Cheap scales for blending tobacco
Posted by Kerry on Wednesday, 08-Feb-2006
I have read the article(s) in RYOmag about nifty (and expensive) digital scales he recommended for use in blending tobacco. Of course, like so many of you I am sure, I balked at spending so much money on scales that cost so much even if they are capable of weighing within 1/10 of a gram accuracy. I mean, if my personal blend is off by a whole gram one way or the other, is that going to make THAT much difference? No!
About a month ago I was perusing the local Deal's which sells "cheap" merchandise for $1 or less. I found two spring based scales for the kitchen. One was a table top model similar to cheap mail scales and the other was designed to be a hanging scale. Both scales were adjustable for "zeroing out" and had markings for both grams and ounces. While in the store I tested both scales using other products in the store to test accuracy from fractions of an ounce up to one pound. Needless to say, neither scale was exceptionally precise, but the one designed as a hanging scale was pretty close on all weights I tried.
So, I took the risk and spent the $1 plus tax and bought it.
Long story short, it has made a big difference for me in obtaining consistent blends for my 1-1-1 blend of Ramback, Windsail Platinum and Two-Timer. Now my three bags empty out at the same time and the taste and quality of the blend is very consistent. Just wanted to let y'all know that you don't have to be accurate to the tune of a $100 plus digital scale. A very cheap kitchen or postal scale can be very useful and save a lot of money!
Kerry
Comments [ new ]
- Re: Cheap scales for blending tobacco
- Posted by Tim Aydt on Thursday, 09-Feb-2006
I purchased a cheap digital postal scales off eBay for about thirty bucks. Accurate to .2 of an ounce.
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- Re: Cheap scales for blending tobacco
- Posted by Kerry on Friday, 21-Sep-2007
I don't know why I didn't reply to this back when it was current, anyway...
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I don't need a scale to be accurate to .2 of an ounce. I mean, unless you are blending really small amounts of tobacco, that much won't make a difference.
The cheap scale provides me a consistent, if not accurate, measure of my tobacco so that my blends are uniform. By "not accurate" I only mean that I wouldn't trust it to show a true ounce or fraction of an ounce. However, it does work well as a "consistent" measure. Heck, I don't even need numbers on the scale, just weigh points for consistency.
My $1 cheap scale provides the latter in spades and then some!