A kiln is used after leaf is properly color-cured.
Bob
Bob
Tobaccofieldsforever 2021 Grow Log
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Oldfella
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Bob
A kiln can be used for yellowing. I've done it many times. You put out a graph on the temperature and times ect. A part of one of your posts. Post #12 Aug 2013
fairtradetobacco.com
If you plan to use it to color-cure, then you will definitely need a vent and air flow, since 80% of the weight of leaf you put in will come off as water. For color-curing, keep the temp below 104ºF until the leaf is yellowed.
Oldfella
A kiln can be used for yellowing. I've done it many times. You put out a graph on the temperature and times ect. A part of one of your posts. Post #12 Aug 2013
DGBAMA Redneck Curing Chamber Build
To preface, my intent this year as a first time grower was simply to have smokable at minimal cost. Grow, hang, dry, smoke..............Weather in the S.E. has been something of a "B#$%^" this year. Our August weather should be great for air curing......mid-upper 90s w/ good...
If you plan to use it to color-cure, then you will definitely need a vent and air flow, since 80% of the weight of leaf you put in will come off as water. For color-curing, keep the temp below 104ºF until the leaf is yellowed.
Oldfella
It is true that an insulated container can serve many purposes. Kilning (the process) is used for fermentation. Flue-curing (the process) is used for rapid yellowing and fixation of flue-cure varieties. Color-curing (the process) involves maintaining suitable conditions for a leaf to remain alive long enough to complete the natural senescence and death processes. The essential differences among these three processes are temperature, humidity and the stability of those.
This comes down to a wealth of processes that a single container (or entire building) can allow. The confusion is in what exactly one is recommending, in response to a grower's question. I'm sure I make ambiguous recommendations all too often. My aspiration is to differentiate the use of a chamber for color-curing from the use of a chamber for kilning (fermentation) or flue-curing.
Tobacco nomenclature is about as messy as that of any centuries-old industry.
Bob
This comes down to a wealth of processes that a single container (or entire building) can allow. The confusion is in what exactly one is recommending, in response to a grower's question. I'm sure I make ambiguous recommendations all too often. My aspiration is to differentiate the use of a chamber for color-curing from the use of a chamber for kilning (fermentation) or flue-curing.
Tobacco nomenclature is about as messy as that of any centuries-old industry.
Bob
Oldfella
Well-Known Member
My bad. Thanks Bob for clarifying my post. I know what I meant, so assumed everyone else would.
@Tobaccofieldsforever
What I should have said is, " you need to build curing chamber", then you can control what is happening. Below is a graph which I use and get good results from.
I think that @deluxestogie first posted it, but I don't know if he made it.
Oldfella
I did not create the graph. (I don't even own a wet-bulb thermometer, since it is a relic of the 19th century, before you could easily measure humidity with a simple hygrometer.) That is an industry standard graph for flue-curing, but not for color-curing or fermentation. The time scale and temperatures are ideal for starting with green leaf of either flue-cured varieties or most Orientals.
I agree that building a kiln/flue-curing chamber is a wise investment of time (about a weekend) and money (around $100 to $150), for most home growers, regardless of their ambient climate. A curing chamber, which can certainly be the very same container--so long as it can be adequately vented of moisture--may be useful in uncooperative climates--too dry or too wet. "Traditional" tobacco growing regions are typically those with climates that allow color-curing in a simple shed or barn.
Bob
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
Thank you both for the information. I certainly plan on building one but as it is so late in the season now I figured I would make it an indoor winter project and really take my time with it. In other news I found my first tobacco budworm EVER today. It came from my burley plant which is also INFESTED with aphids under the bud bag. I sprayed with permethrin before I bagged but I guess not enough.
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
Regarding the whole using a kiln for color curing etc…I understand what you meant. Semantics…kind of. If you use a “kiln” to color cure (successfully) than it is a curing chamber during that period of time. But then how will you kiln your cured leaf in a curing chamber?..haha…sorry I’m just having some fun. Thanks to both of you for the help!!Bob
A kiln can be used for yellowing. I've done it many times. You put out a graph on the temperature and times ect. A part of one of your posts. Post #12 Aug 2013
DGBAMA Redneck Curing Chamber Build
To preface, my intent this year as a first time grower was simply to have smokable at minimal cost. Grow, hang, dry, smoke..............Weather in the S.E. has been something of a "B#$%^" this year. Our August weather should be great for air curing......mid-upper 90s w/ good...
If you plan to use it to color-cure, then you will definitely need a vent and air flow, since 80% of the weight of leaf you put in will come off as water. For color-curing, keep the temp below 104ºF until the leaf is yellowed.
Oldfella
For clarity, we could name the different processes available within the same chamber (hereafter to be known as a Curvid-21) with Greek letters: Alpha variant, Beta variant, Gamma variant, and the dreaded Delta variant. And...if you immunize your tobacco with the BT vaccine, you can prevent bud worms (85% effective for older plants).
Bob
Bob
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
Yes, that would clarify things GREATLY!!…HAHA
Oldfella
Well-Known Member
CURVID-21, Hmmmm, sounds interesting.
Alpha-yellow, Beta-leafdri.
Nah too hard, let's just say that it is what it is. All good fun anyway.
Oldfella
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
When stalk curing, should I leave the leaf on the stalk until the stems are completely dry? I would say the lamina is about fully dry and cured but the stems are a far way from being dry and I imagine it will be awhile due to the water from the stalk. Any advice?
Oldfella
Well-Known Member
If possible I would leave them on the stalk, however in saying that try not to let them get wet. If rain is in your forecast cut the whole stalk off and hang upside down under cover. Keep an eye on them for mold and bugs and I'm sure they will be fine.
If they are drying green then your temperature is probably too high and your humidity is low. You may not be able to control the temperature but you can help with the humidity. Use towels in buckets, wet the floor/ground. Whatever works for you.
Oldfella
If they are drying green then your temperature is probably too high and your humidity is low. You may not be able to control the temperature but you can help with the humidity. Use towels in buckets, wet the floor/ground. Whatever works for you.
Oldfella
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
Does anyone have any techniques for accelerating the drying of the mid rib of air curing/sun curing tobacco leaves. The lamina seems fully cured but just seems to remain in low case FOREVER along with the mid rib. I don’t consider curing done until the mid rib is completely dry though. I remember reading someone saying they used some kind of heating mat? Like a heating pad? Does anyone think a hair dryer would work? I’m just getting impatient because I need the room to cure more tobacco…HA! Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I’ve used a seedling propagation heat mat. Stack the leaves on the mat and shuffle them as needed until all dry.
If you have a kiln you can turn the heat on to 90F or so with no water.
2015 Knucklehead Grow Blog
Got a good soaking rain right now in guntersville. knuck.hope your getting some of it. Is all this rain this late in your grow good or bad?
Oldfella
Well-Known Member
As @Knucklehead says use your kiln or a heat matt. You can also try removing the mid rib. I must confess, I have done it on the odd occasion. Seemed to work.
Oldfella
Oldfella
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
I just noticed a few spots of mold in my last jar of basma c4 I had stored for about 6 months. It is my fault, I stored it too wet. The mold really doesn’t seem to be too bad and hasn’t overrun the jar. It is blueish/ gray in color. Would it be safe to pick through th jar and use what is still good or is that too risky? Should I throw away jar and all??
Aflatoxin is destroyed by burning the tobacco. So it would not be safe as smokeless or as a cigar wrapper. Otherwise, the aroma is the only issue.
Bob
Bob
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
The aroma has not been affected…yet. That’s why I was surprised to see mold at bottom of jar through the glass.
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
The aroma has not been affected…yet. That’s why I was surprised to see mold at bottom of jar through the glass
Out of curiosity, have you ever encountered mold and continued to use the affected tobacco? I know technically what you said is correct I’m just looking for some personal experiences with it.
Of course. And so have you. And so has every other tobacco user. Mold is not only ubiquitous, it can be analytically detected in damn near every tobacco product and tobacco commodity everywhere. It is often dismissed in tobacconists' humidors with the mythology of "plume".
As with the food you eat, eliminate the obvious mold.This investigation documents that tobacco companies have identified and quantified bacteria, fungi, and microbial toxins at harvest, throughout fermentation, and during storage.
Cigarette Smoke, Bacteria, Mold, Microbial Toxins, and Chronic Lung Inflammation
Chronic inflammation associated with cigarette smoke fosters malignant transformation and tumor cell proliferation and promotes certain nonneoplastic pulmonary diseases. The question arises as to whether chronic inflammation and/or colonization of the airway can be attributed, at least in part...www.hindawi.com
Bob
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