Giant zip lock bag & cure

[pakidaho]

I know I read somewhere here about using air tight bags and curing. Just to give credit where it is due. I have worried about getting my leaf cured through the cold of winter. My problem was keeping the leaf in my shed hanging in hands where they stay in case but the cold stops curing from occurring, or so I assume, or... bringing the leaf in where it is warm but I could not keep em in case without going through the chamber issues. I happened to have a giant zip lock bag...20 gallon size... so I brought in several hands of four leaf and put them into the zip lock and hung it near the wood stove. It has been about two weeks now and the leaf has stayed in case. I opened the bag today and the aroma is amazing. The scent coming from the leaf is somewhat sweet but has a great tobacco smell, no ammonia at all. I have more zip lock bags ordered but am also contemplating using plastic totes with sealable lids,18 gallon size and see how that works.
I suppose the thought is not all that amazing but I find myself really appreciating a place such as this to gain ideas. Funny that sometimes we think of these things but they become validated when we see someone else doing the same thing or something similar.
Something I just learned after years of growing is a "sucker" crop. For years I look at the lower suckers growing and I do what I can to strip them off or just pull the stocks of primed plants. I always figured when the main leaf is harvested the show is over yet have always been "reasonably" curious but not curious enough to work at having a sucker crop. Thanks to the post, I will give my curiosity permission to nurture those lower suckers after the main harvest next season.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

How are you avoiding mold?

 

[FmGrowit]

I believe there's a slight confusion in terminology here. Color curing is referred to on the forum as curing. Secondary curing is referred to as aging here. My guess is PakIdaho is referring to "aging" when he says curing.

The aging process is continuous in all raw tobacco. Tobacco ages more quickly when it is in medium case and is further accelerated when kilned.

If you don't smell any ammonia when you unlock the bags, the aging process has been dramatically slowed. Bring your tobacco up to about 14%-16% moisture and seal it in the bag. I'd recommend storing the tobacco somewhere out of direct sunlight and in a relatively cool place.

I don't recall anyone here experimenting with dry heat as an aging method.

 

[pakidaho]

Clarification on terminology appreciated, so then I am working on the aging process, leaf has been color cured. The leaf I have in the zip lock bags has about the same moisture content as the Corojo wrapper I received from Whole Leaf. Where the leaf is hanging in the bag temps are not much over sixty degrees, I just figured that would be better than having it hanging in the shed where it is presently five or so degrees below zero. I used the bags so the leaf wouldn't dry out because of the dry heat. I was and am concerned about mold but after two weeks..no mold.

 

[Brown Thumb]

Mabey dashboard curing? He is gonna need a big dashboard.

 

[Aaron]

Hi Pak, I have much the same curing and aging conditions as you. I use zip lock bags for aging too. In the moisture sucking climate we are in, my leaf will still dry out completely in the bags within a month. The best luck I've had is in the vapor barrier bags that Don sells his leaf in. I've saved them all. Even in those bags the leaf still dries out in about 6 months. I should say that I'm not resealing the bags, just rolling them over a few times and clipping them shut. The 14%-16% moisture level that Don recommend is about where I try to keep my leaf and I've never had any molding issues that way. The only times I've had mold problems were when trying to bring dry leaf back into case and got them too wet and then didn't check on it again for a week. If I get the leaf too wet I can just let it dry out some with the bag open and still no mold problems.