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Connecticut Broadleaf Curing Advice

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mountbaldy

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First time grower from Montana seeking advice for curing Connecticut Broadleaf. I grew about 8 plants of that variety this year. I topped and suckered all but one of them. I let one flower and hopefully produce seed. The one I let go is flowering right now. I did sucker it down to one flower shoot.

Anyhow, my environment is high mountain desert. I have a very low RH (practically zero). So I built a curing chamber with a digital temp/humidity controller. I am growing tobacco to smoke in a pipe and for cigars. I'm an occasional smoker so it's mostly for special occasions.

I plan on priming my plants and only harvesting leaf as they mature. I'll string the leaf and put it in the curing chamber before fermenting.

All of that said....

What is the ideal way to cure this type of leaf?

What RH and temp is best?

Any advice is appreciated! I've already read many of the historical literature and some of the more modern reads. Nothing I've read really talks specifically about Connecticut Broadleaf.

Thanks!!

Cheers,

Joe
 

deluxestogie

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Welcome to the forum. CT Broadleaf is usually stalk-harvested. Since the leaves may continue to draw some moisture from the stalk after hanging, it may help with the low humidity. If you go with leaf priming (which is perfectly fine for CT Broadleaf), and color-cure it in a chamber, I would suggest a steady temp in the 80-90ºF range, and a humidity above 70%, until the lamina have browned.

Your controller will easily control the heat from any electric heat source (usually a Crockpot). Water in the Crockpot may be able to maintain the humidity at those temps, but maybe not. You can always rig a towel "wick" in a container of water, with a circulation fan. Color-curing in a chamber will require adequate venting as you begin to dry down the browned leaf, since most of its weight is water. (I seem to recall that CT Broadleaf doesn't have much of a yellow phase.)

Bob
 
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