pictures of curing tobacco

Once you've grown and harvested your tobacco, what do you do with it? Talk about it here.
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nepenthes
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pictures of curing tobacco

Post by nepenthes »

I was wondering if any of you guys could post pictures of your tobacco curing progressively?

Mines not looking to... good.
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kbadkar
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Post by kbadkar »

Right now, I'm color curing and drying. There's not much to show. It wilts; green turns yellow, except around the rib and viens; then turns completely yellow, or the stem stays green; the yellow progressively turns to tan, brown, reddish, or dark brown (depending on strain) and completely dries out. The Turkish Samsun and other really dark leaves sometimes go directly to brown. Often the small dark leaves dried green, I believe because the shed got too hot and dry. Some other leaves dried with some green areas as well. As R.Perkins pointed out, by the time you're finished with the "second" curing process, you should be able to work the green out.

After I'm done drying everything out, the real curing will start. I'm still researching different methods and will experiment with batches. I built a drying box out of those foam insulation sheets that I'll convert into a curing chamber, with a humidifier and heater of some sort as the weather cools. I'll update this post with pics in a while.

Here:
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kbadkar
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Post by kbadkar »

This is the drying chamber with the top open. As the leaves wilt and dry I squeeze them closer together toward the center to make more room. Here I just moved them for the next round of harvest:

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This is with fresh leaves in on the ends. They take up a lot of space until they wilt at least:

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The drying chamber has worked much better than the drying shed, which just gets too hot and dry and should probably be ventilated more at noon to 4, when it gets real hot. In the drying chamber, I've had no problems with drying before color curing.
nepenthes
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Post by nepenthes »

I like your set up!

So you go through two steps? Drying then Color curing? One just uses humidity and the other drys it?
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kbadkar
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Post by kbadkar »

First step is color curing and drying. The color curing is just getting the leaves to turn yellow to brown, which just happens to happen while drying. The idea is to avoid drying green, which tastes like grass (lawn grass, that is) when smoked. If your curing rig is too hot and dry, some leaves will dry green or with green patches. On scorching hot days, my shed baked some curing leaves green. Now with the humidifier in there, they are slowly browning up, because the leaves are re-hydrating at night and drying again in the heat of the day. If it is too cool and/or humid, it will take forever to dry and mold will attack. I've heard the ideal color curing/drying condition is 70 deg F with 70% rh.

Once everything is brown and dry (about 8 weeks), it's time for the real curing and/or fermentation. At this point, you can store the leaves away (in cardboard boxes, for example) and continue curing at a later date or just let them age there for at least a year if you don't want to bother. This next step has so many variables and everyone has their own recipes. First thing is to re-constitute or moisten the tobacco so it is pliable and can be handled without crumbling. Then, these are a few curing ideas I want to try:

Heating in mason jars over or in simmering water. I believe this process is called stoving.

Fermenting under pressure, like Perique.

Curing chamber - re-build my foam drying box into an upright curing chamber. Add a heater and put in the humidifier to keep conditions @ 130 deg F and 65-70% rh for 8 weeks. And maybe add some hardwood smoke occasionally in a batch to see how that turns out.


If anyone has curing ideas or curing processes that have worked for you, please do tell!
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Abi Natur
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Re: pictures of curing tobacco

Post by Abi Natur »

That is a really a detailed and eloquently written photo documentation,i congratulate you kbadkar on this tobacco curing process you established and thanks for sharing!
" Keep it simple until it gets complicated "

http://www.canaanpipes.com/
themathclub
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Re: pictures of curing tobacco

Post by themathclub »

thats some dedication :) gj, it's a very complex process it seems
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