When to tie hands of Tobacco

[dkh2]

I was wondering how and when to tie your Tobacco leaves into hands.
Any body here do that ?

 

[BigBonner]

Do you mean like the ones I sent you ?

The leaves has to be completely cured stem and all . Wait until the leaves and stem is in good case then tie .

 

[Chicken]

i got a strand that is full and dried right now,,,,im thinking of laying a damp sheet over them,,and get them in good case,,,and that morning tie all of them in hands,, and at the end of this month put them in the kiln,,, when the current baccy in the kiln will be removed,,

.....

 

[dkh2]

Do you mean like the ones I sent you ?

The leaves has to be completely cured stem and all . Wait until the leaves and stem is in good case then tie .

Yes like those
Sure saves space

 

[BigBonner]

Those hand tied tobacco befroe 1980 were tied like that and twelve per a tobacco stick . They were put on the same tobacco sticks we used to spear tobacco on . We would put them in a press attached to the wall of our stripping room and left there until we had another stick full of tobacco ready for the press .
Average stick was about 10 to 12 pounds .

 

[dkh2]

i got a strand that is full and dried right now,,,,im thinking of laying a damp sheet over them,,and get them in good case,,,and that morning tie all of them in hands,, and at the end of this month put them in the kiln,,, when the current baccy in the kiln will be removed,,

.....

Those are starting to look pretty damn good Chicken

 

[Chicken]

Those are starting to look pretty damn good Chicken

im trying,,,, and having a lot of sucess,,

 

[dkh2]

I just made an experimental little press A square box out of 1 by 4 wood
The 4 walls are screwed together while the floor and ceiling are removable
the whole thing is 5 inches wide and ten inches long
The plan is to drop the floor into the box then fill it with hi case leaf then put the lid in
and used C clamps to clamp it tight
I don't have any whole leaf at the moment in hi case so I steamed some of my shredded blended tobacco
and put in the mini press to see what happens in couple hours I suspect that you need whole pieces
leaf instead of shredded up tobacco

 

[Chicken]

^^^

let me know how that press turned out,????

im thinking of pressing some of mine also,,,,

 

[LeftyRighty]

dkh2.......
I tried a small box a couple years ago, a 4x6 built in the same fashion. I was using it to brick tobacco in high case, so that I could cut with a knife for cigarette shredding. A few minutes to an hour of two was sufficient to get it to hold together. I learned that an overnight press would make a solid brick, and it was very difficult ot seperate the shreds after cutting. Also, after even a short pressing, if not cut right away, it becomes a solid brick. I'll venture that tobacco juice would make a good adhesive.

I had pressed some leaves for about an hour, then placed in a ziploc plastic bag for about a week. It was a solid brick, like plug tobacco. Impossible to shred. A month later, I gave it to my neighbor's son, who chewed. He told me later that he used a saw to cut in strips, and it was still tough to bit off a chunk.

That's when I went looking for another method to shred -- am using a pasta maker now.
Never thought about a handcrank meat grinder until it was posted recently. I have an old one in the basement somewhere and will have to give it a go.

 

[dkh2]

I have a Pasta Maker I got last year but after about 30 leaves..... lets just say it got old real fast.
So what I did with my first 194 leaves out of the kiln was I shredded them with a paper shredder.
.200 wide strips out of those I put a test batch in that little press I made. I have a electric meat slicer
I want to try on the brick. If it slices tobacco any thing like it does meat I'm in business.
When you say it was impossible to shred what did you use to shred it with that didn't work ?

 

[Chicken]

dkh2.......
I tried a small box a couple years ago, a 4x6 built in the same fashion. I was using it to brick tobacco in high case, so that I could cut with a knife for cigarette shredding. A few minutes to an hour of two was sufficient to get it to hold together. I learned that an overnight press would make a solid brick, and it was very difficult ot seperate the shreds after cutting. Also, after even a short pressing, if not cut right away, it becomes a solid brick. I'll venture that tobacco juice would make a good adhesive.

I had pressed some leaves for about an hour, then placed in a ziploc plastic bag for about a week. It was a solid brick, like plug tobacco. Impossible to shred. A month later, I gave it to my neighbor's son, who chewed. He told me later that he used a saw to cut in strips, and it was still tough to bit off a chunk.

That's when I went looking for another method to shred -- am using a pasta maker now.
Never thought about a handcrank meat grinder until it was posted recently. I have an old one in the basement somewhere and will have to give it a go.

it worked perfect for me,,,,

 

[LeftyRighty]

I used an electric knife. Trouble wasn't with the cutting; it was seperating the cuts into the shreds - they stuck together and had to be worked a lot to seperate them. I tried a 'drier' or low case brick. The cuts seperated OK then, but the brick didn't hold together well and was a pain to cut.

Yeah, pasta maker is monotonous, but does a good job. The angel hair attachment gives long thin strands, second time through with courser attachment give perfect shred for rolling - just like store-bought.