of the leaf which makes for its own challenge.  But the enjoyment is in the ritual, yes?

Canadian Virginia Flue Cured

The mainstay tobacco that we use for our flavored blends is the Virginia Flue Cured.  Light in color and light in flavor, it is a perfect leaf for flavoring.  And luckily it is one of the easier leafs to cut.  Being that everything we do is hand-cut, the process is very time consuming and tough on the hands.  Also known as Brightleaf Tobacco, it is a very smooth smoke.

The cut that we put on this leaf is done by rolling the tobacco into a bunch and cross cutting the roll.  This makes for a long, thick shisha leaf and gives a great amount of surface area for flavor to hold on to.  We are also able to separate the stems very cleanly from this leaf, so what you get is a 99% stem free shisha with a nice even cut.

American Virginia Flue Cured


Much fuller and richer in flavor that the Canadian Flue Cured, the American Virginia Flue Cured has a lot more depth and seemingly a greater buzz than the Canadian.  This is also a drier leaf with smaller stems that are reasonably usable and cut for the blend.  This makes for a different texture in the package than the Canadian.

The cut is also made slightly different because with the drier nature of the leaf, the cuts tend to be much smaller and random than that of the Canadian blends.  It also makes for a drier feel in the hands when being packed.

We only use the American VFC for unflavored blends.  It is a 100% natural Gallberry honey blend that we buy at a local farm.  When burning this blend, you can also get a beautiful whisp of the honey burning on the aroma.  The richness of the leaf is perfect for the light and flavorful honey mix as the two make a combination that is unmistakable once you've had a few bowls of it.

Connecticut Broad Leaf 

This is a big-punch leaf.  A very strong, but smooth and very flavorful leaf.  This is one that you don't want to smoke on for too long. lest you have a massive buzz.

A very elastic leaf, this one.  When we cut it, it takes much more effort and the leaf wants to bind up.  Not that it's not worth it.  This leaf is used in making the Magdy Louis blend, which is named after a man who I greatly respect.

This leaf is also special to me for another reason.  The punch this one packs, coupled with the massive flavor it throws off reminds me of smoking the difficult-to-find Tombac while I was in Egypt.  The Tombac was a man's-man smoke and I wanted to replicate that as closely as I could with this leaf.    Trying to replicate that experience requires a lot of heft.  Therefore, we make the Magdy Louis with 100% molasses and leave the honey out.  The rich molasses flavor is the only thing that can stand up to this big leaf and I must suggest smoking this blend with the same care as when smoking Tombac.  I woould recommend short, light puffs on this one as opposed to the big shisha drags you're probably used to.

Brazilian Habano Viso

This is a new leaf for us.  I have one pound sitting waiting for a glycerine injection as we speak.  I'm pretty excited about this leaf as everything I've read leads to me thinking that it is going to be very flavorful.  On this run, I am just blending it with Gallberry honey to see the nature of what the lead provides. It is also a very expensive tobacco, making the prospect somewhat nerve-racking.

When I received the leaf, the aroma was jumping out of the bag.  Described by experts as having a leathery, chocolaty, peppery aroma, I could definitely see the leather before I even opened the bag.  The texture on the leaf was also leathery and very easy to cut, with the perfect level of moisture for our needs.  

This particular leaf is apparently native to Cuba, but the seeds for this blend were planted and grown in Brazil.  From what I have read, it still keeps much of the characteristic of its Cuban cousin.

When we do get a good clutch on what this leaf is all about, I suspect it's going to be a candidate for a honey blend, but I'm leaning toward an orange blossom honey, which is also harvested 100% natural and local to me.  The flavors sound like they'd be a nice match, so this month of curing is going to see exceptionally long.
If there are any questions in reference to our leaves or what is used in which blends, feel free to ask.  We will also be moving into some more exotic leaves as time goes by to get deeper into the idea of unflavored shisha production.  Cheers to all of you and happy smoking!


 























  

Testing Some Home-Made Sheesha Flavors

The future lingers, the possibilities ever-grow, and the ideas continue to evolve into creative realities.

When we discussed importing hookahs into the United States, we also talked about trying to import our own brand of shisha to smoke out of said hookahs.  Somewhere along the line, the idea was thrown at me to actually create the shisha ourselves.  I remember the night, I remember the discussion, and I remember the person who gave me the idea (thank you Sarahrose).  I couldn't sleep that night.  Going over all of the tangents and adventures we could get into with this idea was greatly inspiring.

Ordering tobacco is no easy process.  I had no idea prior to this venture that there are 5 million types of tobacco grown right here in the US of A and they all offer a great variety of flavors and uses.  Unfortunately, I had no idea where to start.  What I did know was that we wanted to start with a whole leaf, cut it down ourselves, and complete the whole process ourselves, by hand.  The long, arduous process of cutting, mixing, and rubbing your fingers to get feeling back into them.

Making sheesha is pretty simple.  The ingredients are fairly easy to acquire and the process is more than enjoyable.  If you like cooking, you'd like making sheesha.  The recipe includes a mix of tobacco, molasses, honey, vegetable glycerin, and whatever flavors you want to flavor your smoke with.  Mix to your liking and smoke away.  It's that simple (pretty much).

For my first batch of sheesha, I wanted a very strong tobacco.  I figured that it nothing else, I could get the process of washing the leaves several times down to a science and learn as much about the dissolution of color and aroma from the washing.  I also wanted
to stick to some fairly simple flavors, so I rounded up some vanilla extract and some mint extract.  To start, this should at least be a decent learning tool.

I figured on making a mint, a mango, a vanilla, and a autumn type mix that was going to be my unique blend that I could toy with and see what happens.  My plan is to perfect that mix before Fall actually rolls around.

For the mint, I have been growing several mint plants at the casa and with the recent rains, they have been growing considerably and have some beautiful leaves ready to pick.  Big aroma and massive minty mouth feel on the these plants, so I'm really looking forward to the final product is able to sit and incorporate for a few weeks.

For the mango, I simply peeled a mango, cut it up, pureed it, and threw it in the mix.  Although it didn't provide the flavor of an extract, it helped the consistency and I think a good mix of both is the way to go.

My Autumn mix, which I simply called "spice" is a very aromatic blend of pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and a few other flavors.  On the nose, it is brilliant.  The flavor is somewhat overpowered by the Connecticut Broad Leaf, but that'll easily be fixed by some lighter tobacco.

For a first batch, I think I definitely got the mixes down.  Although the tobacco turned out a tad overpowering, we got some great smokes, nice balance, and good clouds from the sheesha.  I was able to share with several folks at Abbey in DeLand and Mermaid Juice in Mount Dora and get some great feedback.  The Autumn mix went over especially well and I mixed up a 25/75 mint-mango that is turning out really good.

In the long term, we're talking about utilizing the Connecticut Broad Leaf to create some middle eastern style flavors, incorporating regional spices to accompany the stronger flavors of the tobacco.  For now, it's off to Egypt tonight for a few weeks and a chance to smoke some Tombac on Thursday.  Reviews to follow.  Cheers!