The recipe of baking tobacco

I cooked 6 jars of flakes (Erinmore Flake, F&T Cut VA Plug, SG FVF, SG St James Flake, SG 1792 Flake, Peterson Irish Flake) 1.75-2 ounces (50-57 grams), in 1/2 pint (237 ml) Mason jars Sous-vide using an InstantPot Ultra at 180°F (82°C) for 180 minutes (somewhere I read about a 180°-for-180 minutes tobacco baking recommendation).
Turned out well, though next time I will try a single flake variety, perhaps SG FVF or Erinmore, using Sous-vide at the same temperature for 240 minutes, 300 minutes, & 360 minutes to evaluate the effects of longer cooking time.

I cooked 6 jars of flakes (Erinmore Flake, F&T Cut VA Plug, SG FVF, SG St James Flake, SG 1792 Flake, Peterson Irish Flake) 1.75-2 ounces (50-57 grams), in 1/2 pint (237 ml) Mason jars Sous-vide using an InstantPot Ultra at 180°F (82°C) for 180 minutes (somewhere I read about a 180°-for-180 minutes tobacco baking recommendation).
Turned out well, though next time I will try a single flake variety, perhaps SG FVF or Erinmore, using Sous-vide at the same temperature for 240 minutes, 300 minutes, & 360 minutes to evaluate the effects of longer cooking time.

Click to expand...

Could you please elaborate on the process?
Do you screw the lids on the jars? Do you use water in the instant pot? I would like to try this.
I would like to try this with some PS Luxury Bullseye Flake that is a little rough around the edges.

So this mellows the harshness out of a blend or single-leaf? I'd just let it age or dry to some degree, but this would be quicker. Many blends or constituent tobaccos have already been heated or steamed. Maybe it would be better to find a blend more to your liking? What are the good results?

unkleyoda:

Sous-vide is a form of water-immersion slow cooking jarred or bagged (vacuum sealed or zipper bags) at a constant temperature; usually an immersed water circulator/heater helps to maintain an even & consistent temperature. It is not pressure cooking.
I filled the InstantPot Ultra with sufficient water to cover the 6 Mason jars which were immersed once the water temperature reached 180°F. To keep them immersed I placed a two 8.5" salad plates, one inverted & the other upright, on top of the jars. I put the InstantPot lid on with the pressure release valve opened, & adjusted the temperature & cooking time with the "Ultra" setting.



Pot with 3 jars on the trivet & no water (for illustration)


Inverted salad plate on top of jars


Upright salad plate on inverted plate


InstantPot lid keeps both plates pressed down on the jars
This appears more complicated than it is, but there is no odor as might occur while baking tobacco, which would offend SWMBO. Also, I don’t worry about overly drying, scorching, or burning the tobacco.
The InstantPot Ultra is not the optimal sous-vide setup and I wouldn’t use it a such for cooking food, but it is acceptable for cooking tobacco.
Next time I will try vacuum sealed pouches which should not need to be weighed down & would use less water.

Awesome! Thanks.
I'm gonna try this, my wife has an Instant Pot.

I forgot to add that InstantPot water heating to 180F is SLOW, so I prime it with water heated to 170-180F in an electric hot water kettle.

I’m going to my tobacconist to get a few tins of flakes, then try vacuum pouch sous-vide for 240, 300, & 360 minutes.
Good luck & have fun with this (I remind SWMBO that at least it’s not a science experiment in the back of the refrigerator).

Hmmmm ...another application for the InstantPot. I might just need to do a little experimenting with this.

I use one that is similar for a reverse sear all my steaks. The unit has a small heating element and a pump that will heat up any pot or even a 5 gallon dry wall bucket of water to 100-200+.

I just throw my sealed tins or jars in the oven at 190° F (88° C) for 6 hours. Had great success with Erinmore Flake, Escudo and Ye Olde Signe doing it this way. The important thing to do is let it settle, let it breath for about a week after baking it as it gets much better than smoking it right after it cools down from the oven.

can someone explain to me what the hell is going on here? Why are you doing this?

alaskanpiper:

Here's a previous thread - Tin Baking
folanator:

That's a nice, highly rated Sous-Vide Immersion Circulator (Best Immersion Circulators)

can someone explain to me what the hell is going on here? Why are you doing this?

Click to expand...

I love your honesty! Lol.
In short it’s basically like stoving your own tobacco at home. Stoving a VA blend will caramelize the sugars and the tobaccos will darken significantly giving the blend a different taste profile. This is one reason why people use the Delayed Gratification Technique (DGT) as firing up the bowl basically stoves the tobaccos in the chamber, however, I’ve never had much luck with DGT, it’s never tasted better to me than a freshly packed bowl. Stoving your tins can be really fun and you may actually like the finished product better. I only recommend you do this to VA based blends though. I don’t recommend doing this to a blend you already love like say, Dunbar for instance, I seriously doubt you could ever improve that blend, I mean, you can’t improve perfection.

Dunbar for instance, I seriously doubt you could ever improve that blend, I mean, you can’t improve perfection.

Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more on that note! Dunbar is easily my favorite VaPer so far.
Good to know, I'll check out the other thread listed above as well.

I always have to refresh my memory when it comes to Dunbar and/or Durbar...

Click to expand...

Well If I ever get into blending I know what to name the flagship blend. Looks like it will garner at least a 3.0 rating!!!