Pressing for flake

Once you've grown and harvested your tobacco, what do you do with it? Talk about it here.
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kbadkar
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Pressing for flake

Post by kbadkar »

I cured the top 3rd of very nice Virginia Gold plant for 3 weeks in the curing chamber and then let it hang and age for over year in the fluctuating temps and humidity of my work shed. All the other leaves and plants are in boxes under the house, but I left this one out so I could "watch" it's progress. It smelled sweet after a recent rain storm and since it was back in case, I rolled a test cig. The flavor was mild and sweet with a big nicotine buzz, but still had a hint of "greenness" to it. I guess it could have spent more time in the curing chamber. So, I decided to do a secondary process or "fermentation" on this plant to see how it changed character.

To prep the leaves I misted/sprayed the plant down with distilled water. After they were nice and pliable, I inspected each leaf for little black bugs (stuck on there from when the leaves were alive and green) and dog hairs. If any of you plan on growing and processing tobacco, let me warn you, keep your hairy dog away from the growing and processing site. It's a bitch to find and remove all the damned hairs and I'm sure I don't need to tell you how it could ruin an otherwise tasty bowl of baccy. Then I stripped the stems and roughly cut the leaves to fit and layered them into the press as evenly as possible. I clamped the press block down. After 3 days, I opened it up to inspect and smoke a sample.

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The whole top 1/3rd of a large plant ended up only being less than 1/2" thick, 3" wide, approx. 6" long. So I figure it would take 2 full plants to get 1-1/2" to 2" thick flake.

To cut the flake, I just pull the plug forward, place the block on top with the desired width of ribbon exposed and slice with a sharp knife. The Virginia sure changed after being in the press for only 3 days. It's now spicier/peppery and a little less sweet, very smooth, still strong in nicotine, but no hint of greeness.

I put the plug back in the press and clamped it down. I've been checking on the tobacco every few days to make sure it isn't getting moldy. I then remove the plug and set the wood on the heater for a bit to dry it out and then reinsert the plug and clamp again. Next weekend will be almost 2 weeks in the press and I will try another smoke sample to see if I can detect any improvement. Once the plug is dry but still pliable, I'll chop half of it up and cellar the rest in a mason jar for future sampling.

I'll continue the post if there are any new developments or refinements of the process.
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KurtHuhn
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Re: Pressing for flake

Post by KurtHuhn »

That is the coolest thing I've seen so far this week!
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Re: Pressing for flake

Post by NateTheBookie »

Neato... I'm hoping to grow my own crop this year, I may have to try something like this! :D
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flix
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Re: Pressing for flake

Post by flix »

There used to be an outfit that made these for sale on the net. Can't remember the name...
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kbadkar
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Re: Pressing for flake

Post by kbadkar »

flix wrote:There used to be an outfit that made these for sale on the net. Can't remember the name...
Yeah, someone over on coffinails or howtogrowtobacco mentioned it, only the info and links given were dead and I couldn't find any pictures or anything of it. Still, it's so simple to make, it would be ridiculous to buy one. You could just sandwich stacked tobacco leaves between two boards with C-clamps really.
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flix
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Re: Pressing for flake

Post by flix »

Well, you don't know how inept a pipemaker can be doing anything else! ;)
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