Whole Leaf Beginner

[Ahi Ka]

The old’ vinegar rag gives that signature Brittish otc flavour

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I just advise not to case. Why would you do it? Commercially they do it for several reasons that a hobbyist wouldn’t need. I did case my first few years of growing, but I regret having done it. And, I won’t do it again. I just enjoy the tobacco flavors. And, it’s totally unnecessary. YMMV

 

[woodsroad]

You're not kidding! Latakia, perique, and dark fired are quite a pain to turn to ribbon.

I'm curious how you deal with mold? I've occasionally bought leaf that had minor mold on the stems. I was told to just wipe it off with a sponge and vinegar and process the leaf as normal. Seemed to work well. Ever do this?

Mold spores are everywhere. They will start their reproductive cycle when conditions are right for them: Temperature, moisture level, pH, light, oxygen, etc. If you intend to age a tobacco, the moisture level (water) needs to be relatively high. So you really need to add something to control fungus. If you are processing tobacco to a low moisture level, you do not need to do much at all. This was D&R's approach. So when I jar D&R tobaccos, I mist in water with Mycoban (Calcium Propionate). Same with whole leaf that I want to ferment/age. Mycoban does not effect bacteria or enzymes, just fungus. The whole leaf dark fired that I have is fairly low moisture, but not dry. I think that the smoking process has some anti-fungal properties, since I haven't treated it, but it shows no mold.

 

[andrew l]

Mold spores are everywhere. They will start their reproductive cycle when conditions are right for them: Temperature, moisture level, pH, light, oxygen, etc. If you intend to age a tobacco, the moisture level (water) needs to be relatively high. So you really need to add something to control fungus. If you are processing tobacco to a low moisture level, you do not need to do much at all. This was D&R's approach. So when I jar D&R tobaccos, I mist in water with Mycoban (Calcium Propionate). Same with whole leaf that I want to ferment/age. Mycoban does not effect bacteria or enzymes, just fungus. The whole leaf dark fired that I have is fairly low moisture, but not dry. I think that the smoking process has some anti-fungal properties, since I haven't treated it, but it shows no mold.

Citric acid and malic acid have also been promoted as alternatives to vinegar -- ytube, ariege pipesmoker.

 

[logs]

The whole leaf dark fired that I have is fairly low moisture, but not dry. I think that the smoking process has some anti-fungal properties, since I haven't treated it, but it shows no mold.

Certainly possible that smoking is anti-fungal. The mold I had was on burley or dark aired wrapper,

 

[andrew l]

Something interesting I found on line:

Any of the casing recipes I’ve seen have some sugar component to them (honey, chocolate, molasses, maple syrup, etc) which is also mold food. If you don’t want to add PPG or other chemicals, then I would suggest using more natural preservatives such as alcohol and a pinch of salt in the mixture instead of water. 15% ethanol is typically the upper range that most yeast and other fungus can tolerate. I like rum personally, but vodka would be a neutral option. I’ve successfully used a mix of 50/50 water and rum in my pipe mixes. I spray to moisten, toss to mix, let dry till it doesn’t feel “wet” any more, then jar.

 

[andrew l]

This contradicts the assertion that casing is a mold inhibitor due to the sugars used.

Polypropylene glycol seems to be a useful alternative; comparable to Calcium Propionate?

 

[Birddog66]

I’m not sure if this would negatively effect leaf but you can get antibacterial UV lights that kill mould and bacteria. They’re often used for killing the Covid virus. I know that it’s a strong UV and you cannot expose yourself, your pets and living house plants to it, some also produce ozone and work by destroying the DNA of bacteria and fungi.