This is a delicious, clean tobacco recipe with a sweet caramel vibe to it. Mix link.
- 5.0% - DFS - Holy Holy Grail RY4
- 1.5% - FLV - Red Burley
- 1.0% - FLV - Cured Tobacco
- 1.0% - FLV - Tatanka Tobacco
This recipe is inspired by Cardinal by Fear. It's a damn tasty recipe, but I wished the tobaccos were a bit more forward, so I developed this.
RY4: The Holy Holy Grail RY4 is the main flavor note in this recipe. It's a dark, sweet, caramel-forward RY4, much richer in texture than most other RY4s available. But it's very light/thin, so it needs a decent 5% to stand out.
Red Burley + Cured: Then I utilized (how /u/ID10-T would call it) the Batman and Robin of Tobaccos. These two flavors go extremely well together, and give the recipe the main tobacco note. It's a clean tobacco without any of the ashy/dirtiness to it.
Tatanka: For the last ingredient, I pretty much scanned my inventory for anything that would complement the profile. I believe Tatanka works so well here because it doesn't overpower the tobacco base while adding a luxurious layer between it and the RY4.
If you don't have Tatanka on hand, you can try without, or add 0.5% of FLV Kentucky Blend, which shares some similarities with Tatanka, but will naturally change the profile a bit.
I know it can be difficult to get your hands on the DFS RY4 outside of the US. I will start working on substituting it with more widely available flavors (TFA RY4 Double), but it's not that straightforward. If anyone has suggestions how to clone the RY4, ideas are welcome.
Edits: Added more development notes.
I don't have tatanka, but i do love the flv tobacco bros. I wonder if there's a SM substitute for it lol what's tatanka like?
FLV Tatanka is a very smooth and aromatic tobacco. I don't know if there's really a substitute for it, but you could try 0.5% (or 1.0% if you're brave) of FLV Kentucky Blend, which shares some similarities, and could work well in that recipe. /u/ChemicalBurnVictim may know better.
After all the baccos ive tried i think tatanka is one of the most unique and memorable. Its like redman chewing tobacco a lot of folks say. slightly sweet and salty, a little gummy, nice raisinish note, medium dark and earthy tobacco with a touch of caramelization, so it plays well with ry4 type mixes especially. Its my fave from the flv lineup, but needs a bit of help from dryer tobaccos if you want a more cigarish mix.
Jungle Flavors RY4 Double might be worth looking into. It's like a bolder, stronger version of TFAs, with much shorter steep time. Readily available outside the US as far as I know (definitely ok in Australia).
RY Double isn't used here
I mixed up Cardinal, and while a very well regarded recipe....it was much too light in flavor for me. Glad to see this recipe, and I'll definately give this a go, I even have Tatanka. That Tatanka has such an amazing smell to it, really rich and luxurious, almost intoxicating. I may need to up the HHG a bit for my taste, and I'll also try it with the Jungle Flavors as well. Thank you!
How long did you leave it? I find it works really well for the first week, then goes funny until about 2-3 weeks when it comes back again. The FLV Tobaccos play a game of hide and seek during the short steep.
In my experience, the tobaccos were noticable in the first week as you said. Then I just let it sit and after 2 or 3 months, the tobacco note was completely subdued and dominated by the RY4.