Aging Tobacco

[rhoadsie]

How is tobacco aged before tinning? We buy tins to age and presumably improve it but that same tobacco may have been aged for years? Is it aged in a different environment than the tin? Are we really aging to mellow "casing" or some preservative? Is this similar to cigars where sitting in a humidor will lead to the development of "plume"?

 

[clickklick]

Plume will happen. Tobacco leaves have to be aged before being used in the blend or they can be fairly harsh "green". I believe they are aged in casks or wood boxes, but I've only heard, don't know for sure.
Aging before blending is different from aging in the tin. In the tin the blend mixes and settles together and the anaerobic bacteria go to work. Usually for the better!

 

[deathmetal]

We buy tins to age and presumably improve it but that same tobacco may have been aged for years?

Or months, but either way, it seems to benefit -- like wisdom -- from the passage of years!

 

[jitterbugdude]

Depends on the tobacco. Burley, after curing in the barn is baled into big bales like hay. It is then sold to big tobacco where it is allowed to sweat the following spring ( a mild fermentation) for about a month or so. Virginia, after the flue cure process is also baled and stored in a warehouse but not sweated. Turkish is similar to Burley.