Curing tobacco leaf....phase I

[ashauler]

Using the leaves that I harvested on 21 August, I have started an experiment with two different methods to color cure the leaves.
1. Sweating to color cure (pile method)
2. Hanging

Sweating:
This is simply placing the green leaves in a pile covered with a breatheable fabric. The leaves must be seperated, inspected and rearranged on a daily basis. Once yellowed "enough" the leaves will be removed one at a time and hung. Below are photo's of how I have this set up and the progress made since they were piled at about 6pm 21 August.

I wrapped the leaves in an old cotton sheet and I keep them on our porch swing, sheltered from direct sun and any rain. I think this allows for great airflow above and below the tobacco.


The pile of leaves....the cut stems are arranged to the outside, one to the left then one to the right, etc.


I piled 6 Small Stalk Black Mammoth and 4 Long Red. Here is a Long Red:


And a SSBM:


Now for the air curing method. I've been using this since 9 August. The leaves harvested on 21 August were hung that same evening.

The entire hanging crop of first primings:


The Long Red harvested on 6 August and allowed to cure 3 days outdoors then hung on 9 August:


Long Red harvested on 21 August:


Florida Sumatra harvested 21 Aug:


SSBM harvested 21 Aug:

You can see some of the sun scald damage in the above photos. After curing and fermentation these will simply be cut out of the leaf. It should have no effect on the quality of the smoke.

Argentina harvested 21 Aug:


I have added a vaporizer that I picked up for $5 to the garage where the leaves are hanging. I have been able to maintain the RH in the mid to low 60's even during the hot part of the day. This is still a little lower than ideal from what I've read, but it appears to be working just fine.

[ndv21]

Looks like great progress! I am really enjoy watching this project unfold.

[ashauler]

Here is a shot of the results of the Pile method of color curing. I am very happy with it and have used it for all the best leaves from the 29 Aug harvest. This method seems to set the color change in motion quicker while maintaining the proper moisture level in the leaves. This way, when I hang them in the curing space, I will have to be less concerned with the RH level and they can dry faster since the majority of the green is gone.

Top are the Small Stalk Black Mammoth and bottom is Argentina:


Leaves harvested on 9 August:
Small Stalk Black Mammoth


Long Red Leaf:


Argentina (on the right) ssbm (on the left):


21 August harvest:
Small Stalk Black mammoth


Long Red Leaf:


Argentina:


Florida Sumatra:


All hanging (oldest harvest to newest from right to left):


I've lightly modified the hanging space by placing painters plastic over the opening to retain as much moisture as possible during the heat of the day. I'm still struggling with keeping the RH up, but with increased use of the pile method, this should be less important.

I have taken the 6 LRL leaves harvested on 6 August and placed them in a 1 gallon zip lock baggie and begun the sweating process on them. Basically, this is simply placing the sealed bag in direct sunlight and allowing the tobacco to sweat moisture. I flip the baggie over several times a day, and in the evening I remove the leaves and shake them out and allow them to partially dry before replacing them in the bag. This process should continue for about 2 weeks or so at which time I should be able to get a test smoke. I'll try to get some pics of this in the next couple of days.

There are more photo's in my albums....feel free to take a look.

[guado]

aboslutely amazing!

[mrtr33]

So, here's what happened:

I wasn't going to do anything with my plants. I haven't been taking very good care of them - and two of the plants started to flower. I would say the biggest plant was probably the Long Red Leaf or the Sumatra, at almost 5 feet in height.

Then Saturday morning, I was sitting on our back patio, looking over the tobacco garden. We've been going outside more, now that it's cooled down to the mid-90's in the mornings. I was curious as to whether or not any of the leaves were salvageable. I had read somewhere once that a simple way you can tell if your leaves are ready for harvest is to try to break it off - if it snaps off, you're good. If it's still clinging on, it's not.

So I started harvesting. You know when you start popping bubble-wrap, and you can't stop at just a few bubbles, but you have to keep popping ALL of the bubbles? Same kind of thing. Not all of the leaves were ready, but I was ready to clean this garden up.

I bypassed the entire curing process, and decided to go straight to hanging. My garage is more like a shed, with a huge attic fan on one side, and two windows. No direct sunlight gets in at all, really. I would say it's usually warmer in there than it is outside.

I used some cooking twine from the kitchen, and clothespins to hang the leaves. We'll see if this works.

Photos:

Left to right - Long Red Leaf/Argentina/Florida Sumatra


Florida Sumatra is in the foreground, Argentina and Long Red Leaf in the back


Long Red Leaf


Black Mammoth






All in all, there are 2 strings of leaves hanging. Even though it doesn't look like it, none of the leaves are touching, though some are very close. There are a total of 50 leaves hanging. I guess I'm still in this.

BTW, tobacco leaves are very sticky, and will turn your hands green. Does anyone know if smoking in the same place where the tobacco leaves are drying will affect the process in any way?

Thanks for reading.....

[ashauler]

Very, very nice Mark.....your leaves look excellent. Your hanging space should work very well also, just pay attention to the amount of ventillation you have...a good cross breeze would be just perfect.

I can't imagine that smoking in the garage would affect the curing process. BTW, you're not bypassing anything, what you are doing now is color-curing.

I knew there weren't enough episodes of cup-cake wars to keep you from doing this.

[Smoked!]

You two are amazing. There is yet hope for America and the Republic.

Since my cultivation efforts ended in what can only be described as a figurative farming face-plant, I have looked on at your progress with envy - green, green envy. What most impresses me is not simply the success of growing and harvesting, but the ingenuity employed to solve the simple tasks. Plus, there’s lots of neat pictures.

For some reason, I feel compelled to make cupcakes.