workhorse_01
Well-Known Member
Your right amax! We don't need to look at it from a commercial point of view. We are only after the best end product we can get. I've been playing around with liquid smoke for instance, to keep the tar off the leaf. For GOD sakes don't stop with your post's now i'd be lost. LOL. I'm closing in the end of my barn to do a dual purpose cure then kiln. I'm trying to figure out if just leaving them to hang or to pile them this year will give me the best flavor. The space I'm working is about 10' x 4' and 8' tall well insulated with dampers for fresh air. I can get a 70,000 btu furnace scratch & dent for about $150.00 It's good to be a Carrier dealer! I should have way more than I need for the cure/kiln, but I'll be doing this in the winter, and if I zone it my barn will then be conditioned space. My wife says I'll never have to leave.
I am thinking more on the lines of our situation as opposed to commercial.
We have our kilns they are heated and humidity is introduced I feel this changes the picture a little.
From my prior batch I know if in a pile and not disturbed over the weeks the quality of the tobacco on the interior is better than that on the outside.
125F & 70% Humidity
The moisture of the leaf on the outside is lower than that of the inside if there is a fair amount of air movement. However if the air movement is reduced
the moisture will increase.
My current batch was placed in a large vented wood box and first 2 weeks 120F 75% humidity, 3rd week 114F 85% humidity, 4th week 129F 85% humidity.
In the 3rd week I sampled the smoke was good and the tobacco had a nice smell of apricots. The 4th week smoke quality dropped & apricot smell was gone.
I have entered a 5th week with changes
Tobacco is in small cardboard boxes and 115F 88% humidity 4 days in to the week there is improvement.
Temperatures are those of the tobacco not the air around it.
Am beginning to believe that if small bundles that can be reorder easily with low temperatures and high humidity will create a better finished tobacco.
Also my tobacco seems to stay about 10F higher than temperature setting.