Son of a gun......a fellow asks about a sticky on kilning, and a week later we have one that is top notch. Many thanks Folks, I have a much better understanding.
In the Pipe World, we have a similar process we call "Stoving", which takes place both commercially and on the home blending front. Personally I use the closed environment...Ball/Mason jars and a crock pot dedicated to tobacco (keeps the RedHead happy that I do not use the one for food). I have the tobacco already prepared for blending, and the temperatures are a bit higher, as the old school crock pot is limited to low/medium/high. My thinking has always been that while this process mimics aging a tobacco, in terms of color and taste, it limits how the tobacco will age long term in a blend. I think of "aging" in terms of years in a closed environment....5 to 10 years being optimal for 'Virginia based blends.