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2012 air cured season

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BarG

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I'm just curios how everyone whos air curing how its coming along.
So far mines doing pretty well. I wish everyone the best on it.My structure is only partially closed in but my baccy is well under cover.;)
 

johnlee1933

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I prime about 50 leaves/day My stringing is additive. Looking at the last 10 days hanging day one is color cured but the stems are not try. Strings two thru ten are various shades of green thru yellow to brown. I will soon be taking down the earliest strings and handing them as I need the space. Now that's a nice complaint to have. :) Pics soon on my grow log.

John
 

Tom_in_TN

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I'm hanging in the big barn. It's got big doors that help regulate humidity a little bit, the windows are missing, but the hanging area is not in danger from rain. Our humidity levels the past 2 weeks have been up in the 90's at night and down to 60 - 70's in the afternoons. So the curing is going better now than when the afternoon humidity was dropping below 40 by noon. On those days I kept the doors closed and wet the floors under the leaves. It helped a little bit. I still want to learn how to color cure better before hanging. I've seen pics of a guy who color cures in a small greenhouse. Any ideas are welcome on how to color cure 150 to 500 leaves at one time.
 

BarG

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I'm letting mother nature take her course. The high and low rhs are a + for me. After its cured I will have to be much more cautious.
 

Jitterbugdude

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I have my entire crop hung in the barn. It's mostly stalked but there's some primed leaves in there too. Another few weeks and I'll be putting them up in hands. So far they've all cured "perfect"! I even smoked some Big gem already it is absolutely perfect as soon as it's cured... no kiln, aging or sweating required. Even the few sticks of leaves that I made with my stringing horse are curing nicely. They are packed super tight and no mold whatsoever............ life is good... so far!
 

BarG

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I prime about 50 leaves/day My stringing is additive. Looking at the last 10 days hanging day one is color cured but the stems are not try. Strings two thru ten are various shades of green thru yellow to brown. I will soon be taking down the earliest strings and handing them as I need the space. Now that's a nice complaint to have. :) Pics soon on my grow log.

John
That can be a tough call John ,
I'm talkin about when the stem is completly dry also. If you check it to early in the morning nothing feels dry, a few hours later everything is crispy crunchy. I try to pick a happy medium and go by color and shrinkage of stem. If I can squeeze or pinch the top most of stem and its spongey its not dry. I'm glad your crop did so good this year.
 

BarG

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I have my entire crop hung in the barn. It's mostly stalked but there's some primed leaves in there too. Another few weeks and I'll be putting them up in hands. So far they've all cured "perfect"! I even smoked some Big gem already it is absolutely perfect as soon as it's cured... no kiln, aging or sweating required. Even the few sticks of leaves that I made with my stringing horse are curing nicely. They are packed super tight and no mold whatsoever............ life is good... so far!

It took me three trys to get that stringing down Randy. I was more than a little embarressed at my first attempts. When I did figure it out I loved it.
 

LeftyRighty

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I've got a 10 x 12 ft garden shed that I hang tobacco to air-cure. Shed has two small windows (open), ridge and roof vents, so it get some fresh air. Temp inside the shed goes about 10 degrees hotter than ambient on sunny days, which is most days. It's been hitting 105 to 115 inside this summer, 70's at night. RH goes to as high as 80+, but down to 20-30-40 in the daytime as an average. I've got 2 small oscillating fans on low speed running 24/7.
Everyting has been curing very nicely, only a very few leaves got some dried green segments. Last of my leaf was primed yesterday, 160+ plants. The total area is covered with hanging leaf on the top tier (rafters), two more tiers suspended below these, covering about 2/3rd of the area - can barely get in my shed now. Strings of leaf are on 8-inch spacing, touch when first hung, but ample air/ventilation space when leaf curls or limps up as it starts to cure.

Thin leaf burleys and virginias get hung straight from priming when ripe, and start changing color within a couple days. Thick leaf strains like the mature-primed Havana 142, or the ripe Marylands, need to the piled/stacked (coffinnails sweat method) for 3-4 days or longer until they start to turn before I will hang them to finish air-curing.

I have been lucky so far this year, no signs of mold, and very little dried green - very lucky, given the extreme weather we've been having. As hot as it's been, I'm surprised that the leaf hasn't gone straight to brown, i.e. cooked.

Being the dumbass that I am sometimes, I started hanging leaf in the back of the shed about 5-6 weeks ago, and it's fully cured and dry now. But I can't get to it because all the new leaf in front of it. Got to wait another month for the last primings to cure/dry before I can start processing this.
 

Tom_in_TN

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LR, I'm now pile curing thicker leaves too and hanging the leaves that color up easily a soon as they are primed. Some of the Havana 425 and 142 that were primed early went into the barn green, no pile curing, and they tended to dry a little greenish when the low humidity hit. With current humidity level swings everything is curing better but will still pile cure the thick leaves until they shows signs of color change.

The open spacing is about 44" between the support poles. Stringing leaves on 17 ga wire, which is flexible enough to bend but strong enough to pull it tight and level.
 

BarG

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I've had to pile cure not by choice but need to rest after work. What is the benefits from that? Ive allowed up to 2 days on 4-500 leaves but haven't a clue as to the benefit.
 

BarG

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Being the dumbass that I am sometimes, I started hanging leaf in the back of the shed about 5-6 weeks ago, and it's fully cured and dry now. But I can't get to it because all the new leaf in front of it. Got to wait another month for the last primings to cure/dry before I can start processing this.

Being dumb don't mean your stupid.:cool:

I have an alternative area for my earliest leaves. That don't make me smart.

Always think ahead!

Those back leaves will still be there when you get to them.
 

Chicken

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luckily i keep a eye on my crop when it's curing,

after about 4 weeks in the barn, i noticed some mildew, on certain leaves.

so i moved them all into my baccy camper,

and then decided to move them into the kiln, for a more controlled enviorment,

it has rained 50+ days,

IT'S RAINING AS I TYPE THIS,,,aaarrrggghhh
 

BarG

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luckily i keep a eye on my crop when it's curing,

after about 4 weeks in the barn, i noticed some mildew, on certain leaves.

so i moved them all into my baccy camper,

and then decided to move them into the kiln, for a more controlled enviorment,

it has rained 50+ days,

IT'S RAINING AS I TYPE THIS,,,aaarrrggghhh

Calm down you Redneck Chicken..Heh heh heh
I hate to make lite but your so good natured Jimmy.

I bet that your curing conditions are giving you fits. If anyone can pull it off you can. Absolutely! I'm sendind my best to you. That and a nickel will get you a piece of gum.
 

Chicken

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oh, i got it licked,

what i thought was a big room, turned out holding all my first crop just perfectlly,

and actually the camper would have been a better place, to hang it,{ thats where, it hung last year ].

so my sucker-crop will hang out there,in the camper,

i was on the interstate today, and drove thru such heavy rain, i just took the middle lane and rode, all around me was flashing emergency blinkers, visibility was zero,[ i seen one car flipped in the ditch ]

luckily i didnt come up on a pile-up,

it would have just been 70,000 lbs of rolling steel, and fertilizer, all over, if i'd have had a boo-boo,
 

LeftyRighty

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BarG.... the benefit of the pile/stack method is to get the leaf to start yellowing before it's hung to finish the color-cure. On some leaf, with high temp and low RH, the leaf will dry green before it starts to yellow. This pile method is only to start the cure, and avoid dried-green leaf. I usually stack anywhere from 20-30 to as many as 100+ leaves in stacks, rebuild the stack each day (to air out), until the leaf shows signs of yellowing.

It's been my experience that the first day or two, the leaf in the stack stays green, but does limp up. On the 2nd or 3rd day, some yellow spotting occurs, or the leaf will change to a lighter or pastel green. How much more of this change, and how much of the leaf has changed, depending on the variety/strain of tobacco, before being hung to finish air-curing, is a judgement call. I've had leaf in piles for as much as a week before hanging. What you don't want is browning up in the pile - that's compost material.

Usually by the 3rd day, I'm starting to remove some leaf from the pile, to hang. You'll have judge this based on your ambient conditions, and the nature of the leaf.

I don't think I've ever tried to get the whole leaf to yellow, before hanging. Usually, if there is yellow spotting on the tip end, and lighten color on the rest of the leaf, I will hang.
 

BarG

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Thanks LR , That puts it in a better prospective. I appreciate that.

Edit; You know that was a good read when I went back and read it again.

You been loosening up or what. Great post LeftyRighty

Please tell me it aint a copy paste.
 

leverhead

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I've got some Southern Beauty that wouldn't fit in The "drum". It's kind of a good thing because I ruined a bunch of leaf in that thing. I let it yellow in the shade and in between the rain I got it in the sun. I've got about 5 Lbs that has a nice medium tan color, it had been pretty well washed by all the rain I got before it was picked. I've tried smoking some of it to try to figure out what I could do with it. It pretty bland with some off odors. What kind of kilning schedule do you think would be appropriate? Maybe should I let it age naturally or even put it back in the sun? I guess I did all my studying on other things, I need to go back to first grade on this one.
 

johnlee1933

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I have had two suggestions I have tried. 1.-- 109F 70RH 30 days 2.-- 130F 70 RH 30 days. Both are after color curing but the stems can still be a little green. The first was for CT shade which is a delicate leaf. I tried it and then let the leaf rest a couple of months. I was happy with the result. The second was with stronger leaf YTB, MCY, CT broad leaf and Comstock Spanish. They will come out of the kiln in a week or so and I'll report after waiting a couple of months.

Hope this helps.

John
 

leverhead

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Thank you John! The stems are nice and dry. DeluxeStogie's post gave me the inspiration to move ahead with the drum. By the holidays, I'm going to be blending away towards a good cigarette blend. I've got about 1/2 Lb of YTB to do also, so that one will be new to me too.
 
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