I have been wondering about how RYO cigarette companies, manage to mix different tobacco’s and end up with a single strand of tobacco that could be made up of different species. Golden Virginia for example is a blend of Virginia, Burley, and Oriental tobaccos, yet when it is processed and packaged all three tobaccos can be present in a single strand straight out of the pouch. I understand that this happens while it is being processed though does anybody know how they do this?

They call it “sheet” … they pulp the tobacco leaf stalk stems and all (plus cellulose from other plants as filler sometimes) then dye it the right color, roll it, dry it, and run it through a giant version of a paper shredder. It is a homogenized, pH balanced for cigarettes, Frankenstein concoction that provides that smooth satisfying smoking experience that 4 out of 5 doctors recommended back in the 50s.

@cpmcdill I was thinking black magic, but this makes alittle more sense Thanks man

@cpmcdill do you know if this is what they do when processing snuff as well?

Also I remember in the old drum pouches there used to be pieces in the tobacco that look like stalk and some strands of tobacco appearing black while the rest is brown, would this be a piece of the sheet that wasn’t shredded properly?

Well its a wee bit more complicated.
Commercial cigarettes and RYO tobaccos for filling ready made cigarette tubes are comprised about 30% of real tobacco leaf leaf blend, rest is mixture of vacuum puffed stems, stalks and veins and amonium celulose paper sheet cut. All of those componed and mixed together sprayed with various casings and steam dryed and rehydrated to about 10% abs for consumption and manufacturing.

Shag type rolling tobacco have greater amount of actual tobacco leaf blend (up to 70%) rest is stalks, veins and ophal + about 12% abs of moisture agents (casings and toppings). Its more or less closer to pipe tobaccos.

Jack

Gross.

@Aamon - It is unlikely that any snuff houses use the sheet process to make snuffs. However, depending on the particular snuff, it could be made from anywhere between 100% tobacco stalk material and 100% quality cured leaf. If I understand correctly, traditional English toasts and scotch snuffs were made from milled stalk, while the leaf parts of the plant were dedicated for chewing or smoking tobacco products.

@Aamon there are some YouTube videos on this. Just do a search for ‘reconstituted tobaccos.’ It looks in the vids like they are making paper. They toss some chocolate and licorice in, as well. I don’t think most cigarette smokers are picky about it.

One of the most passionate anti tobacco friends I have used to work for a cigarette manufacturer. He always says if you saw how they made them, you’d never stick one in your mouth again. I’m always arguing the point that snuff, cigars and pipe are different.

@JoesphJames I’ll have to watch of some of those videos this evening.

@JakartaBoy even just hearing about how its made, just reinforces my decision not to pick up a cigarette again.

Vacuum puffed stems, ammonia sugar paper and casing agents that is shocking, though not surprising.

I really hope cigars and American Spirit organic tobacco are not manufactured in this way, though im sure someones going to burst that bubble as well.

@aamon Here comes the bubble popping. American spirits (which my my wife smokes, the ‘organic’ ones) use reconstituted tobacco, you can tell if you buy the rollies. They just don’t add any adulterants or chemicals other than the tobacco. For a long time they didn’t add the flame retardent that makes them put themselves out either, but they do now due to federal pressure. As for snuff, it’s whole real tobacco. The reconstituted stuff only makes sense when you have economy of scale and even the largest snuff manufacturors just don’t have the sales to support it.

@Sandwhichlsles what do you exactly mean by reconstituted tobacco? Im a little afraid to ask.

https://youtu.be/8vBtq8-Snm8

That is not nearly as bad as I imagined. I actually found it very interesting and quite informative.

What a waste of good snuff

@JakartaBoy one of the arugment points I make about snuff, pipe tobacco, cigars, and snus not being like cigarettes is that the heads of the companies that make these unlike cigarettes often use their product or it’s a family operation. Not sure if current but for a long time only one ceo or head of cigarette company actually smoked cigarettes. That one fact gets people thinking.

I think if I were ever to get back into RYO tobacco, I’d use Daughters & Ryan blends. They are marketed as pipe tobacco, and can be used that way (esp. Rimboche and Picayune), but they are dry, fine shag cut tobacco that seems well suited for rolling in paper. You can’t enjoy “sheet” in a pipe. D&R has a reputation for quality, and it’s a safe bet that their products are real shredded tobacco leaf.