How is flavoured tobacco flavored?
When we are talking about flavored tobacco or flavoured tobacco (if you’re fancy), we are talking about shisha for the most part. Many of our customers smoke hookah on the reg, and because of that they probably have flavored shisha that they consume, which is delicious.
But most people sometimes think that the tobacco is just grown next to stuff that happens to taste good, and that’s how they acquire flavor. While that may be true for some plants like coffee and wine, tobacco does not acquire the flavor the same way. To make shisha flavored that way, we need a few simple ingredients, Tobacco, Molasses (or honey, whatevs), flavoring and glycerin.
Tobacco Leaves – Dry Tobacco might be the hardest thing to acquire regarding making shisha. What you will want to do is gut some cheap cigars or get some pipe tobacco, there are also brands such as bugler or kite that make rolled tobacco for smoking cigarettes. I would recommend this but note that is a little bit of a weaker material than what would be structurally sound.
Molasses or Honey – These are pretty great options for making it all stick together, but in my opinion and experience, I would say you want honey that is thick. I don’t care if you want orange blossom honey or wallflower, but you want to have thickness. The thickness will encapture the tobacco and turn it into a wick, this makes it much easier to smoke in the long run and makes some gorgeous plume.
Flavor – Find a flavor, like syrup from somewhere. If you can avoid dies, the better. I like using the stuff from Starbucks like the peach, mango, or raspberry, because for the most part, they are juicy and still flavorful. But they are a little expensive, and there’s a lot of it.
Glycerin – Glycerin… First, just out of precedent, I hate using glycerin because I just don’t like anything that I feel can explode by its name alone. But it does add a little bit of grit and makes it less sticky which is nice. But ultimately, depending on the size of your brew, it might not be necessary.
Manage your Tobacco – Trim it, cut it, get the nice bits and avoid the stems. The same rule that applies to other plants applies to tobacco; stems are harsh. Then you want to add water to the tobacco to make it wet and soppy. We do this because when it’s dried out, the pores are harder to access with the sweet molasses and flavoring.
Stickify it - I stick to this proportion, 3 to 1, tobacco to honey. If you want to add glycerin, 10 to 1 for tobacco to glycerin. But for the flavorings, wing it, it’s, however, much you want to add. I insist that if you want to make it 2 to 1 for the honey it is tasty as is. But you’re going to mix the flavor and honey in a bowl and then start sprinkling in the shisha after it’s all well established you want to go ahead and stick it in the fridge for cooling down.
Next Leveling – Some people like baking it for a little to bring out the glycerin and Honey. But I think there are two problems with that.
1. You’re putting glycerin in an oven, and I don’t mess with that. 2. I think it damages the flavoring.
Finishing Step – You’ve smoked shisha before, because of that you will know what the consistency looks like when it’s completed. But the next best thing you will want to do let it sit for a day to a week to make sure it’s the best consistency for you.
Or you can buy the damn thing. At Sessions, we keep the best selections of Starbuzz and Al-Fahker you can get on the market. If you want to learn more about smoking shisha or our company come on down or give us a call at 954-399-8558
