Using Air Cured Tobacco Leaves.

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abdulaziz

Might Stick Around
Oct 30, 2013
68
88
Here it comes to my mind Semois which is a roasted leaf dry as sheet of paper and intended to be smoked as such without any humidification. So while nearly all tobacco pipe undergoes some humidification process Semois shows that this is not always the case.

I would try once to smoke the air cured leaf dry as it is packing more tightly than with a regular tobacco pipe in order to avoid to burn too fast and too hot, and see how it tastes. You can then still try adding some incremental humidification and compare.
I will surely try it dry before humidifying some
 

davek

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 20, 2014
685
952
Is it also called Dokha? What people may or may not call air curing can be two different things.

When you first harvest tobacco leaves, they need to be dried and color cured. Air drying slowly allows the leaves to yellow and then brown and you end up with raw tobacco. Flu cured is dried more quickly with heat and has a higher sugar content. A lot of cigarette tobacco and Virginia is flue cured.

Anyway, raw air cured tobacco is strong and not so tasty. It needs to be "fermented" or sometimes people say "cured". Thus some confusion. Cigar leaf is fermented in piles, many (most) growers these days build a fermentation/curing chamber, or, simply hanging the tobacco and aging it will accomplish that too.

So, "air cured" can mean more than one thing.

The Wiki article below says that Dokha is very strong, so I guess it could be un-aged /unfermented. Raw tobacco is sometimes smoked (I think Bidis are raw, dunno).

Or, possibly it is just hung to age and that's what they mean by "air cured"

Sorry for the rambling. It's early and I just got up. Anyway, is it also called Dokha?

 

karam

Lifer
Feb 2, 2019
2,341
9,012
Basel, Switzerland
Hello from Greece,

I've grown some burley, air-cured the lowest leaves (apparently the mildest on the plant) for ~3 weeks to crispy dry, moistened with water to roll and shred as thin coins as I could, left the coins to dry until I could ruffle them up to ribbon again, left it to dry further and when it felt appropriately dry I smoked it in a pipe. It was surprisingly good for 3-week old tobacco, more spicy than nutty, fairly soft in nicotine, not bitter, and only a tiny bit herbal in the exhale.

If these are cured (ie prepared) leaves I am sure you can do what I did and end up with a good smoking product.

Nice pictures too.
 

abdulaziz

Might Stick Around
Oct 30, 2013
68
88
Is it also called Dokha? What people may or may not call air curing can be two different things.

When you first harvest tobacco leaves, they need to be dried and color cured. Air drying slowly allows the leaves to yellow and then brown and you end up with raw tobacco. Flu cured is dried more quickly with heat and has a higher sugar content. A lot of cigarette tobacco and Virginia is flue cured.

Anyway, raw air cured tobacco is strong and not so tasty. It needs to be "fermented" or sometimes people say "cured". Thus some confusion. Cigar leaf is fermented in piles, many (most) growers these days build a fermentation/curing chamber, or, simply hanging the tobacco and aging it will accomplish that too.

So, "air cured" can mean more than one thing.

The Wiki article below says that Dokha is very strong, so I guess it could be un-aged /unfermented. Raw tobacco is sometimes smoked (I think Bidis are raw, dunno).

Or, possibly it is just hung to age and that's what they mean by "air cured"

Sorry for the rambling. It's early and I just got up. Anyway, is it also called Dokha?

Thank you for the valuable information.
Dokha is different and is mostly famous in the United Arab Emirates. The people who smoke this tobacco in its water pipe swear it is tasty and that is what intrigues me to try it. There is another way Yemeni people smoke such tobacco without a water pipe and it is so similar to the way pipe smokers smoke pipe tobaccos, they smoke a special type of this tobacco with a pipe which bowl is made of clay and the stem is made of wood and it is long, there is this old picture of a man smoking one:
aden-gar-15.jpg
But I cannot find any of this tobacco or these pipes and they seem to be no more. Maybe six years ago I was traveling on a rural road, more of off-roading, and saw an old man walking while smoking a similar pipe, I thought it was rude to ask him where he got his tobacco pipe from, but now I regret it. Am still on the hunt for one of these pipes.
 

abdulaziz

Might Stick Around
Oct 30, 2013
68
88
Hello from Greece,

I've grown some burley, air-cured the lowest leaves (apparently the mildest on the plant) for ~3 weeks to crispy dry, moistened with water to roll and shred as thin coins as I could, left the coins to dry until I could ruffle them up to ribbon again, left it to dry further and when it felt appropriately dry I smoked it in a pipe. It was surprisingly good for 3-week old tobacco, more spicy than nutty, fairly soft in nicotine, not bitter, and only a tiny bit herbal in the exhale.

If these are cured (ie prepared) leaves I am sure you can do what I did and end up with a good smoking product.

Nice pictures too.
Thank you.
I will try your method with the other methods I was planning to attempt. I am going to buy some of the premium leaves because there are cheap and premium ones and see how it goes.
 
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chopper

Lifer
Aug 24, 2019
1,480
3,317
I think I will cut some and put it in a jar with a tobacco humidifier. Still, I still hope someone will share an experience or an attempt at using such tobacco.
One thing I've learnt growing my own tobacco [Still a novice] is that 'home-grown' tobacco needs to be stored at a much dryer moisture level than commercial tobacco.
So I'd advise that you rehumidify small quantities that you intend to smoke within a couple of days to avoid mould.
 

rajangan

Part of the Furniture Now
Feb 14, 2018
974
2,809
Edmonton, AB
The tobacco looks like it has been cured well, showing no green, so I think for at least a part of the year, the humidity is right for aging tobacco. After a couple years, it will be much better than the year it was picked.

The topic of unprocessed tobacco burning a certain way keeps coming up. If you ask most people who grow their own, it's only a psychological hurdle. Others have implied that tobacco should be cased. I would like to see that said in a cigar forum, lol.

Many air cured tobaccos, properly hydrated with water, taste great and are balanced. Others need to be blended. It all depends on the individual and the varietal.

Your tobacco looks similar to this one, which is called Tombac.

vQPbPD.png


I would totally smoke it.
 

rajangan

Part of the Furniture Now
Feb 14, 2018
974
2,809
Edmonton, AB
A relative of Sherazi is also a possibility as it is one of the larger leafed oriental tobaccos.

 
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abdulaziz

Might Stick Around
Oct 30, 2013
68
88
One thing I've learnt growing my own tobacco [Still a novice] is that 'home-grown' tobacco needs to be stored at a much dryer moisture level than commercial tobacco.
So I'd advise that you rehumidify small quantities that you intend to smoke within a couple of days to avoid mould.
I will keep that in mind.
 
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Reactions: chopper

abdulaziz

Might Stick Around
Oct 30, 2013
68
88
The tobacco looks like it has been cured well, showing no green, so I think for at least a part of the year, the humidity is right for aging tobacco. After a couple years, it will be much better than the year it was picked.

The topic of unprocessed tobacco burning a certain way keeps coming up. If you ask most people who grow their own, it's only a psychological hurdle. Others have implied that tobacco should be cased. I would like to see that said in a cigar forum, lol.

Many air cured tobaccos, properly hydrated with water, taste great and are balanced. Others need to be blended. It all depends on the individual and the varietal.

Your tobacco looks similar to this one, which is called Tombac.

View attachment 42672


I would totally smoke it.
That is exactly what it is called here, Tombac, but it is never flavored and as I explained here some people smoke it in these pipes. Thank you.
Thank you for the valuable information.
Dokha is different and is mostly famous in the United Arab Emirates. The people who smoke this tobacco in its water pipe swear it is tasty and that is what intrigues me to try it. There is another way Yemeni people smoke such tobacco without a water pipe and it is so similar to the way pipe smokers smoke pipe tobaccos, they smoke a special type of this tobacco with a pipe which bowl is made of clay and the stem is made of wood and it is long, there is this old picture of a man smoking one:
View attachment 42454
But I cannot find any of this tobacco or these pipes and they seem to be no more. Maybe six years ago I was traveling on a rural road, more of off-roading, and saw an old man walking while smoking a similar pipe, I thought it was rude to ask him where he got his tobacco pipe from, but now I regret it. Am still on the hunt for one of these pipes.
 
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Reactions: rajangan

abdulaziz

Might Stick Around
Oct 30, 2013
68
88
Will, I bought some today and it was not as dry as I thought it would be so I did not humidify it. I shredded it into ribbons and filled my corn cob with some and after lightning it it was a disappointment. It tasted bland and although it has no characteristics it was harsh. Maybe the tobacco I bought was bad, I will get some from another place and see how it goes.
 

rajangan

Part of the Furniture Now
Feb 14, 2018
974
2,809
Edmonton, AB
Will, I bought some today and it was not as dry as I thought it would be so I did not humidify it. I shredded it into ribbons and filled my corn cob with some and after lightning it it was a disappointment. It tasted bland and although it has no characteristics it was harsh. Maybe the tobacco I bought was bad, I will get some from another place and see how it goes.

Perhaps you can find something different and blend it.
 
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chopper

Lifer
Aug 24, 2019
1,480
3,317
Will, I bought some today and it was not as dry as I thought it would be so I did not humidify it. I shredded it into ribbons and filled my corn cob with some and after lightning it it was a disappointment. It tasted bland and although it has no characteristics it was harsh. Maybe the tobacco I bought was bad, I will get some from another place and see how it goes.
If the tobacco is young, that would explain why it's harsh.

Most tobacco needs to be aged for a year before smoking.

When I tried this years homegrown Burley it was not very nice. The same variety of Burley that I'd grown the year before was totally different. Much smoother and tastier.
 

abdulaziz

Might Stick Around
Oct 30, 2013
68
88
If the tobacco is young, that would explain why it's harsh.

Most tobacco needs to be aged for a year before smoking.

When I tried this years homegrown Burley it was not very nice. The same variety of Burley that I'd grown the year before was totally different. Much smoother and tastier.
What about the taste? Could aging develop the taste of the tobacco?
 
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