Water Curing?

[smoker]

I know this is ridiculous and probably of no use at all but I was reading about Three Castles tobacco and came across this tidbit ~ " The original Three Castles used a method of Chinese origin whereby the tobacco, after cut, is placed in water and soaked until most of the tobacco juices are .removed. The Chinese actually boiled their tobacco." I am assuming nicoteen is water soluable. That got me thinking...I had heard of water curing other things to remove chlorophyll. I was wondering if it may be possible with tobacco.. I think the water would have to be laced with nicoteen equal to the leaf.
Sorry I know this is really far fetched.

 

[deluxestogie]

Hmmm. Tobacco Science. I guess we don't have a "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" forum. An awful lot of the marketing verbiage on commercial tobacco products is hyperbole, myth and downright nonsense. But then, I don't know what the Chinese used to do to their tobacco.

I'm not sure what you're asking about. Removing chlorophyll from tobacco? Removing nicotine? Adding nicotine?

Washing fresh green tobacco leaf does remove a the slight amount of nicotine that has been secreted by the trichomes (hairs) on the leaf surface, but has little effect on the nicotine content of the lamina. Washing color-cured leaf will elute the nicotine.

Steaming color-cured leaf in a colander that allows the leaf to make contact with the boiling water will remove nicotine from the lamina to the water. This does not happen if only the steam contacts the leaf.

The color-curing process (essentially allowing the leaf to slowly die, and turn yellow, then brown) causes the natural (living) biologic process of senescence to break down the chlorophyll. Usually simultaneous with this is the conversion of sugars to starches, and the enzymatic breakdown of albuminous proteins. I can't imagine how boiling green leaf would yield smokable tobacco.

Bob

 

[ArizonaDave]

I know this is ridiculous and probably of no use at all but I was reading about Three Castles tobacco and came across this tidbit ~ " The original Three Castles used a method of Chinese origin whereby the tobacco, after cut, is placed in water and soaked until most of the tobacco juices are .removed. The Chinese actually boiled their tobacco." I am assuming nicoteen is water soluable. That got me thinking...I had heard of water curing other things to remove chlorophyll. I was wondering if it may be possible with tobacco.. I think the water would have to be laced with nicoteen equal to the leaf.
Sorry I know this is really far fetched.

I actually tried this with some scraps of Liguero. The water seems to take away some nicotine, and mellows out the flavor. You have to wear gloves, or you'll get nicotine absorbed through the skin and possibly get a nicotine overdose.