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Toastie, roastie, to get the mostie

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ladaok

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now, to get that nice smell that we / I associate with those camel - lucky strike type fags, you apparently have to ' roast ' the leaf ?

I have a few varieties that I have stork dried then cured the leaf in zip lock plastic bags in a fairly hot environment ( inside a car )
I found that by opening/closing the bag I could control the rate of drying.

ok, I have

blk sea samsun
smyrna # 9
izmir ozbas
bafra
also xanthi yaka # 18a & shirazi ... not sure if these two are turkish or not

how do YOU go about toasting the leaf ?

I was thinking about putting the leaf in a frying pan with a see through lid, so I could see what's happening

thanks Robbie
 

DonH

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now, to get that nice smell that we / I associate with those camel - lucky strike type fags, you apparently have to ' roast ' the leaf ?

I have a few varieties that I have stork dried then cured the leaf in zip lock plastic bags in a fairly hot environment ( inside a car )
I found that by opening/closing the bag I could control the rate of drying.

ok, I have

blk sea samsun
smyrna # 9
izmir ozbas
bafra
also xanthi yaka # 18a & shirazi ... not sure if these two are turkish or not

how do YOU go about toasting the leaf ?

I was thinking about putting the leaf in a frying pan with a see through lid, so I could see what's happening

thanks Robbie
I wouldn't toast the varieties you have. Toasting is done with Burley primarily. Toasting smooths out the harsher aspects of Burley. Turkish is not harsh and toasting may eliminate the aromatic aspects of those varieties. Toasting is also useful for Virginia varieties if you are using it in pipe tobacco. The way I toast Burley, is spray the shredded leaf with water, or a cup of water with a teaspoon of honey or other sugar type substance. You can also add other flavorings if you want. Put the wet tobacco on a baking pan or plate and place in an oven heated to 250 Fahrenheit until the top is dry. Flip it over with a spatula and keep it in the oven until it's all dry. Take it out of the oven, spray it again with the water or casing solution and put it in a ziploc bag overnight.

With those nice Turkish varieties you have, you will never get it to taste like Camel or Lucky Strike without adding Flue Cured and Burley to it. But you could make a nice mild Turkish blend.
 

ladaok

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Ta D - H, the only burley I have is KELLEY
SILVER RIVER

I have flu cured HICKORY PRYOR
AFRICAN RED
PARIS WRAPPER

would these do? if not please suggest some other varieties

thanks robbie

 

DonH

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Those varieties will do just fine. You'll end up with something that will taste better than the commercial brands.
 

BarG

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Ta D - H, the only burley I have is KELLEY
SILVER RIVER

I have flu cured HICKORY PRYOR
AFRICAN RED
PARIS WRAPPER

would these do? if not please suggest some other varieties

thanks robbie


When did silver river become a burley
 

BarG

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I wouldn't toast the varieties you have. Toasting is done with Burley primarily. Toasting smooths out the harsher aspects of Burley. Turkish is not harsh and toasting may eliminate the aromatic aspects of those varieties. Toasting is also useful for Virginia varieties if you are using it in pipe tobacco. The way I toast Burley, is spray the shredded leaf with water, or a cup of water with a teaspoon of honey or other sugar type substance. You can also add other flavorings if you want. Put the wet tobacco on a baking pan or plate and place in an oven heated to 250 Fahrenheit until the top is dry. Flip it over with a spatula and keep it in the oven until it's all dry. Take it out of the oven, spray it again with the water or casing solution and put it in a ziploc bag overnight.

With those nice Turkish varieties you have, you will never get it to taste like Camel or Lucky Strike without adding Flue Cured and Burley to it. But you could make a nice mild Turkish blend.

I really don't want mine to taste the way I grew up tasting it. I want mine to be different. I have already cut my smoking in half from 45 years of store bought, and 3 years of homegrown. Why would you want it to be what you are trying to avoid.
Just a thought.
 

Jitterbugdude

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Next year's project for me is to pony up the money and have some Silver River sent to a lab for analysis. I was going to do it last year but ran out of money and this year I'm not growing any. I think if we know the sucrosester levels we'll be able to make a better decision as to whether it is a Burley or not. I'm not sure what it is. It grows like a Burley but tastes like a Flue Cured variety.
 

DGBAMA

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Next year's project for me is to pony up the money and have some Silver River sent to a lab for analysis. I was going to do it last year but ran out of money and this year I'm not growing any. I think if we know the sucrosester levels we'll be able to make a better decision as to whether it is a Burley or not. I'm not sure what it is. It grows like a Burley but tastes like a Flue Cured variety.
SR will be a mainstay for me; grows big, cures easily, unique flavor. I have seen it classed as "primitive" and "white stem Burley".

what size sample do you need to get it checked? Any particular stalk position or drying method? I will donate the leaf along with enough extra for you to enjoy.
 

IanA2

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Being a complete newbie to all this processing malarkey, I confess to being confused a lot,so:

1. Is toasting different from kilning?
2. Is it necessary/desirable to toast/kiln (if they are different things) Turkish?
3. I had thought that kilning flue cured leaf was a no-no.
4. Is it best to let stripped shredded leaf dry completely (or toast or kiln it) and then case it? Currently I don't dry it completely, and then case it with some brandy/rum/whisky. Am I on the right tracks?
5. I understand that old baccy is better baccy. Is it ok to keep/store my baccy (dry) longish term in big poly bags?

I have searched a fair bit for these answers but without success.

Can we have a sticky called "newbie questions?"

Many thanks
 

DonH

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Being a complete newbie to all this processing malarkey, I confess to being confused a lot,so:

1. Is toasting different from kilning?
2. Is it necessary/desirable to toast/kiln (if they are different things) Turkish?
3. I had thought that kilning flue cured leaf was a no-no.
4. Is it best to let stripped shredded leaf dry completely (or toast or kiln it) and then case it? Currently I don't dry it completely, and then case it with some brandy/rum/whisky. Am I on the right tracks?
5. I understand that old baccy is better baccy. Is it ok to keep/store my baccy (dry) longish term in big poly bags?

I have searched a fair bit for these answers but without success.

Can we have a sticky called "newbie questions?"

Many thanks
Last question first: There is an FAQ that works like a newbie question thread here: http://fairtradetobacco.com/links.php?ab_s=1

1. Toasting and kilning are TWO DIFFERENT THINGS. Toasting can be done on harsher types like Burley with high pH. It smooths out the smoke. Kilning in a nutshell speeds up aging, so you don't have to wait a year or more. I find it changes the character (in a good way) beyond just speeding up aging.
2. Turkish is pretty smooth and low pH to begin with, so toasting shouldn't be done. Most varieties also don't need long aging, so you can decide to kiln or not. If you have a kiln, might as well.
3. If you flue cure your leaves you don't have to kiln, but some people do. If you do, it will darken the leaves, which to me kind of defeats part of the purpose of flue curing. But if you are air drying flue cure varieties instead of flue curing them, they will benefit from kilning. I like the results of kilning flue cured varieties best when I kiln them for less time than other varieties, like two weeks instead of four, but others will disagree.
4. Probably you want to case it last.
5. Should be fine. I have stored them in both cardboard boxes and more recently in Whole Leaf Tobacco's tobacco storage bags. These are almost completely airtight, unlike other plastic bags.
 

IanA2

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Last question first: There is an FAQ that works like a newbie question thread here: http://fairtradetobacco.com/links.php?ab_s=1

1. Toasting and kilning are TWO DIFFERENT THINGS. Toasting can be done on harsher types like Burley with high pH. It smooths out the smoke. Kilning in a nutshell speeds up aging, so you don't have to wait a year or more. I find it changes the character (in a good way) beyond just speeding up aging.
2. Turkish is pretty smooth and low pH to begin with, so toasting shouldn't be done. Most varieties also don't need long aging, so you can decide to kiln or not. If you have a kiln, might as well.
3. If you flue cure your leaves you don't have to kiln, but some people do. If you do, it will darken the leaves, which to me kind of defeats part of the purpose of flue curing. But if you are air drying flue cure varieties instead of flue curing them, they will benefit from kilning. I like the results of kilning flue cured varieties best when I kiln them for less time than other varieties, like two weeks instead of four, but others will disagree.
4. Probably you want to case it last.
5. Should be fine. I have stored them in both cardboard boxes and more recently in Whole Leaf Tobacco's tobacco storage bags. These are almost completely airtight, unlike other plastic bags.


Many thanks, very helpful.
 

DonH

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Another thing about toasting. It's something you want to do only soon before smoking because the high temps will kill the enzymes that age tobacco. For example three years ago, right before I found WLT, I bought some whole leaf Burley on Amazon. It wasn't kilned and it wast aged at all. It was very harsh. So after I got some from WLT and BigBonner I used that and pretty much forgot about the leaf I got on Amazon. I just left it loose in a cardboard box in my attic. This week when packing up all my tobacco for a move I found it and tried a cigarette of only that Burley. It was way smoother! Now, I wouldn't bother toasting it.
 

chillardbee

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Just thinking that one could kiln it before toasting it so that it's a bit forced aged, that is if you wanted to shred all your baccy and make a year or 2 supply of baccy ready to go. For me, I just like getting it out of the way. This year will be my first year doing a toasting on the whole leaf before shreding. I don't doubt the last year when I cased my shredded baccy then threw it in the oven to dry it at 180f that I had a bit of toasting going on. I was leaving the baccy in there until it was fairly dry (5 hours).
 

Gmac

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It would be nice to have a Rotissery tumbler type of container for toasting. the tobacco wouldn't have time to stick to the bottom and scorch, kinda like popcorn, just a thought.

Gmac
 

FmGrowit

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Here's a pretty nice one

200872421551391.jpg


Application:
This product is mainly used in tobacco threshing and redrying line for loosening, increasing temperature and moisture content of tobacco leaves, so as to meet the required temperature and moisture content.
Features:

- Cylinder and discharging chamber with insulating cover to decrease heat loss.
- Auto control over temperature and moisture content.
- High level of safety and maintainability, there set limit switch and isolating switch at unmindful places to ensure safe, convenient and quick operation and repair.
- Adoption of multiple-point and less-quantity humidifying technology for gentle processing and even humidifying.
 
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