Please help - sjnawa - ID and curing

[sjnawa]

So I am very new to this grow your own. I am pretty sure this is a Burly variety but if there is someone who could confirm this that would be great. I live in SoCal and this guy grew during the winter all by himself. I also would like to know the most economical way to cure this so I can use it for its intended purpose. Thanks for any advice.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Re: Please help

I think you're right about it being burley. I would wait to harvest when it's developed more yellow. You could, now, but you aren't in a rush. I assume it's dry weather there. If so, you'll want to pile the leaves in a cardboard box and rotate their positions every day until they are mostly yellow. Then hang them somewhere that's around 60 to 75% humidity to dry.

 

[sjnawa]

Re: Please help

ChinaVoodoo,
Once again great advice I thank you very much. Only one problem is I do not have any place that I can maintain such high humidity. Would you recommend that I invest in a cheap humidifier placed in an enclosure of some sort? Or perhaps you might have a better suggestion? Also I am going to be growing some Virgina Gold Leaf this season what is the best cure for that I was told you do not need to do much. Please let me know your thoughts.
Cheers

 

[deluxestogie]

Re: Please help

Once it's fairly well yellowed, the humidity isn't too important in the short run. The required aging (at least a few months for burley) does need humidity. You could buy some cheap, plastic drop-cloth, and create a tent with some source of humidity.

Bob

 

[sjnawa]

Re: Please help

Bob,
Thank you very much for that I am learning a lot from this site. It's just that there is so much to sift through to find answers to specific questions. So when you say a few months.....how do you actually know when it is ready? As for the humidity we get some pretty brutal summer days out here so it would no be all that difficult for me to rig up a small cubicle made from plastic pvc tubing and plastic drop cloth and a blackout cloth. I imagine I could put a pale of water spoungue or something of that nature so that i get the humidity up to 70 to 90 percent at about 90 to 100f. But how do you know when it is done?
Thanks

 

[deluxestogie]

Re: Please help

...how do you actually know when it is ready?

That's the easy part. Smoke some along the way. It will initially smell and taste "raw", like dry grass and ammonia. As it ages, the aroma and taste become more agreeable. Pick your degree of aging.

For your conditions, you may want to consider building a flue-cure chamber for the Virginia. Then it would go from ripe (yellow) in the field to ready tobacco in ~5 days. Cost can be under $100. For the burley, you could use the same chamber (different temp) to fully age it in a month. Burley doesn't flue-cure very well.

Bob

 

[sjnawa]

Bob,
Good idea on figuring out when it is ready. And thanks for the advice on the Virginia the Lady I bought the seeds from said she did not even need to flu cure it, but I suppose that might be due to her growing conditions. Out here the plants grow up straight and quick hardly need to do anything to them except top them once in a while. I will google flu cure chamber but what I am getting from you is this
Burley Variety
1.Wait until leaves are yellow or close to it before harvesting.
2.Color cure leaves by placing in cardboard box and rotating until yellow in color.
3.Cure in humid conditions for at least couple of months (you did not mention what temperature the curing should be but I will assume around 90 to 100f)
4.Cure to taste
Virginia Bright leaf
1. Harvest yellow
2. Flu cure for 5 days.
Question on this one and it's not that I am to lazy to look it up but there is way to much varrience out there on the information. So the questions are
1. If I need to pick the Virginia before fully field yellow should I wait for them to turn yellow before placing in cure chamber?
2. What temperature is best for the Virginia?
3. What should humidity be for Virginia?
Thank you for your help and considerable knowledge

Steven

 

[deluxestogie]

Easier than Google: Index of Key Threads on the FTT Forum - http://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/3868-Key-threads-in-the-FTT-forum

I color-cure my burley by just hanging it in a shed, then I leave it there to age for as much as a year. The temperature is ambient (uncontrolled), and the humidity goes up and down with the weather. A box fan in the shed circulates air. To kiln the burley, place it in a chamber @~125º F. If the source of the heat is a Crockpot (recommended), just keep the water refilled as needed. Continue for 4 to 6 weeks. Color-curing in adverse conditions requires more creative measures, such as the box that's been mentioned.

Flue-curing uses a specific temperature regimen that is discussed extensively in the threads on the subject (see the index). The leaf is yellowed at 93 to 104°F, then over the next several days, the temp is ramped in stages up to 165°F. See the discussions for that, and for useful graphs. In general, you can flue-cure most Virginia varieties, and many Orientals. Just about every other variety should be color-cured, then kilned (or naturally aged).

There is also useful info in the Growers' FAQ (link at the top of every page).

Bob