How are leaves flattened before ageing and storage?

UmbriaFarmer

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How is leaf flattened as preparation for ageing and storage?
You know when you buy filler leaf, it is often completely flat, like Wiley E Coyote run over by a roadrunner, well how do they get it to behave like that in a cigar factory?
My leaf is much more 3 dimensional and does not want to flatten out and certainly not stay flat...seems like it real has a mind of it's own, no matter how cased it is and if I try and spread it out on a board, the second I let go of it, it springs back into it's crinkly shape so quickly I don't even have enough time to get a board on top of it to kinda iron it out...
Have any members mastered the art of getting it to stay flat? I'm half tempted to try my wife's iron....
 

deluxestogie

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The veins in the leaf must be in case. For me, this requires misting the leaf, then enclosing it within a plastic bag or other container at least overnight.

Bob
 

UmbriaFarmer

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Bob, I also have lots of trouble at the edges. The leaf tends to sit creased longitudinally and won't stay spread flat long enough for me to lay a chopping board on top. And, btw, atm I'm talking about the leaf more or less as it comes out from fermentation at 80% is rh so pretty well cased really.
 

deluxestogie

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If the central vein and secondary veins are not limp, then the leaf is not fully in case.

Bob

EDIT:
Basically, what I am suggesting is that "case" is measured by the leaf properties, rather than instruments. After leaf is removed from the kiln, allow it to come to ambient temperature, then mist it and rest it until the leaf is in the desired case (i.e. relaxed veins).
 
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