Going to try infusing a couple sticks

I have 3 Gispert Casino III's left from a 5 pack I picked up a while ago and just can't seem to like them that much. Good smoke output and good draw but just don't seem to care for the flavor I get from them so I decided I'm going to try infusing them myself. Probably won't turn out as well as I'd like but I figure it's better than them taking up room in the wineador if I'm never going to get around to smoking them.

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I bought some Kicking Horse Grizzly Claw dark roast coffee the other day and the beans are quite oily so figured they'd be a good starting point. I ground them up and mixed in a little cocoa powder (doubt it'll help any because of the lack of moisture to transfer but worth a try). Then took an empty tic-tac container and filled it half full with vanilla extract. Put the sticks in, covered them in the coffee/cocoa mix then settled the vanilla in off to the side. Tossed in a 69% boveda to help keep the mold away. Figure I'll check in on it whenever I'm around it to make sure the vanilla isn't causing moisture issues.

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Going to give it a month and give one a try and see if they've taken any flavor from it. Not expecting much from this but figured it's worth giving it a try. Anyone ever have any luck infusing your own?

At the old site I recall a thread where someone attempted coffee infusion with some success. But then let them go another 2 months to see if it became stronger and ended up with mold

theres a threAd here that I posted on about infusion

Kayla @cheaphumidors has done this both on the old site and on CH webiste

Nice idea...anyone have links to these old infused threads?

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My infused experiment...

Looks like a fun experiment. I was looking at some bulk dried Mexican chili peppers a couple of days ago and some smelled hot and some had an incredible sweet smell to them. I might grab some and give it a try.

I've done a bit of bourbon infusing.

I have kept them in the infused humidor for about a year now...

Once a month a drop in a shot glass of Knob Creek and let it sit for a few days. Take it out and repeat.

The smokes that I tried it on were some old cigars my buddy let go, so I fear that I'm trying to polish a turd. It was kind of confirmed when I smoked my first... But I'm willing to let them sit longer and try again!

If I had to do it over again, I would try with coffee.

Plus, it's nice to see another Kicking Horse fan here!! Cliff Hanger Espresso is in constant supply in my house.

I've also tried the HooDoo Joe and Kick Ass. Loved them all.

I'm not going to get my hopes up, most of the thread's I've read about infusing your own usually have little to no success but I've been wanting to give it a go for a while and if it does work I'll be happy. If it works I might try a couple other infusing experiments with other flavors.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Upstatemax

I've done a bit of bourbon infusing.

I have kept them in the infused humidor for about a year now...

Once a month a drop in a shot glass of Knob Creek and let it sit for a few days. Take it out and repeat.

The smokes that I tried it on were some old cigars my buddy let go, so I fear that I'm trying to polish a turd. It was kind of confirmed when I smoked my first... But I'm willing to let them sit longer and try again!

If I had to do it over again, I would try with coffee.

Plus, it's nice to see another Kicking Horse fan here!! Cliff Hanger Espresso is in constant supply in my house.

I've also tried the HooDoo Joe and Kick Ass. Loved them all.

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I bought the grizzly claw and the decaf to try (new to whole beans). stood there holding a bag of cliff hanger and grizzly claw for about 10 minutes before going with the grizzly claw.

Found a technique here.. How to make your own, homemade, coffee infused premium cigars! | CigarCaptain.com .. that sounds like it has promise. asked my cigar buddy who happens to love coffee also and he has some recently bought bags of columbian coffee with lots of oils inside, we'll both throw a few sticks in and experiment.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bluenoser

I bought the grizzly claw and the decaf to try (new to whole beans). stood there holding a bag of cliff hanger and grizzly claw for about 10 minutes before going with the grizzly claw.

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Have yet to try the Grizzly Claw, I tried the Cliff Hanger and feel in love.

I've tried a few other Espresso beans in my Espresso machine and so far, none have stacked up to Cliff Hanger.

My biggest coffee let down, Black Cat Espresso. What a bag of turds that was!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lostmason

Kayla @cheaphumidors has done this both on the old site and on CH webiste

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I have had plenty of success infusing my own cigars. I have 2 humidors in my house dedicated to infusing, one is a red wine, the other is a scotch and they are always great.

However, I did try (and fail) a coffee infusion using two methods. I put the cigars submerged in grounds, which will suck all the moisture out of the cigar. I then tried brewed coffee in a cigar jar but ended up with mold. So what worked for me was seasoning a humidor and then allowing grounds to slowly moisten in the humidor, then submerging the cigars in the grounds inside the humidor for a few months with Boveda packs for moisture.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Upstatemax

Have yet to try the Grizzly Claw, I tried the Cliff Hanger and feel in love.

I've tried a few other Espresso beans in my Espresso machine and so far, none have stacked up to Cliff Hanger.

My biggest coffee let down, Black Cat Espresso. What a bag of turds that was!

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The maker of that Black Cat Expresso may have pulled the felines from the Kitty Litter too soon before roasting them.

Reading Kayla's post, had an idea (know it was an idea cause when i get one they always make my head ache until the factory installed circuit breaker kicks in, then have to reset with Boubon) any way...the is this.
Starting with a seasoned Humidor that you dont mind sacrificing.
Wipe down with triple power Espresso, let dry, repeat a few times.
Then when desired RH established, perhaps after several reapplications of the Espresso add cigars, not in direct contact with the infused wood.
Rotate the cigars from time to time.
Allow some time, note how long before smoking one.
If the resulting flavour is too subtle, pull the cigars, repeat the "seasoning" with more Espresso before returning the cigars top the humidor, again allowing time before trying another. Doing this, keeping notes of number of seasoning with the Espresso and time between smoking cigars,til one has attained your desired taste, if the cigars ever do reach that level.
Or...hopefully sanity makes a return appearance.

Now I'm back to waiting to see if today will be as nice as tomorrow was.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by allusred

Reading Kayla's post, had an idea (know it was an idea cause when i get one they always make my head ache until the factory installed circuit breaker kicks in, then have to reset with Boubon) any way...the is this.
Starting with a seasoned Humidor that you dont mind sacrificing.
Wipe down with triple power Espresso, let dry, repeat a few times.
Then when desired RH established, perhaps after several reapplications of the Espresso add cigars, not in direct contact with the infused wood.
Rotate the cigars from time to time.
Allow some time, note how long before smoking one.
If the resulting flavour is too subtle, pull the cigars, repeat the "seasoning" with more Espresso before returning the cigars top the humidor, again allowing time before trying another. Doing this, keeping notes of number of seasoning with the Espresso and time between smoking cigars,til one has attained your desired taste, if the cigars ever do reach that level.
Or...hopefully sanity makes a return appearance.

Now I'm back to waiting to see if today will be as nice as tomorrow was.

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That could work, it is what I do with my liquor infusions

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cheaphumidors

That could work, it is what I do with my liquor infusions

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I just keep a small container of vanilla in the bottom at all times, when it dries out I just add more rum, or vanilla, or what ever....

Well it's been a month so I decided to give one a go tonight and see how they were.

I think there may have been some humidity issues in the infusion as there's a crack at the head and seems a slight swelling at the foot but none the less no "real" damage to it. I had the bottom 2/3 of them covered in the coffee/cocoa so perhaps not enough air to keep the RH stable throughout the stick. No damaged noted on the other 2 so perhaps this one was damaged before and I hadn't noticed, none the less, no mold so let's see how it turned out.

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Pre-light it smells like you're about to light up a coffee crisp. Wife brought to my attention that those of you south of the border don't have coffee crisp, so Coffee Crisp is a chocolate bar made in Canada. It consists of alternating layers of vanilla wafer and a foamed coffee-flavoured soft candy, covered with a milk chocolate outer layer. A personal favorite of mine.

I used the built in punch on my lotus lighter and the pre-light draw was like sipping on a strong coffee liquor, think Kahlua but stronger. Through the first third I was nearly impressed. There was sweetness and a very light coffee taste. It has some of the coffee liquor flavor that could be tasted on the pre-light draw, but not as much infused flavor as I was hoping for.

Sadly though by the end of the first third the "make-up on a pig" so to speak was being over powered by the flavor of the Gispert that I wasn't overly fond of. There was a faint chocolately mocha flavor with a bitterness similar to the taste of straight vanilla extract that could be picked up slightly through the original flavor.

Getting into the final third the "off" flavor I disliked eased and a creaminess melded in with the chocolate/mocha flavor and actually wasn't too bad. Burn was nearly perfect the whole way through, the crack at the head caused no problems and the smoke output of this thing was great as I find these cigars usually are.

Not going to say this was a total success, but I will say I didn't ruin them, and managed to infuse some flavor into it. Every other puff or so I'd really get hit hard with chocolate, perhaps just smelling residual cocoa powder on it as I brought it in for the draw, but this was nice. I pulled the other 2 out from the coffee/cocoa mix and laid them on it instead, hopefully allowing more even humidity in them. I think I'll give them another month and try another and see what effect a little more time will have.

I did something similar with some 5 Vegas Gold and had similar results - the first third being the most flavorful, but the stick itself overpowered any attempt at infusion.

I have a bunch of dark Guatemalan coffee beans that have gone a tad stale...wondering if I should try my hand at this again :) Maybe with a stick mostly neutral/non flavorful? Can't be too low priced as I don't want any strange aftertastes to overpower the coffee. Maybe like a cheap Fuente or something.

Never infused a cigar before but coffee sounds like the perfect pick! Keep us posted on how your experiment goes, & for God's sake don't let it mold!

Well after 3 months into the experiment I decided to pull another out and give it a whirl. Like the last time there's some damage to this one as well. Some swelling at the foot has caused a nasty crack but it's not causing any trouble smoking so I'm ok with it. Pre-light smell is pure chocolate bar. pre and post light draw is giving the same "Kahlua" like flavor. Even the smell of the thing burning as it sits in the ashtray is similar to hovering the nose over a cup of hot cocoa on a cold winter's day. The flavor profile of the original cigar seems more muted by the infusion flavoring, yet there's still a little something in there kicking through that I'm not fond of. Perhaps I'll try again another time with a cigar I actually like (though changing the taste of one I like seems pointless to me...)

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Over all though I'm pretty happy with how it's tasting. There's one left from the original setup, I'll let it sit another 3 months or so and see. I think the main thing in this is maintaining better/more stable RH in a better sealing container to avoid the cracking and time. After 3 months it's much better than the one at 1 month. I'm guessing that more time won't make much more of a difference than the 3 months I've had it going now but time will tell...