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Gator skin leaf are these ripe ??

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ringanator

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Aligator texture of leaf is this what I am reading for ready to prime
They haven't yellowed at all so are these ripe for cigarettes or is this something else

1438984677613.jpg1438984882905.jpg
 

ChinaVoodoo

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Aligator texture of leaf is this what I am reading for ready to prime
They haven't yellowed at all so are these ripe for cigarettes or is this something else

View attachment 16365View attachment 16366

I'd like to follow this thread for my own education. My Bursa which will be for pipe tobacco looks like this, with some yellow mottling. I know people are going to want to know what tobacco it is in your photos. You're just growing flue cured tobacco intended for cigarettes, right?

Also, I just learned from an older post from deluxestogie that the correct question should be, are these "mature". Ripe is when the whole leaf is yellow.
 

ringanator

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True mature thank China voodoo this qais a Canadian Virginia flue cure and will be air colour cured and used for ciggarets leaves below have been already primed but the hat change to a lighter yellow green or started to yellow at the tips. They snapped right off when pushed down at the stock
 

Knucklehead

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I prime cigar leaf when it is mature, when it changes to a lighter shade of green or with just some hints of yellow. Cigarette leaf is primed when ripe, showing a lot of yellow. This year I primed cigarette tobacco when 50% of the leaf was yellow and the tips were dead and brown. I felt like I had been priming cigarette leaf too early my first two years and lost some weight, strength and flavor. The more yellow, the easier it will cure.

Here's some Maryland for cigarettes that I primed today:

attachment.php
 

Jitterbugdude

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I use 4 criteria in determining when to harvest a leaf. (1) yellowing (2) alligator texture (3) time from budding and (4) the celery test. This test trumps the previous three. I grab a lower leaf and snap it off. If it snaps loud like celery being snapped in half, it is ready for harvest. Usually at 3 weeks after budding I consider the leaf ready for harvest but I also look for yellowing and an alligator texture. All three do not have to be present. Sometimes it's just a judgement call. I've had tobacco that turned yellow within 2 weeks of budding but where not ready to harvest till 4 weeks based on the celery test.
 

ringanator

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It passes the texture and celery snap test with little downward pressure breaks clean off the stock I top the plants about a week ago just as buds appeared the pod were very tiny top leaves still encase the bud so I don't know don't want colour cureing problems but also don't want to wait to long becouse Temps are starting to go down and I color cure outdoors under my deck
 

deluxestogie

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One shortcoming of the celery test is that it depends on leaf turgor. In early morning and late evening, leaf turgor is much greater than at mid-day. (Increased turgor is the direct cause of the "praying hands" leaf positioning seen in the morning and evening.) So an immature leaf may "snap" off in the morning, while a mature one may have a somewhat floppy stem during the middle of a hot, dry day. Of course, these conditions vary from one locale to the next.

The rigidity of the stem may also vary with tobacco variety.

What difference does timing of harvest make?

early harvesting
  • thinner
  • smoother texture
  • less flavorful and aromatic
  • lower nicotine
  • finer veins
  • slower to color-cure
  • lower leaf weight
  • less (or no) damage to leaf tips
late harvesting
  • thicker
  • coarser texture
  • more intensely flavored
  • higher nicotine
  • coarser veins
  • color-cures more easily
  • greater leaf weight
  • leaf tip damage more likely
Either way, it's usually not a disaster, but may not be ideal for what you want. For very strong cigar varieties, like Jalapa, late priming can make some really ferocious leaf. Cigar wrapper is usually nicer with earlier priming.

So, I wouldn't lose sleep over the issue. Either way, it's a learning experience to see what you get.

Bob
 

ChinaVoodoo

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Usually at 3 weeks after budding I consider the leaf ready for harvest but I also look for yellowing and an alligator texture. All three do not have to be present. Sometimes it's just a judgement call. I've had tobacco that turned yellow within 2 weeks of budding but where not ready to harvest till 4 weeks based on the celery test.

I'm still inexperienced, but I would say, based on my experience so far that since growing is slower in ringanator and my climate, that three weeks after budding could be extended at least by another week, if not two.
 

mountbaldy

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China voodoo and ringanator, my leaf appears to be about to the mature stage right now. I'm just to the south of you. I started flowering about 3 weeks ago. Some leaf is yellowing. I'm hoping to start priming tomorrow or Sunday at the latest. I wouldn't think you guys would be very far off. From the looks of your leaf it's starting to get that alligator look.

I'm growing Connecticut Broadleaf and One Sucker both for cigars, pipe and chew.

Good luck and happy harvest!!

Joe
 

ringanator

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Thanks for all the great info I pulled these two leaves off and hung them to see how the colour cure the rest I will wait until they have 25% yellow and do a little experiment will post my result on this thread. Due to alberta unique weather and lack of humidity.this may be benificial to growers in our area
 

Knucklehead

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Due to alberta unique weather and lack of humidity.this may be benificial to growers in our area

That's the thing about curing. It's almost always different for everybody. The things you can do to raise or lower humidity to combat the problems in your area are about the only constant.
 

ChinaVoodoo

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That's the thing about curing. It's almost always different for everybody. The things you can do to raise or lower humidity to combat the problems in your area are about the only constant.
It looks like summer is back, so I'm up for being patient and taking advantage of some nice growth.
IMG_20150808_114230.jpg
 

ArizonaDave

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One shortcoming of the celery test is that it depends on leaf turgor. In early morning and late evening, leaf turgor is much greater than at mid-day. (Increased turgor is the direct cause of the "praying hands" leaf positioning seen in the morning and evening.) So an immature leaf may "snap" off in the morning, while a mature one may have a somewhat floppy stem during the middle of a hot, dry day. Of course, these conditions vary from one locale to the next.

The rigidity of the stem may also vary with tobacco variety.

What difference does timing of harvest make?

early harvesting
  • thinner
  • smoother texture
  • less flavorful and aromatic
  • lower nicotine
  • finer veins
  • slower to color-cure
  • lower leaf weight
  • less (or no) damage to leaf tips
late harvesting
  • thicker
  • coarser texture
  • more intensely flavored
  • higher nicotine
  • coarser veins
  • color-cures more easily
  • greater leaf weight
  • leaf tip damage more likely
Either way, it's usually not a disaster, but may not be ideal for what you want. For very strong cigar varieties, like Jalapa, late priming can make some really ferocious leaf. Cigar wrapper is usually nicer with earlier priming.

So, I wouldn't lose sleep over the issue. Either way, it's a learning experience to see what you get.

Bob

Excellent table showing the benefit of harvesting. That should go into an FTT book or something :)
 

ArizonaDave

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That's the thing about curing. It's almost always different for everybody. The things you can do to raise or lower humidity to combat the problems in your area are about the only constant.

Exactly, and most important to know in a world of wacky weather.

Ringnator, I've read on Bob's cozy can flue cure chamber that he was able to cure some candella (cured green leaf) by accident before, but that usually for Cigars, not Cigarettes.

Note to self: I really need to build Knucklehead's flue cure chamber.......or Bob's galvanized can Idea.
 

Knucklehead

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Note to self: I really need to build Knucklehead's flue cure chamber.......or Bob's galvanized can Idea.

Especially since you are mainly a cigar smoker. It's not that big a deal to naturally age cigarette leaf for a year but cigar leaf can take 3-7 years of natural aging to achieve the aroma and flavor that you can get from one month in the kiln. It was killing me to smoke some home grown cigar leaf but after two years of aging it still had a grassy smell and I didn't want to waste leaf so I hadn't even sampled it. I love my kiln, especially for cigar leaf. I didn't grow any flue varieties this year so I haven't tried it as a flue cure chamber yet, just as a kiln and stem drying box. It's worth building just for kilning.
 

Smokin Harley

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I use 4 criteria in determining when to harvest a leaf. (1) yellowing (2) alligator texture (3) time from budding and (4) the celery test. This test trumps the previous three. I grab a lower leaf and snap it off. If it snaps loud like celery being snapped in half, it is ready for harvest. Usually at 3 weeks after budding I consider the leaf ready for harvest but I also look for yellowing and an alligator texture. All three do not have to be present. Sometimes it's just a judgement call. I've had tobacco that turned yellow within 2 weeks of budding but where not ready to harvest till 4 weeks based on the celery test.

Ok, so having the criteria above ...my Vuelta Abajo is almost all of the above ,not just yellowing but the entire plant is mottled ,gator skin, time from budding is about right or even later, I've picked mudlugs before I left for vacation a week ago and they were definitely like celery snapping off...I'm thinking I should be picking it??
 

DGBAMA

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Ok, so having the criteria above ...my Vuelta Abajo is almost all of the above ,not just yellowing but the entire plant is mottled ,gator skin, time from budding is about right or even later, I've picked mudlugs before I left for vacation a week ago and they were definitely like celery snapping off...I'm thinking I should be picking it??

Sounds like it is harvest time. Leaf destined for filler should be more ripe than leaf to be used for binder/wrapper, which should be picked when just mature (full sized but less texture).
 
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