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Some help with curing!!

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longashes

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Hey guys. This is my first year where I have gotten to the harvest stage. That being said it's my third year attempting tobacco (the first two years my green thumb hadn't formed yet, it was more a browning color) :). I have some questions, and some pictures, and I'm hoping the guys here on the forums could help with their collective knowledge.


I've searched the forums and can't seem to find the right answer to my question so here it goes... I have several leaves I've picked off due to bottom priming and what not, and decided to hang them up for the hell of it to see what happens. I have them hanging by fishing line in my garage with the garage door open at all times at the edge of the garage where sun light can get in.


Here are my questions:


Within a week I already have a few brown leaves and most are yellowing within a day. Is this too fast? Is it ok if it cures that fast? I have no idea so that is why I am asking.


Also, I've been trying to keep them some what moist with distilled water in a spray bottle but some of them seem to be drying up fast even during the green to yellow stage.


most seem to curl up and are a bit crinkly but not to where it falls apart when touching them. Is it ok that they curl like that?


Last question, some of them are a blackish green color, what does this mean? Is it mold or is it just curing that way? Is this ok as well?


On to some pictures to help with my descriptions:


IMAG0459.jpg



IMAG0460.jpg
 

johnlee1933

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They look OK to me. they should go from green to yellow to brown. As the leaves dry they will tend to shrivel and it's not a problem.
You don't say in your profile where you are from. A general location like "Akron Area" or some such will help us know about your weather, humidity etc.
I see a few black spots on some of me leaves also. I don't know what they are but I don't think they are mold and they don't hurt smoking.
Hope that helps,

John
 

Jitterbugdude

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Unless you live in a zero humidity area like Daniel does in Nevada.. stop spraying your leaves. It is rare for leaves to dry to quick which would cause them to dry green. It happens but it is much more common for leaves to dry with mold, from being kept too moist during the curing phase.

It depends on the cultivar as to how quick the green-yellow-brown phase occurs as well as the temp and humidity. Yours look normal.

Check your leaves twice day to get a feel for what's going on. Feel them during the middle of the day they most likely will be dry, maybe even crispy. Feel them again in the very early morning, they should feel soft from picking up the night moisture.
 

longashes

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Sorry I live in the cincinnati ohio area. So I shouldn't spray them with distilled water? Just let them crisp, then let them moisten themselves?
 

longashes

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Sorry I live in the cincinnati ohio area. So I shouldn't spray them with distilled water? Just let them crisp, then let them moisten themselves?
 

SmokesAhoy

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Yeah the idea is to let them go into, then back out of case. If you keep in case then you aren't really helping much but the mold spores
 

johnlee1933

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Sorry I live in the cincinnati ohio area. So I shouldn't spray them with distilled water? Just let them crisp, then let them moisten themselves?

Not unless your humidity is VERY low. If they are not in direct sunlight they should color cure and end up a fairly crispy brown. The shades of brown vary with variety. I let them get that way, THEN raise the humidity to increase the case and tie them in hands ready to go into the kiln.

John
 

BigBonner

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The leaves look sunburned to me.

What type of tobacco are the leaves?

Sun will dry them like hay green and crispy .
 

longashes

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I have dixie shade, pennsylvania red, and havana 263.. the leaves that are black were sitting in the back of a truck bed for hours before we got them hung up so you may be right... anything you can do to fix sun burned leaves?
 

BigBonner

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I have dixie shade, pennsylvania red, and havana 263.. the leaves that are black were sitting in the back of a truck bed for hours before we got them hung up so you may be right... anything you can do to fix sun burned leaves?

Nope , not a thing . Cigar varietys should be out of the sun as soon as you can . Aging for two may take some out but when the sun burns the leaves theywill stay green .
Burley will sunburn and come out .
 

johnlee1933

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Nope , not a thing . Cigar varietys should be out of the sun as soon as you can . Aging for two may take some out but when the sun burns the leaves theywill stay green .
Burley will sunburn and come out .

OK, so the sunburned leaves are unsightly. Will they still cure? I smoke cigas that have a green wrapper and they are fine. Can you use the sunburned leaves?

John
 

longashes

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I was actually thinking the same thing... I wonder if all the "bad stuff" is still purged if you follow the color curing and fermenting process like the others.
 

deluxestogie

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My experience with leaves that dry green is that they taste bad, even after aging or kilning. The green leaves that came out of my flue-cure kiln (during the first run, when the "yellowing" temp was 115-120ºF) were completely different in texture and taste, and make a nice green cigar wrapper. In the latter process, the leaf was literally cooked while moist and green, and was subsequently dried. I don't think you can make a decent candela wrapper from leaf that simply dries green, either from low humidity during color-curing or from sunburn.

Bob
 

Daniel

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I have to be careful that my leaf does not dry green. One I keep them in a cool place to turn brown. I also watch them closely and bunch the drier leaves between larger wetter leaves this keeps the dry ones moist longer. It is a daily check and slide leaves along the string sort of thing. Once everything is brown I spread it all out and want it to dry. If I was willing to move all of it outdoors I could get it dry in a day. The way it is I let it hang for a week or so, whatever it takes to get crumbly dry. Even an hour out in our full sun and dry air and all my leaf would be crispy dry and green. Darker green is due to the leaf wilting. It will wilt you jsut don't want to get dry.
 

Chicken

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the brown spots, on your leaves,

are called '' FROG -EYE''.... i get this on damn near every one of my leaves,

just overlook them, when the leaf browns up, you wont even know where, they were,

> and i was like you also, my first year at growing baccy, i couldnt even get one seed to germinate,'' i did it all wrong''

perhaps, we will see a lot of you around here, and by next year,

you'll give browing baccy, a good kick in the butt,

and be very sucessfull, with a large crop.
 

BarG

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Hey guys. This is my first year where I have gotten to the harvest stage. That being said it's my third year attempting tobacco (the first two years my green thumb hadn't formed yet, it was more a browning color) :). I have some questions, and some pictures, and I'm hoping the guys here on the forums could help with their collective knowledge.


I've searched the forums and can't seem to find the right answer to my question so here it goes... I have several leaves I've picked off due to bottom priming and what not, and decided to hang them up for the hell of it to see what happens. I have them hanging by fishing line in my garage with the garage door open at all times at the edge of the garage where sun light can get in.


Here are my questions:


Within a week I already have a few brown leaves and most are yellowing within a day. Is this too fast? Is it ok if it cures that fast? I have no idea so that is why I am asking.


Also, I've been trying to keep them some what moist with distilled water in a spray bottle but some of them seem to be drying up fast even during the green to yellow stage.


most seem to curl up and are a bit crinkly but not to where it falls apart when touching them. Is it ok that they curl like that?


Last question, some of them are a blackish green color, what does this mean? Is it mold or is it just curing that way? Is this ok as well?


On to some pictures to help with my descriptions:


IMAG0459.jpg



IMAG0460.jpg
The first pic looks normal with maybe a little sun scald where the leaf was damaged while still green but the lower picture looks like it occured after picking and probably aint salvageable. Some varietys are more suceptable to both. I Ruind a couple piles of leaves by getting distracted and leaving a them in the sun more than a couple hours and they are pretty much ruined any where exposed.. My huehuetenago and guatemalen are real succeptable to sun scald while on the plant.
 

wazzappenning

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sorry to re open this, but some of my questions are in here also.

my problem is with dry green leaves. i have them hung, and some are nice and soft while yellow, others are crispy green, and turning crispy.

i see that it has been mentioned that the night humidity will soften them up some, and then it has been mentioned that if they dried green, they wont be anygood in the end.

since im having a little trouble understanding this, ill assume we mean if they have dried green and you re moisten them, even if you get them to cure you will end up with something not quite right.

so my question is, do i spray the green ones? i dont really know what the humidity is, but we have had morning dew over the past few days. still some soft, and others dry. that being said, mine are hanging in the carport, and do get some wind, so maybe that is what the drying is about. only certain ones do it, and it seems to have nothing to do with spacing.

also, if spraying, would that only be for green? if theyre yellow, do you just let them dry up, or do they need to be humid to make it to the brown stage?
 
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