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Smokin Harley leaf curing (air cure )

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Smokin Harley

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Temps went way down over night. I think our summer weather is over...Now getting fall conditions. Checked the barn today ,temp 68*F/rH 73% .Leaf is in med/low case (not crispy).
Except for maybe 4-6 green leaves out of the barn full, everything else is brown,some stems of the bigger leaf varieties still need a lot of drying which I think I will put on heat mats to finish while they wait in line for the kiln.
Just for future reference- Is it better to color cure from yellow to brown quickly or are results better when done slowly?
 

deluxestogie

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Is it better to color cure from yellow to brown quickly or are results better when done slowly?
I can't say better or worse. The difference for non-burley is in the final leaf color of the color-cured leaf. The longer the curing leaf is exposed to humidity (and the higher the humidity), the darker the leaf will be when finally dried. I honestly don't know what impact that has on the color, once it has been kilned.

For burleys, the breakdown of albuminous proteins and carbohydrates is slower, and not synchronized with the chlorophyll breakdown (as it is in most other varieties). So burley usually benefits from a slower, more prolonged color-cure.

Bob
 

Smokin Harley

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reviving this thread for the 2016 seasons grow.
Barn is full and most of which is cured brown. Got 5 strings that are still green but s-l-o-w-l-y yellowing. My last string of Perique is a nice golden yellow with the secondary veins going dark brown.
The shade wrapper leaf has me very excited,even some of the Olor looks like it will make great wrapper by color and texture. Not only is it very thin but smooth and shiny ,almost like an oily appearance, once lightly stretched out and a finger pressed behind it . A few of the Habano 2000 have that rich reddish brown "Habano" color one would expect wrapped on something like an Ashton. Not sure which part of the grow /process I love the most...seeing the seeds sprout their first green leaves or this time of the deal where everything comes into final color.
 

Chicken

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i re-read your whole thread,

last year i tried that '' using a towel as a wick '' and wasnt impressed with the reults,

this year im doing something a little different to make more space.

as my leaves brown up real good .. i been pulling my hanging stick out... and moving the dried leaves real close to each other, and putting fresh green leaves on the stick.

if all goes well. it'll eliminate 2 sticks being placed on my hanging rack.

i mean we are all new at this home-grown art we got to experiment to see what works best.

..............................................................................................

my newly constructed curing barn should be finished today.. so im not really hurting for space.... but when it comes time for pulling my sticks out of the barn i.e. i'd rather pull one stick holding 100 leaves than pull 3 sticks holding 33 leaves,

.and on a side note. what are you using for a heat source in your curing area, if anything. i know you was air curing. but i.m.o. that just aint the way to go,,

im using heat lamps for my initial green curing just something to help the heat build up to a higher than normal level... my plans are to use the lamps to get the leaf brown then use a propane heater to stem dry.

....................................................................................................

also have you used your home beer brewing kit yet ? im still thinking of getting me all i need and give it a whirl. id like to make a stronger beer than what the u.s. offers,,,, ive been to europe, i know what strong beer is,,,
 

Smokin Harley

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nope sure havent used the beer kit yet. Just got back from the 11 day round trip to and from Colorado via Harley Davidson. My plot basically regrew within that 11 days and now I have to decide what to do with all the sucker growth that came up AND flowered .
I expect to be called back to work (Nuclear plant refuel outage) next week ...that will take me into mid October and then if theres no work after that I have a side job and my parents 20 yr old porch in Alabama to go down to rebuild.
 

Smokin Harley

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early yesterday morning while the sun was barely up and the dew still heavy I went out to the barn to check leaf while my wife went to the gym. The last batch I had picked was hanging and limp but still very green. I had an idea- I took one of the plastic kiddie pools and put it on the floor , laid big towels in the bottom and then laid the green wired leaf in it in a circular layered fashion green leaf on the bottom and some brown on top just for a little weight and maybe some sweating..a mini Pilon as it were. Wife and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary yesterday as well so we went out for a little motorcycle ride and lunch then home to relax. Just have been moving and going for nearly 2 weeks for our trip so a calm day was needed. Went out to the barn late afternoon and pried up the edge of the pilon , the green leaf that was on the bottom layers was already turning a bright chartreuse almost golden...This morning I'll go out and recheck it ,and see if I need to dismantle and reconstruct the pile yet.
 

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Yup, pile curing is my favourite method for yellowing when the weather is too dry... But don't let them leaves too long or they will become brown and rot. And it only takes hours, not days...
 

Smokin Harley

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After reading Alpines post yesterday afternoon I ran out ...ok I briskly walked...ok really I don't run so I just walked at a leisurely pace ,out to the barn and unpiled the leaf. what had been really green was and is now bright yellow and starting to turn brown. I took the ends of the wires it is strung on and shook it out a bit to get the leaves unstuck from each other and then hung them back up on the nails. I'll head out in a few minutes and check on it . Might do a quick re-piling of what may still be slightly green since last night. Temperatures today and tomorrow are expected to be back in the low 90s with possible rain so humidity will be high so I'll take advantage of it and get everything as yellow as I can before it cools off again. I still have almost my entire row of Perique sucker plants that came back as of yesterday to almost 4 ft plants, leaves are only like 12 inches long (which isn't too bad) . I topped them and I'm now waiting for the leaves to get to a substantial size enough and color change a little to get another decent pick .
 

Smokin Harley

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I have checked my pile (pilon) curing leaf twice today . Once around 8 am when I got up after reading Alpines post about time in the pile and then a few minutes ago. In todays 90's +humidity it heated up fast , the color changed rapidly. I felt the heat from the bottom of the pile as I hung each wire up after giving them all a good air fluff in the wind . Maybe a little premature but one string had a nice oily look to it. The Orinoco is definitely a pretty bright golden yellow as well. Definitely will put this method into my next season earlier on.
 

LordPipestoke

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Sorry, I'm rather new to this.

I was wondering if there is any particular reason not to do a quick bit of pile curing to get past the green stage on pretty much any leaf? Aside, that is, from one needing to keep a very close eye on it.

My concern, when it comes to the point where I'm going to colour cure my first harvest (in a month or two) is whether I'll be able to get it past the green stage, as I don't have the best facilities available to me to avoid the leaves drying green.
 

deluxestogie

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That can work. Be sure to rotate the leaf regularly, and inspect it frequently. The greatest risk of small pile curing is mold.

Bob
 

Smokin Harley

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I did that on a very small scale last year. I actually posted it but I don't know where exactly to refer you to it. I had a few strings that were slow to color cure as the weather cooled off and I cure mine in my small shed in the back yard. I had the rest hanging and they cured wonderfully. I put a small plastic pool down. Laid towels down in the bottom and laid my mostly green leaf down in circular fashion on top of the towel. I made a small pile just a few inches tall and put another layer of towel over the top to keep temperature and humidity somewhat stable. I checked it every day for a week so it didn't just sit there and compost itself, because it did heat up some. After the first week I could see color change and I dismantled and shook the leaves and rotated the layers over a months time. I lost a few leaves but nothing major that I wouldn't try it again.
 

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I lost in this game(set,play) but I had can be too early harvested...
j'ai perdu à ce jeu mais j'avais peut etre récolté trop tot...
 

LordPipestoke

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Thanks. I'll have a go at that with part of my harvest this year. I don't like to put all my eggs in one basket, let alone all my leaves in a pile.
 
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