Curing tobacco leaf....phase I

[WOXOF]

Bad ass thread guys. Love the pics. It makes me want to go tour a cigar factory.

[ashauler]

Photo's from yesterday evening.

It took me about 3 hrs to rewire all the leaves and take the photo's. I took the opportunity to remove the coat hangers from some of the leaves and hang them in the kiln in hopes they would finish the color curing process so I could move on to the drying phase with a portion of the crop. Hopefully, by the time all the leaves have color cured, I will have enough dried leaves to start the fermentation process right away.

Florida Sumatra harvested on 29 August and pile cured until 5 Sept:


Florida Sumatra harvested on 21 August and air cured only (my apologies for the photo quality):


Argentina, harvested on 9 Aug and air cured:


Argentina harvested 21 Aug and air cured:


Argentina harvested 29 Aug and pile cured to 5 Sept:


Long Red Leaf harvested 6 Aug...hung, then bag sweated for 3 weeks (this is what I've sampled). Keep in mind these were just junk leaves picked for the hell of it:


Long Red Leaf harvested 21 Aug and air cured:


Long Red Leaf harvested 21 Aug and pile cured to 29 Aug then hung:


Long Red Leaf harvested 29 Aug and air cured:


Long Red Leaf harvested 29 Aug and pile cured to 5 Sept:


Small Stalk Black Mammoth harvested 21 Aug and air cured:


Small Stalk Black Mammoth harvested 21 Aug and pile cured to 29 Aug:


More photo's in my albums if you care to take a peek. Thanks for looking.

[ashauler]

Some pics from yesterday.

Black Mammoth:




Florida Sumatra:




Argentina:

[logan37]

Looking really nice Jamie and Mark!

[ashauler]

O.K., phase I of the curing process, for me, is complete. All of my leaf has color changed, though there is a tiny bit of green remaining on a few of the first leaves harvested.

Now comes the fermentation phase. 3-4 weeks away from producing the first cigars.

What I learned for next year:
Pile curing is the way to go in my conditions.
There is much more time and regular attention required to prevent disaster in this phase.
Harvesting early drastically affects the curing process.
Big leaves are cool looking, but difficult to handle when hanging and moving it around.
Don't try to handle crispy dry tobacco.

Thanks for looking.