Drying Tobacco- One Method

[Warlee]

I have yet to find a downside. But, I do this mostly with Virginias and other non-aros. Drying a codger blend or aromatic would be drying the toppings on those, so you'd lose a lot of taste if you dried them to my preference.

I find that smoked very slowly, dried tobacco has much more flavor, without all of the added steam.

I can smoke a tin in a few weeks, but sometimes I may take six months to nine for some blends that I don't smoke regularly. It would take several years for a tobacco to totally lose the essential oils that we would call staleness.

But, if you're hesitant... just do what makes you most comfortable. I'm not in this to inflict my ways on anyone.

Sounds like our preferences are similar. Thank you for the detailed info.

I certainly have some blends that smoke fine right out of the un dried tin. But don’t want to limit what I smoke when. Living in western Michigan there are times I could set a wetter tobacco out for hours and it wouldn’t dry any appreciable amount.

Going to dry a tin out and see how it goes!

 

[karam]

I try to keep measurements at 70º, and note the initial moisture content (which range from ca. 90% to 70%). Then I dry down to 70% for shag, and lower for thicker cuts.

I have no experience with aromatics, but yes, it depends on the blend.

This sounds like a lot of work man!

I stand by airing a whole tin for a day or so, then closing it and starting smoking 1-2 weeks later. Gawith aromatics always smoke as they come, wet and sticky, they are fine. Straight Virginias always "freshly bone dry" as Embers eloquently put it. All the rest get precisely some drying for some time before smoking

 

[jpmcwjr]

This sounds like a lot of work man!

<< Snipped bits out >>

Think batch processing, man! And accuracy. It would drive me nuts to have to stop to prep each bowl.

 

[ahouston]

I find that cracking a tin so that it isn't vacuum sealed and leaving it alone for a few weeks dries pretty well. You have to be patient though, so hopefully have other tins to smoke

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

Long drive home this morning, so this thread reminded me to put some out overnight - three little hills of different tobaccos on napkins, with a napkin over the top, got the pipes next to the ones I want to match up with (totally unscientific but the first blend will be in a Peterson Short just to ease into this early morning). Just have to be intentional about it, which often I'm not!

 

[Scottishgaucho]

Fortunately the blends I smoke never come that moist I have to dry them before smoking. If they did I probably wouldn't buy them again.

 

[pipesolitude]

Just adding my method when ending up with too dry tobaccos for whatever reason (an inverted but related topic nevertheless). Sometimes it has happend due to a jar not functioning properly, and up to a year later I've found the tobacco to be bone dry. And to be honest, I have sometimes opened a tin, forgot about it for many months, and it has turned dry as dust. What I do is just to put the tobacco in a strainer over boiling water, allowing it to remoist by the steam (if too much, just let it dry out to proper level), and then sit in a jar for a week or so to balance out. I don't know how unorthodox this method is, but it works for me. I had tobacco come alive again in a beautiful way, even pondering if it helps the tobacco to taste even better. And I had no molding issues, but it is not a method I've used for cellering, only for jars that I keep around to smoke from.