Pipe Tobacco Mead?

[commonsenseman]

I am wondering if it is possible to make a pipe tobacco flavored mead. I have a large stash of pipe tobacco & i've been thinking for a while of making one out of it. I'm not sure if the natural oils in the leaf will pose a problem or not, perhaps if I add it to secondary it'll be ok? Here's what I was thinking:

3 lbs of the darkest, strongest honey I can find.
50g 1792 Flake tobacco, either in primary of secondary. This is strong stuff, so it would probably dominate.
Nutrient & Energizer, SNA.
D-47 (it's what I have on-hand).
Water to 1-gallon.

Thoughts?

Is there anything else I could add to help balance the flavor?

 

[AToE]

If the oils did end up causing a problem and coming out into the mead I'd guess you've have to just carefully rack from underneith it - which would be easier if it was added in primary and you made about 1.1 gallons, so that the losses wouldn't leave you with headroom.

Also, I would ferment the amount of honey you have planned there, but after 6-10 months you may need to backsweeten a bit, depending on how the tobacco interacts with the taste of the mead.

I've considered using very small amounts of high quality tobacco to add complexity to some meads, so even though you're planning on using more, if it's too much it will at least teach you about what tobacco brings to the table, and you can always blend it with a tobacco-less mead to taste down the road.

 

[commonsenseman]

If the oils did end up causing a problem and coming out into the mead I'd guess you've have to just carefully rack from underneith it - which would be easier if it was added in primary and you made about 1.1 gallons, so that the losses wouldn't leave you with headroom.

Also, I would ferment the amount of honey you have planned there, but after 6-10 months you may need to backsweeten a bit, depending on how the tobacco interacts with the taste of the mead.

I've considered using very small amounts of high quality tobacco to add complexity to some meads, so even though you're planning on using more, if it's too much it will at least teach you about what tobacco brings to the table, and you can always blend it with a tobacco-less mead to taste down the road.

So, worst case scenario, there'd be a layer of oil on top of the mead?

I suppose I may be overdoing the amount of tobacco. This stuff is quite full-flavored, so perhaps I could tone it down a little. I want it to taste like there's tobacco in there, but I don't want it to be like drinking a glass of Grizzly.

As you said, I could always blend it if it becomes bitter & terrible tasting.

 

[AToE]

On the flip side, easier than blending is adding the tobacco in smaller amounts, some during primary, then wait 4-6 months, give it a taste and sniff, see if you want more, add more, etc. Treat it like any other spice or oak basically.

 

[Medsen Fey]

The perfect mead for competition*!
Hold it between the cheek and gum.
Swirl it around the mouth.
Then Spit! ;D


*Best consumed while wearing a John Deere baseball cap.

 

[commonsenseman]

Hmm, I do have a traditional that's just nine days into primary.....

 

[commonsenseman]

The perfect mead for competition*!
Hold it between the cheek and gum.
Swirl it around the mouth.
Then Spit! ;D


*Best consumed while wearing a John Deere baseball cap.

Hey! I resemble that remark!

Redneck metheglin?

 

[Chevette Girl]

I love the smell of tobacco... that is, until you set it on fire...

Just a caution, guys, there's a reason you spit out the tobacco juice rather than swallowing it!

"Sixty milligrams of nicotine (the amount in about 30-40 cigarettes [1]), has the potential to kill an adult who is not a smoker[2] if all of the nicotine were absorbed", I don't know what the transfer rate would be in mead or how much nicotine is in 50g of pipe tobacco, or whether there's anything else toxic in tobacco... but be careful with this one, do your research before you get started!

 

[commonsenseman]

I love the smell of tobacco... that is, until you set it on fire...

Just a caution, guys, there's a reason you spit out the tobacco juice rather than swallowing it!

"Sixty milligrams of nicotine (the amount in about 30-40 cigarettes [1]), has the potential to kill an adult who is not a smoker[2] if all of the nicotine were absorbed", I don't know what the transfer rate would be in mead or how much nicotine is in 50g of pipe tobacco, or whether there's anything else toxic in tobacco... but be careful with this one, do your research before you get started!

That is a valid point! I don't need to get a "nicotine high" off a glass of mead.

Here's how I figure it'll breakdown:

1 bowl of pipe tobacco is roughly equal to 2-5 cigarettes in Nicotine content, depending on a few factors (smoking time, inhaling, tobacco variety, etc).

1 cigarette has approximately 9mg of Nicotine

So one bowls worth of tobacco is somewhere between 18-45mg of nicotine.

I do not inhale pipe smoke & I'm not sure how much Nicotine would be transferred to the must, but I can't imagine it's all of it.

50g of pipe tobacco is roughly 15 bowls worth, or 270-675mg of nicotine. Assuming all of that made it's way into the must, we'd be looking at around 27-67.5mg of Nicotine per 12oz serving.

So if it extracts all of it, we could be looking at unsafe amounts of Nicotine, if not, well who knows.

I will probably add it to taste & the more I think about it, I doubt I'll end up adding all 50g. I betcha it'd be way to overpowering.

 

[Slownewone]

Hmmm...muy interesante, the shamans of the Asháninka, a Peruvian indigenous culture, induce trance through ingesting massive amounts of tobacco...and ayahuasca :happy8:.

 

[Loadnabox]

The taste of tobacco is going to be extremely different than the smell burned or unburned. Try putting some of the pipe tobacco into your mouth like chew. Alternately make a tea out of it and try drinking a bit. This will give you an idea of what it will add to your mead.

I'm personally betting it won't be good and this is from a former smoker.

 

[Arden]

Is nicotine water soluble, alcohol soluble...? That would affect how much is taken up by the mead.

 

[IanB]

This sounds like a really cool idea

I think you might want to consider using the tobacco in a differant way. What about smoking some fruit or the zest of fruit to make some kind of smoke mead? Almost like the beer guys do when they used smoking peat to impart flavor/roasting of the grain or hops when they put it in and make a smoked porter?

I think tobacco straight in the mead might be a little off in flavor??

 

[TheAlchemist]

Hmmm...muy interesante, the shamans of the Asháninka, a Peruvian indigenous culture, induce trance through ingesting massive amounts of tobacco...and ayahuasca :happy8:.

Are you considering making an ayahuasca mead?

 

[TheAlchemist]

I think you might want to consider using the tobacco in a differant way. What about smoking some fruit or the zest of fruit to make some kind of smoke mead? Almost like the beer guys do when they used smoking peat to impart flavor/roasting of the grain or hops when they put it in and make a smoked porter?

I think tobacco straight in the mead might be a little off in flavor??

I'm with you, Ian.

 

[commonsenseman]

You all have very interesting points, I suppose I do not know exactly what it will be like unsmoked. I've been considering adding a little something extra to give it that "old guy" pipe smell, maybe some vanilla in addition to the tobacco.

Unfortunately, I already added a little bit of tobacco last night, so it's too late for that. I have no way of weighing it, but it's somewhere around 2-3 grams worth.

 

[AToE]

I think raw tobacco is a perfectly fine addition, I've seen it used in cooking (never tried it) and while I've never chewed on the stuff, the aroma of raw tobacco (the good stuff) is one of the best on the planet in my opinion.

 

[commonsenseman]

I think raw tobacco is a perfectly fine addition, I've seen it used in cooking (never tried it) and while I've never chewed on the stuff, the aroma of raw tobacco (the good stuff) is one of the best on the planet in my opinion.

Agreed!

I added a second type of tobacco that's a little sweeter & milder (but still very high quality) to help balance it. I'm still seriously considering adding a little vanilla as well, I'm expecting it to come out fairly bitter.

Oh, & I've decided that "Redneck Metheglin" is the perfect name for this experiment. Plus if if it turns out halfways decent, it'll be funny to enter that into a competition.

 

[TheAlchemist]

Oh, & I've decided that "Redneck Metheglin" is the perfect name for this experiment. Plus if if it turns out halfways decent, it'll be funny to enter that into a competition.

Great Name.
For me, the name is about as important as the recipe.
You could add the subtitle "a pinch between the cheek and gum"

 

[AToE]

I'd hold off on vanilla until at least 5 or 6 months in, because you'll really want to learn what the tobacco brought to the table, and you won't be able to taste/smell that properly until the mead has at least partially cleared and aged. For all you know, you might wind up with a strong vanilla note in there just from the tobacco (or not, just a possibility. Oak contributes subtle vanilla, so it's not impossble other plants might too. You won't know until you wait!).