China Voodoo 2018 Air-cured and Rajangan

[OldDinosaurWesH]

Tobacco is amazingly resilient. Mine survived last year down to about 26 (-3.3 degrees C. ) degrees. Of course I had already harvested everything and all that was left were suckers.



10-31-17 frost damaged but not dead. 11-5-17 Toast!

Wes H.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Tobacco is amazingly resilient. Mine survived last year down to about 26 (-3.3 degrees C. ) degrees. Of course I had already harvested everything and all that was left were suckers.

View attachment 25879View attachment 25880

10-31-17 frost damaged but not dead. 11-5-17 Toast!

Wes H.

So, what you're saying is that a higher phosphorous content in the fertilizer protects from frost damage?

 

[deluxestogie]

O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see our text as ithers see it!

Bob

 

[Charly]

I think Wes was writing dates, not NPK (but I might be wrong )

 

[greenmonster714]

Kinda like ice wine only with tobacco.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Question. My garage is only 40, and the yellowing has stalled in the piles of Indonesian leaf. The weather will improve. You think it'll be good for a week before it warms up or might I be best to bring it inside the house?

The thought occurred to me that slow progress might not technically matter.

 

[deluxestogie]

With the cold outdoors, leaf that is not yet yellowed would likely dry green, if brought into the house. Yellow leaf that just sits that way should be alright, so long as it doesn't begin to mold.

Plan B would be a seedling heat mat beneath covered piles in the garage. Maybe.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

With the cold outdoors, leaf that is not yet yellowed would likely dry green, if brought into the house. Yellow leaf that just sits that way should be alright, so long as it doesn't begin to mold.

Plan B would be a seedling heat mat beneath covered piles in the garage. Maybe.

Bob

Thank you, Bob. You're right. The house is far too dry.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Do you really need much energy to sun cure rajangan style? Well let's see. I shredded a handful of Kasturi leaves yesterday morning. Set it covered, (but so it could breathe, still), under a 15W compact fluorescent bulb. The rate it is drying seems appropriate, and the color looks good. If this works, setting it up with fluorescent bulbs might be super consistent.

 

[deluxestogie]

Photolytic breakdown of organic molecules (proteins and carbs) is dependent on the intensity (lux) of a specific wavelength of light absorbed by the target bonds of the intended molecule. Each bond of each distinct type of organic molecule will have a particular wavelength (often toward the blue end of the spectrum) that can disrupt it.

Your experiment will be interesting. Maybe Indonesians don't need sunlight.

Bob

 

[greenmonster714]

Blue end of the spectrum would call for a metal halide bulb if I remember right. Have ya considered a window that gets direct light? It will be interesting to see what ya come up with.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Blue end of the spectrum would call for a metal halide bulb if I remember right. Have ya considered a window that gets direct light? It will be interesting to see what ya come up with.

Hey, sweet research, Bob.

GM.
My t5 fluorescent strips are high Kelvin lights at the blue end of the spectrum. They may not be as intense as metal halide lights, but spectrum wise, I think they're pretty close.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

.

Bob

I just realized this chart is reversed from what I thought. Blue is the left, red is the right.

 

[deluxestogie]

Shorter wavelength means more bullets per second (more energy). Blue is good.

Bob

 

[OldDinosaurWesH]

All this discussion on light is interesting. Many gemstones that would otherwise be colorless have a tiny inclusion of some other atom or molecule which changes the optical characteristics and gives the stone a color. An emerald has a tiny fraction of a percent of chromium that makes it green. Same with colored diamonds. A Diamond can have a tiny inclusion of Boron or Nitrogen that will make it be blue or yellow. There is a whole field of study on Optical Mineralogy. Some kinds of stones can be heat treated or irradiated (or both) which will change the valence state of the inclusion and thereby change the color of the stone. I suspect ChinaVoodoo already knows a lot about this subject.

Wes H.

 

[greenmonster714]

Hey, sweet research, Bob.

GM.
My t5 fluorescent strips are high Kelvin lights at the blue end of the spectrum. They may not be as intense as metal halide lights, but spectrum wise, I think they're pretty close.

Oh yeah, I forgot you have those t5s. Probably a stupid question but does the heat intensity from the sun play a roll in curing? Hard to simulate that indoors. Just a thought.

 

[deluxestogie]

Energy is energy. "Heat" implies molecular agitation. Since there are practically no molecules of anything between the sun and Earth, only the electromagnetic waves of a broad spectrum of wavelengths radiate from the sun to us. The energy intensity varies by wavelength, but it doesn't become heat until molecules (in the atmosphere or the plant tissue) absorb those photons, and convert them into molecular agitation.

Bob

 

[Tutu]

How does the Kasturi taste? Is it heavy in nicotine? How does it compare to Samporis?

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

How does the Kasturi taste? Is it heavy in nicotine? How does it compare to Samporis?

So far, I have smoked some Kasturi lugs that were cured on the plants, and some Samporis rajangan from lower leaves, kilned for a week. They were totally different. Samporis is aromatic, mildly sweet, and acidic, and low to medium strength. The Kasturi, despite being mere lugs, was kinda mild altering. I could feel it. It tasted like generic lugs, but hadn't been kilned. Very little of the Indonesian tobaccos are cured yet, so it's too early to say anything conclusive. But I can say that I'm already pleased with the smokability, of both of them. They are both very interesting, and although I mentally had them categorized as novelty tobaccos, I really, at this point could see them becoming regular growers and regular smokers. One more thing, is that there were no issues with the length of the growing season. All plants were clearly ripe by the time we had our early frost.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

So Kasturi ripens uniquely. The veins stay green so long that I just don't think rajangan is the way to go with it.


So I'm gonna straight up sun cure it. Kasturi left, Samporis right.



And another thing, is that the most ripe are turning red. Not red like when tobacco rots (at least I hope not), but red, like a deciduous leaf in autumn. I've had my share of rotten leaves, and this just doesn't seem like that. Another thing to note, is that the red is only on the top. The underside is pale. I could be wrong, and am a little bit worried, but I think that's just the way it is when you store ripe Kasturi at 45°F.

Kasturi bottom, Samporis top. I put the most red ones on top for the photo.