In Fred J. Hanna's book The Perfect Smoke, Fred describes baking tobacco in the tin to speed up the aging process. He recommends baking the tin with the label on for about five hours at just under 200 degrees. I decided to try his experiment with a 2020 tin of GLP Union Square, a lovely blend that can be a bit rough before it gets a little age. The baking presumably mellow outs and sweetens the flavor.
My oven is not finely enough calibrated to maintain 190 degrees so I set it to between 150 and 200 and left in for five hours before turning off the oven and letting it cool overnight. The tin swelled up but didn't burst. I cut open the tin the next morning ( had to use a knife) and took a look. The first thing that hit me was the rich bakery aroma, far more than I would normally detect. The flakes were quite moist but moderately darkened from their light golden color when fresh. I sampled a bowl in my Castello great line fiammata, a reliably good smoker. As predicted, the flavor was richer, mellower and sweeter than I remembered the fresh tobacco to be. There was absolutely no harshness or bite. No rough edges.
Is baking tobacco something I will do with all my tins? (BTW, you have to use sealed tins like the ones used by C&D for this.) Probably not, but I might try it again on some other Virginias that could use a little softening. Thanks Fred for sharing your experience in your excellent book. There is always something new to learn and experiments to try in pursuit of "the perfect smoke."
My oven is not finely enough calibrated to maintain 190 degrees so I set it to between 150 and 200 and left in for five hours before turning off the oven and letting it cool overnight. The tin swelled up but didn't burst. I cut open the tin the next morning ( had to use a knife) and took a look. The first thing that hit me was the rich bakery aroma, far more than I would normally detect. The flakes were quite moist but moderately darkened from their light golden color when fresh. I sampled a bowl in my Castello great line fiammata, a reliably good smoker. As predicted, the flavor was richer, mellower and sweeter than I remembered the fresh tobacco to be. There was absolutely no harshness or bite. No rough edges.
Is baking tobacco something I will do with all my tins? (BTW, you have to use sealed tins like the ones used by C&D for this.) Probably not, but I might try it again on some other Virginias that could use a little softening. Thanks Fred for sharing your experience in your excellent book. There is always something new to learn and experiments to try in pursuit of "the perfect smoke."
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