Howdy folks

[pakidaho]

Well as most growers know, growing is the easy part, Curing is yet another matter. Living in east central Idaho on the salmon river, the season is short and gets cold too darn soon. Most years I am able to get my leaf color changed but not quite cured by the time temps. shut me down. I keep my changed leaf in a shed where it tends to stay in case most of the time during winter months. Come spring when weather warms I finish curing by placing leaf in very large trash bags, spritzing with water to keep the leaf in case and keep the bags on the trampoline in the sun for a couple months.

I have tried crock pots, heaters and all sorts of stuff but this fall I decided curing tobacco does not have to be as complicated as I have done my best to make it. I guess this is my eighth or ninth year of growing and things did go much simpler than past years... I am happy bout that and look forward to using what I learned this year to make next year even better. Guess that is what we do, right?

This site is full of great information and folks from what I have read are glad to help, share info and learn, so I know I am in the right place.

I enjoy rolling cigars and sharing them with folks I meet, wife and I ride motorcycles and what a great way to meet people...sharing cigars. I always love it when someone tells me that tobacco can not be grown in Idaho...I break out a cigar share the moment then tell em where the cigar was grown.

take care and have a fantastic Thanksgiving and stay warm erv

 

[skychaser]

"I always love it when someone tells me that tobacco can not be grown in Idaho.."

lol It can't be grown here in Eastern Washington either.

It took me a few years to perfect my curing method. It can be a challenge with the way we can go from summer to winter in 3-4 weeks time here in the inland NW.. But according to Mrs. Sky, I finally got it right now. (high praise indeed) No mold, no green, just beautiful golden yellows and browns. Plus now days I just toss anything that isn't A grade before she see's it.

Welcome to the forum pakidaho

 

[leverhead]

Welcome! Complication is the easy part, simplification can be very hard to do. What varieties have you grown?

 

[MarcL]

Howdy pak ! sounds good, Welcome to FTT.

 

[Boboro]

Welcome, We need long time growers

 

[DGBAMA]

Welcome.

 

[pakidaho]

Thanks, seems like each year is like learning all over again, so I don't consider myself very far into the game..or growing as the case might be.

 

[pakidaho]

I mostly have grown domestic Burley's... if that is the correct term, I grow a couple varieties of Havana's, which always grow much more slowly than the Burley's with much smaller leaf but I appreciate the mix in filler. I have grown Conneticut shade without the shade but not much else. I would never say I have become knowledgeable on the subject of tobacco but I do enjoy what I grow and don't tend to get real curious. On the other hand, I want to improve what I am doing and am always looking for that "perfect" cure...what ever that may be.

 

[pakidaho]

Well sky, it sounds like your ahead of me. Always interested to hear about other's methods, especially if you have cold climate curing down.

 

[Chicken]

ive seen some radical curing chambers built by members of this site,

i would guess they all work for what the individual is looking for,

you just got to find one that suit's your needs,

 

[indianjoe]

Welcome, sounds as if you already got some tobacco growing to share.

 

[Rickey60]

Welcome, I think no matter were you live everyone has had problems with the cure. Down here in the south we battled with rain and high humidity this season.

 

[darren1979]

Welcome to the forum, sounds like your having good success. Keep up the good work!!

 

[Michibacy]

Not to be arrogant but I had a terrific cure this year

 

[pakidaho]

ive seen some radical curing chambers built by members of this site,

i would guess they all work for what the individual is looking for,

you just got to find one that suit's your needs,

I find it fascinating the ideas and methods folks come up with, I suppose like every thing else it is an individual process that we work at and tweak as we go along.

 

[pakidaho]

Welcome to the forum, sounds like your having good success. Keep up the good work!!

thanks for the welcome, much appreciated...fortunately at least for this season the work is pretty much over cept for the rolling and smoking.

 

[pakidaho]

Not to be arrogant but I had a terrific cure this year

I just had to laugh at your arrogance...lol Ain't it great to feel that warm fuzzy feeling of being successful. I suppose for the years I have been growing, this has been my closest to succesful yet and hell yes, I am bragging

 

[BarG]

Well as most growers know, growing is the easy part, Curing is yet another matter. Living in east central Idaho on the salmon river, the season is short and gets cold too darn soon. Most years I am able to get my leaf color changed but not quite cured by the time temps. shut me down. I keep my changed leaf in a shed where it tends to stay in case most of the time during winter months. Come spring when weather warms I finish curing by placing leaf in very large trash bags, spritzing with water to keep the leaf in case and keep the bags on the trampoline in the sun for a couple months.

I have tried crock pots, heaters and all sorts of stuff but this fall I decided curing tobacco does not have to be as complicated as I have done my best to make it. I guess this is my eighth or ninth year of growing and things did go much simpler than past years... I am happy bout that and look forward to using what I learned this year to make next year even better. Guess that is what we do, right?

This site is full of great information and folks from what I have read are glad to help, share info and learn, so I know I am in the right place.

I enjoy rolling cigars and sharing them with folks I meet, wife and I ride motorcycles and what a great way to meet people...sharing cigars. I always love it when someone tells me that tobacco can not be grown in Idaho...I break out a cigar share the moment then tell em where the cigar was grown.

take care and have a fantastic Thanksgiving and stay warm erv

Welcome and a nice intro. So what was your solution to Keep It Simple Stupid. heh heh. It's fairly easy to cure in Texas.

 

[pakidaho]

Welcome and a nice intro. So what was your solution to Keep It Simple Stupid. heh heh. It's fairly easy to cure in Texas.

Trying to keep this short...because I could go on and on with explanations about how and why..plastic 18 gallon totes in a well insulated room kept at 90 degrees for my filler tobacco. I striped the main vein from the leaf, ( that was the labor intensive part), tossed in a tote and opened the lids or shut them depending on moisture content of leaf in the tote. By the time I am able to prime leaf we are into late August and by mid September things cool off quickly. The air here is quite dry so leaf will dry green before it gets a chance to turn yellow even when hung in the shed. The totes worked very well for me. As leaf turned nice brown I would remove it from the tote and add to a larger tote of all brown leaf. I wound up with a total of two moldy leaf which truly surprised me. I only had about a hundred and twenty plants this year. I had about three hundred leaf which were my larger ones I kept for wrapper and binder. I also put them in a large tote till they changed color, had to rotate them several times a day. Now have those hanging in the shed...air not so dry now... so they are pretty much staying in case. I keep my filler stored in Styrofoam grape boxes we get from the groc. store. These are vented and kept in the shed, where the tobacco goes in and out of case. The smoke is fairly harsh presently, so I hope by spring I can continue curing. Ok maybe not so simple but I assure you... for me this was much simpler than what I have done previously... I do truly envy you folks that are able to cure with pride..lol however I sure love home so figure it is the price one pays for living in heaven.

 

[BarG]

More power to you! I love home also. It sounds like you have got it figured out what works for your area and best of luck to you. It does sound much more labor intensive for curing than alot of us have to deal with, but it has to be better than store bought.