I Guess it's My Turn for a Grow Thread

[cosmicfolklore]

Yep! My first year, I grew too many varieties and was too slow in researching how to cure. I smoked that batch with rainbow tinted lenses, but it wasn’t great, till I found some from that year stashed away a few years latter. Patience is the key.

And, there’s always more ways to skin a cat... everyone seems to have different ways to cure. You just have to acknowledge that if they like what they’re doing, it must work for them. I am still learning, and I would never tell someone else that what they’re doing is wrong. Actually, that’s what I love about the process. I am always learning something new.
It is very much like becoming a connoisseur of cooking and eating greens. Everyone cooks turnip greens differently. Instead of thinking your one way of making them is right, try Aunt Bessie’s way one time and see.
I don’t really care to get into the tobacco business, but I wish it didn’t feel so illegal to share tobaccos to see if others think it is as good as I think it is. Or, try other people’s tobaccos to see if what they do is better for your own crops. Maybe all of this is within the law, but when you’re not sure what the limits of the law is, it makes a free exchange of ideas harder, IMO.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I just re-read my post above, and it sounds like I am admonishing someone for being intolerant. I didn’t mean to sound that way at all, ha ha. That’s what I get for posting before coffee.

 

[spicy_boiii]

One of the fastest and easiest batch germinations I've done. So far so good.

 

[jvnshr]

Love this kind of threads.

 

[bron340]

I am very glad I searched for this topic. I ordered seed the other day, and am waiting to germinate. I also started researching the curing process as soon as I decided to grow my own tobacco.

 

[bron340]

I am hoping to try a number of curing processes so I can try to have different styles of tobacco to blend. For those who have done it before, how difficult is it to flue and fire cure?

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I am hoping to try a number of curing processes so I can try to have different styles of tobacco to blend. For those who have done it before, how difficult is it to flue and fire cure?

You will need to build a kiln/flue of sorts. Some have done this with old refrigerators. I made mine out of wood and those insulation boards. You want to keep it at a variable 130F-160F for a sustained rise for up to five or so days. You will also need to keep the humidity up in the 90% range. I use crock pots for the heat and humidity sources.

It is not hard, you just can't let it go unattended.

 

[bron340]

This might be a simple question but, would fire curing tobacco be similar to smoking meat?

 

[cosmicfolklore]

This might be a simple question but, would fire curing tobacco be similar to smoking meat?

Yes, and no. It is the same process and I've used one of those electric pellet smokers, but it has to be sustained for just as long as flue curing. I used two 50 gallon barrels stacked to make the kiln, and then used the pellet burner for smoke and heat. The problem with meat smokers is that they are designed to hold the heat at 300F-450F, and that is way too high for curing. So, you'll need to play with ways to keep the heat down. Stacking the barrels is a good way, because that creates more area for the heat, bringing it down some.

I wasn't 100% satisfied with my fire curing attempts. Although, I have had folks rave about how good the blends were that I used it, it just didn't get the tobaccos really dark or as potent and spicy as I wanted. I just didn't play with it, because all of my efforts the next year was on color curing a red Virginia.

 

[bron340]

Yes, and no. It is the same process and I've used one of those electric pellet smokers, but it has to be sustained for just as long as flue curing. I used two 50 gallon barrels stacked to make the kiln, and then used the pellet burner for smoke and heat. The problem with meat smokers is that they are designed to hold the heat at 300F-450F, and that is way too high for curing. So, you'll need to play with ways to keep the heat down. Stacking the barrels is a good way, because that creates more area for the heat, bringing it down some.

I wasn't 100% satisfied with my fire curing attempts. Although, I have had folks rave about how good the blends were that I used it, it just didn't get the tobaccos really dark or as potent and spicy as I wanted. I just didn't play with it, because all of my efforts the next year was on color curing a red Virginia.

How did the red Virginia experiment go? Because I enjoy it as well. This is going to be an interesting experiment. I expect it to be similar to brewing and vinting. You're bound to lose a batch now and then.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

How did the red Virginia experiment go? Because I enjoy it as well. This is going to be an interesting experiment. I expect it to be similar to brewing and vinting. You're bound to lose a batch now and then.

I never lost a batch, but not all batches ended up red, some were orange, some brown, but none lost.

To get reds, you will want to research color curing as in how you'd kiln cure cigar leaf. There are lots of youtube videos. You are going to be simulating how cigar leaf is heated in stacks and then restacked, restacked, etc etc... This is what gives them that spicy taste.

 

[rajangan]

Here's some info that gives you an idea of the temperatures involved in fire curing.

http://www.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/agr/agr152/agr152.pdf

I built a brick fire pit with a lid. Next to it was a box where I hung the tobacco, which was built with cement board. Smoke went from the bottom of the fire pit into the bottom of the box and exited by a fan at the top which ran on a temperature controller. The fire was basically smothered when the tobacco was up to temperature. When the temperature dropped below the set point, the fan would turn on and feed the fire.

 

[pantsBoots]

One Sucker tobacco over the last couple months. Just put 20 plants in the ground at our new house, with another 4 to put in.

A couple weeks old:


Before their haircut:


After their haircut, hardening off:


Spreading out under the sun:

 

[Jeff 11B]

I don't know burley but I do know Bright leaf Virginia. If you want a golden leaf without brown spot or mold, you'll have to cure the tobacco. This happens in four steps and takes about a week. First, you have to "color" the tobacco at a low temperature. Then you go up on the heat and "wilt" the leaf. Up the heat again after that to cure or dry the leaf. Finish on high heat, around 165 F. to dry the stems to prevent "swell stem". Any moisture left in the stem will cause rot when stored. Just like a compost bin. You'll have to watch the leaf to know when to go up on the heat, We had to get up in the middle of the night to check the barns any time we were curing tobacco, and someone had to stay with the barn when we were on high heat. As the leaves dried, the stems became smaller in diameter and some would slip out of the tobacco twine where they were tied to the stick. If they fell on top of the burners they could start a fire and you could not only loose the crop but the barn also. We don't use stick barns since bulk barns became available, but for what you want to do I think you could build a small "barn" out of a couple of sheets of plywood and install a single gas burner inside. Just make sure you install a window in the door so you don't have to open the door to check the tobacco or thermometer. You'll have a beautiful golden leaf that will be in demand and will store for a long time.

 

[rajangan]

A safe solution is to use rigid insulation to make your box and a crockpot on a temperature controller.

Flue curing never involves exposing the leaf to exhaust fumes as its been proven that doing so greatly increases carcinogens within the leaf. Industrial sized flue curing chambers are basically computer controlled, insulated shipping containers with highly efficient heat exchangers in them. The hobbyist doesn't need to use combustion as heat.

Tattoo this upside down on your stomach for quick reference:

 

[mso489]

The laws around what you do with the tobacco are pretty draconian, so don't fall into any of that. They'll send the SWAT team over. Just don't sell it. In some situations, gifting may be a problem. In this day and age of legalized pot, this seems ridiculous because it is, but these enforcement people have to justify their jobs. I'm not sure about the plants themselves. There must be some minimal amount where allotments don't apply. I'd just keep it in the family. Even during Prohibition in the U.S. you could still make beer and wine at home for home use, Elliot Ness not withstanding. There is some fine leaf pictured above. Those little sprouts will come up overnight. How are the blossoms ... I've heard they're quite nice.

 

[pantsBoots]

The laws around what you do with the tobacco are pretty draconian, so don't fall into any of that. They'll send the SWAT team over. Just don't sell it. In some situations, gifting may be a problem. In this day and age of legalized pot, this seems ridiculous because it is, but these enforcement people have to justify their jobs. I'm not sure about the plants themselves. There must be some minimal amount where allotments don't apply. I'd just keep it in the family. Even during Prohibition in the U.S. you could still make beer and wine at home for home use, Elliot Ness not withstanding. There is some fine leaf pictured above. Those little sprouts will come up overnight. How are the blossoms ... I've heard they're quite nice.

If you're asking after the One Sucker blossoms, they are supposed to be beautiful, but most of the plants will be topped. I'll be posting pics throughout the season and as I get into air-drying. I need to talk with my tobacco people up in Robertson County and find out how many plants I need for seed production - hopefully a couple that I let sucker out and flower will be enough. I've been growing Rustica for a couple years, but have always let them flower to get good seed production as the strain I have is a rare little strain from the Great Lakes area - it grows fine here in the south, if a little short.

 

[pantsBoots]

One Sucker. I've topped most of them, letting a few select plants flower. Being a madole variety, I selected a couple with the characteristic skinny leaves, but also that exhibit good coloring and vigorous growth. I also let a couple go that are vigorous, but with leaves more resembling a traditional Burley varietal. Not sure if these phenotypes are significant, but, hell, free seed for next year is free seed for next year.

 

[Country Bladesmith]

I’ve been kicking around the idea of doing this, too. For next year, obviously. Too late to start now. The curing is what’s keeping from going all in. Not sure where or how I’d do it.

 

[rajangan]

I’ve been kicking around the idea of doing this, too. For next year, obviously. Too late to start now. The curing is what’s keeping from going all in. Not sure where or how I’d do it.

My first few years after discovering the FTT forum, I went all in. I had built two curing rooms at two different residences. The second was 4'x7'x8' on the inside, with 7.5" thk insulation, temperature and humidity controlled, vented, etc. I could heat it up to 170°F easily with 900W of lightbulb heat, so it was an efficient flue curing chamber. The ceiling joists were designed to hold a quartered moose, and I could dry age meat at proper temperature and humidity as well.

But then I moved to a condo for a year. I picked leaves at a friend's and successfully cured them on my balcony in the sun. I moved again, (to a house) and don't have the money to really do anything special, and have since learned a couple things:

1. I like sun cured VA more than flue cured. Sun curing is infinitely cheaper, less technical, and way more zen.

2. Avoiding green air cured leaf is as simple as not picking too early, and piling it in a box until it turns yellow, then hanging out up wherever. No need for a humidity controlled room.

In summary, air curing: pick late, wait for yellowing, hang in shade.
Sun curing: pick late, wait for yellowing, hang in sun.