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How do you guys stalk cure your Burley?

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Jitterbugdude

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Last year I stalk cured some Perique. The traditional way is to cut the stalk a few inches from the ground and hang it upside down by a nail ( ok-actually a wooden peg).

For Burley do you do the same thing? or do you slice the stalk down the center?

I have about 8 or so different varieties I want to experiment with by stalk curing some and priming the others.

Randy B
 

BigBonner

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Randy B

For my burley crop . I drop tobacco sticks in my fields . Then we cut and spear 6 stalks per stick .Spear the tobacco about 12 inches from the cut end .I usually leave my tobacco to wilt in the field for three days unless its extremely hot or going to rain . We load the sticks of tobacco on a flat bed wagon , Then we hang it in my tobacco barn to cure .I may try and post some more pictures If I can find them .


iMsC9.jpg


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BigBonner

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Before anybody ask That is dirty muddy tobacco from my 2009 crop year .2009 was raining almost every day all summer long. PM bought the tobacco as if there was no dirt on it at all . Every farmer had mud on their tobacco that year .
 

FmGrowit

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Well, I have something to say about that muddy leaf...

I rolled some cigars with Larry's Burley and Orinoco Blanco with a Orinoco binder and wrapper. The Burley had a little mud on it and one leaf was just a little too tattered to use, but I brought it into case, stripped it and used about a 50/50 mix for the filler. I smoked one last night, it might have been a little early since the cigar got a little mushy (I'm guessing from being a little too moist) and I have to tell you...it was one of the best cigars I've ever smoked. I gave it a burn test (set the cigar down for 6 minutes) and it fired up on the first drag. The nicotine hit wasn't crazy, it was pleasant and satisfying.

I very highly recommend Larry's Burley in a blend for cigars.
 

FmGrowit

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Thanks Larry, Looks like I got a get a spearin'!
Randy B

Whoa!...are you saying your leaf is ripe already? Got some pics? If you're going to prime and string some, it might be time to harvest a few lower leaves, but I think its a little early to cut the whole plant....but I could be wrong. I'd like to see your plants.
 

Jitterbugdude

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I'll take some pics today or tomorrow. These are the plants I was able to get in the ground the last week of APRIL! Most of them started blooming on or about June 28th.
I do admit that I usually pick my Virginia Gold about 1 week early, the wife likes it on the weak side... I mean "mild" side.The others are 2 weeks away from priming. What I want to do is spear a few this week, spear and prime the rest in about 2 weeks and then after curing/fermenting give out some cigs and cigars to friends to see if they can tell any difference.
 

BigBonner

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Randy B

With the burley I raise . I top the field and wait at least three weeks to cut the tobacco . I myself usually wait over four weeks before cutting the tobacco .

If you do not have but a few stalks of burley you can take electric fence wire and thread the leaves on the wire and hang .When I was young I remember gathering all the leaves that broke off during housing and stringing them on wire . Every barn had several strings full of these leaves . Now days I throw them back onto the fields .
 

FmGrowit

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My experience with priming and stalk curing is...
Priming will yield a milder, sweeter leaf than stalk curing. Stalk curing allows the leaf to continue to ripen, drawing remaining energy in the stalk. I've had suckers grow and flowers open after the stalks have been cut. In the right conditions (bad conditions for curing) the plants can live for 3-4 weeks after being cut. The leaf from stalk cured is almost always stronger and darker than primed leaf. I definitely prefer priming except for Bursa which I definitely prefer stalk cured and good-n-ripe before cutting.
 

dkh2

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What I do is go to Imgur or what ever free image posting site you prefer and click on computer, then open where you have the picture stored on your computer then click on the picture then on the upload button at imgur then it lists different ways to post but I just copy the " message board "one and paste it here like so.

8kSLy.jpg
 

BigBonner

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Wilt
The amount of tobacco I handel I have to let the tobacco wilt . Handeling green brickel tobacco breaks of alot of leaves .
Wilted tobacco handles easier and I can get more sticks on a 20 foot wagon , They will weigh less and saves curing time in the barn , a few days in the field saves a week or more in the barn for curing .

Now remember when I cut tobacco and the sun is hot it will sun burn some of the leaves .Sun burnt leaves will turn partially green . If you leave sun burnt tobacco out three days this will keep the tobacco from turning green .In the past I have cut down as much as 20 acres at one time . It takes alot of laborers to do this work .

Small amounts of tobacco can be cut and put on in the barn if you can handel it easy . When we load tobacco I load around 6 loads at a time most usually just before dark , and unload the next morning . Each load will have around 320 sticks per load @ 6 stalks per stick .With Un wilted tobacco I may only get 225 to 250 sticks per load .
 

Jitterbugdude

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This is Yellow Oronoco it was planted outside about April 28th. I topped it about June 28th and I'm gonna stalk cure this weekend. It is starting to turn yellow. Not sure how well the pictures shows the color change
 
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Jitterbugdude

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This is (the first row) Virginia Gold. It is about 5 feet tall. It was planted May 3rd. The lower third of the plant is getting yellowed leaves. They were topped about June 28th. I'll let these go one more week before priming and stalk curing. Harvest will be approximately 3 weeks after topping.
GPrK9.jpg
 

FmGrowit

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My limited experience with Flue cured varieties is the leaf is pretty thick. This would mean it is ripe ripe when primed. To me, it looks like there might be a few leaves starting to get ripe. If you're not going to flue cure the leaf, you might get a milder product if you prime earlier than later. Never head of stalk curing a Flue cure type, but I stalk cure Oriental, so I don't see why it wouldn't work. I'd be interested in hearing what the final results are.
 

Jitterbugdude

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I'm always looking for ways to make things easier! I will stalk cure a few each of my 15 varieties and prime the rest. Come this fall, after they are all cured and fermented I'll give out various products to my friends for their opinion ( cigarettes, cigars, chew and pipe tobacco). I'll let you know the results maybe October or so. You're right with your observation, a few leaves are getting ripe but like i said earlier, I have a tendency to prime earlier than most people.

Randy B
 

Chicken

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i expermented with stalk curing this year,,,

and am very pleased with the results,,
 
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