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Finishing the cure with Bud Bags

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Knucklehead

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I put my browned lugs and mud lugs out in the sun this afternoon for a couple of hours to help dry the stems. The humidity has been really high. It didn't finish drying them so I thought I would move them inside the house where the temp is 78 and the humidity 48%. I placed them loosely in bud bags for air circulation. Some of the later harvested lugs are totally yellow but limp. I intermingled them with the brown and crispy mud lugs to help draw the moisture from them and brown them up. I have them in the house under a ceiling fan. Tomorrow I will move them back out in the sun and humidity to dry the stems some more.
bud bag cure.jpg
 

Knucklehead

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They're under a ceiling fan. Great idea about hanging. Will work great with the netting. I was thinking about misting them through the net, but hanging will be better.
 

Fisherman

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Mr Knucklehead,

Would it make sence to color cure in a chamber and then do what you are doing with the bags? This would save the need for the higher temps of a chamber and then you could just kiln them when ready.
I had some mildew while waiting for the stems to dry..... Since I dont raise for cigars I could de-rib them with the stems still not dryed maybe too. I am not sure if the stem continues to add stuff to the leaf or not?
 

Knucklehead

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These were the lugs and mud lugs off the plants. They were pretty much already full yellow when I picked them. At the time of browning, the humidity was decent, but then we got more rain and the humidity shot up. I don't have a cure chamber, I cure in my shop. These were all dry and brown except for the ones picked last, which were full yellow and limp. I moved them into the house in the bud bags (great air circulation) where the humidity was 48% and temp. 78F to finish drying the stems and finish curing the full yellow leaves. (the dry leaves will absorb excess moisture from the yellow ones still needing to brown up to keep them from molding) Since I can reuse the bud bags, and no electricity was involved, it was a zero cost solution. The yellow leaves are browning nicely and while the stems aren't completely dry yet, they all have the same feel throughout the bag, leading me to believe that they are all drying at the same rate, rather than outside first, as they would do in a pile. I keep the house thermostat at 78F, but run the ceiling fans to keep an even temperature. I've kept the bags under one of the ceiling fans.

For someone with a kiln or chamber, I think you are right, you could color cure in the chamber, move the leaf to the bags for stem drying and kill two birds with one stone. (1) You could free up the chamber for the next load of leaves, and (2) save the cost of running the chamber for stem drying. I could probably dry the stem faster if I moved the bags outside into the sun during the daytime, but they are doing so well in the house, I haven't seen the need. (saves thought and work also) An experiment which I plan to do shortly if the humidity stays high, is to move to the bags as soon as the leaf is yellow but still limp, then move into the house for browning and drying. This will probably require taking the leaf out of the bags once a day and rotating it around, but it could save a crop under certain high humidity conditions.
 

deluxestogie

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Just be aware that any moisture that the brown leaves pull out of the yellow leaves makes the brown ones more prone to mold.

Bob
 

Knucklehead

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Just be aware that any moisture that the brown leaves pull out of the yellow leaves makes the brown ones more prone to mold.

Bob

Good point. In my case, the yellow ones make up 10% or less of the total. The brown ones are almost crispy dry except for the stem. The yellow ones were placed on the outside next to the netting. I move them around slightly daily without actually removing them from the bag.
 
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