Awoke again last night in the wee hours with hamster brain. Mind racing round and round visualizing the various steps in my new obsession: home grown cigars.
I started with habano seed I got from another cigar geek
A surrogate gardener has started my seedlings. She will plant most; I will plant a row or two in the back yard.
I'll cure the leaf in the garage attic where it gets good and hot, with the big old romping humidifier we use to season the house during Winter and fair ventilation. Here in Dull-Aware, you can count on 85-95 degrees and 70-80% humidity, with frequent thunderstorms.
Now comes time to age the leaf and ferment it. By now, you realize, cold weather will have set in. I sure cannot expect that the irascible RedHead who has the privilege of laundering my skid marks will put up with the odor of fermenting tobacco in her house regardless who pays the mortgage. I can't use the shed cause it's full, unheated, uninsulated, and unelectrified. The garage attic will be cold too, by now, cause there's no insulation there. So here's what I've come up with:
What's to prevent me going ahead and rolling my cigars, then packing them in tight cigar boxes and letting them age right there? The local cigar store sells good looking cedar cigar boxes with beveled seals and clasps for a buck a pop. These boxes are good enough to make small humidors. I can drop a water pillow in each one to keep it humidified. I can open each one once a week and stir the contents to let air breathe. If one gets mold or a beetle, the rest don't. I can make plenty of shelf space in the office closet. Let them age right there for a year or two. Ferment right in the cigar itself.
Would that work?
I started with habano seed I got from another cigar geek
A surrogate gardener has started my seedlings. She will plant most; I will plant a row or two in the back yard.
I'll cure the leaf in the garage attic where it gets good and hot, with the big old romping humidifier we use to season the house during Winter and fair ventilation. Here in Dull-Aware, you can count on 85-95 degrees and 70-80% humidity, with frequent thunderstorms.
Now comes time to age the leaf and ferment it. By now, you realize, cold weather will have set in. I sure cannot expect that the irascible RedHead who has the privilege of laundering my skid marks will put up with the odor of fermenting tobacco in her house regardless who pays the mortgage. I can't use the shed cause it's full, unheated, uninsulated, and unelectrified. The garage attic will be cold too, by now, cause there's no insulation there. So here's what I've come up with:
What's to prevent me going ahead and rolling my cigars, then packing them in tight cigar boxes and letting them age right there? The local cigar store sells good looking cedar cigar boxes with beveled seals and clasps for a buck a pop. These boxes are good enough to make small humidors. I can drop a water pillow in each one to keep it humidified. I can open each one once a week and stir the contents to let air breathe. If one gets mold or a beetle, the rest don't. I can make plenty of shelf space in the office closet. Let them age right there for a year or two. Ferment right in the cigar itself.
Would that work?