ChinaVoodoo
Moderator
I wanted to try this technique because I was concerned I was losing desirable elements of the tobacco with the other steaming techniques I had tried. More importantly, I was reading about the maillard reaction and discovered in a more in depth discussion of it that this reaction is possible to achieve in a pressure cooker.
The setup: I took 5 samples of Whole Leaf Tobacco tobaccos and packed them tightly into five 6oz canning jars.
56g Izmir, 58g water
50g Lemon Flue Cured, 50g water
70g Bright Flue Cured, 75g water
56g Prilep, 56g water
50g Organic Burley, 50g water
I packed the jars, and lightly tightened the lids. I then put them in the pressure canner, sealed it, let it vent for 5 minutes, then brought it up to max pressure, which at this altitude was 13.5lbs which has a boiling point of around 247F. I boiled for 4 hours and removed it from the heat and let it come back to atmospheric pressure gradually before opening the canner.
There was no discolouration in the water, so the contents of the jars had stayed in the jars. I put the tobacco on pie plates and put them in the oven in order to dry them out on the convection setting at 240F. This took about an hour.
The tobaccos all taste different. Least impressive is the Burley. The nicotine is high and it is rich and earthy with no sweetness. The Lemon is interestingly fruity and sweet with a hint of tongue bite and harshness, but not bad at all. The Izmir is mildly sweet and spicy. The Prilep is quite sweet and fruity with some spice to it and I will definitely do it again. But the Whole leaf tobacco, Bright Flue Cured is incredible! It is quite possibly the best tobacco I have ever smoked. It tastes like fruit, Virginia, and is so sweet it makes me want to brush my teeth after smoking. Wow! Unreal. You must try this.
The setup: I took 5 samples of Whole Leaf Tobacco tobaccos and packed them tightly into five 6oz canning jars.
56g Izmir, 58g water
50g Lemon Flue Cured, 50g water
70g Bright Flue Cured, 75g water
56g Prilep, 56g water
50g Organic Burley, 50g water
I packed the jars, and lightly tightened the lids. I then put them in the pressure canner, sealed it, let it vent for 5 minutes, then brought it up to max pressure, which at this altitude was 13.5lbs which has a boiling point of around 247F. I boiled for 4 hours and removed it from the heat and let it come back to atmospheric pressure gradually before opening the canner.
There was no discolouration in the water, so the contents of the jars had stayed in the jars. I put the tobacco on pie plates and put them in the oven in order to dry them out on the convection setting at 240F. This took about an hour.
The tobaccos all taste different. Least impressive is the Burley. The nicotine is high and it is rich and earthy with no sweetness. The Lemon is interestingly fruity and sweet with a hint of tongue bite and harshness, but not bad at all. The Izmir is mildly sweet and spicy. The Prilep is quite sweet and fruity with some spice to it and I will definitely do it again. But the Whole leaf tobacco, Bright Flue Cured is incredible! It is quite possibly the best tobacco I have ever smoked. It tastes like fruit, Virginia, and is so sweet it makes me want to brush my teeth after smoking. Wow! Unreal. You must try this.