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Small-scale home growers - where do you air-cure your leaves?

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mwaller

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If you don't have access to a curing barn or other specialized facility for air curing, how and where do you cure your leaves in a typical home?
I had planned to hang leaves in the garage, because it tends to stay warm in late summer. However, I'm concerned that the humidity will be much lower than the recommended 70%.
How do you get around that? FWIW, I'm in the Seattle area.
Thanks,
mwaller
 

Smokin Harley

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I'm less than an hour south of Chicago . My leaf cures in the rafters of an 8 x 10 shed . Our summers are hot and humid . Its getting iffy now with late sucker or tip leaf. Today was very dry , 95% of my leaf harvested this season has color cured already . Got one more row of sucker perique standing and its starting to yellow .
 

Jitterbugdude

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When I first started growing I hung my leaf in the basement. Don't get caught up in the magic 70% number.
Where ar you located? Posting your general location will allow people that live near you to give better advice than someone 1000 miles away.
 

SmokesAhoy

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Beginning priming's are hung outside, to wilt, then into the basement. Late season goes straight to unfinished portion of the basement. It'll be humid there this time of year, long enough to cure but once I start heating humidity will drop. It actually works good, by the time mold would be an issue it's crispy, unfortunately that pauses aging, still gotta get my act together and build a kiln.
 

deluxestogie

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Call me crazy, but I assumed humidity that is very high would be the problem to deal with in the Seattle area. Just open the garage area (door or window) in the evenings, and if need be, close it in the morning. Plan B: cut off the AC to the garage. Plan C: get a poly drop cloth and construct a mini tent to isolate the tobacco from the surrounding environment.

Bob
 

ChinaVoodoo

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Call me crazy, but I assumed humidity that is very high would be the problem to deal with in the Seattle area. Just open the garage area (door or window) in the evenings, and if need be, close it in the morning. Plan B: cut off the AC to the garage. Plan C: get a poly drop cloth and construct a mini tent to isolate the tobacco from the surrounding environment.

Bob

I agree with Bob. Pick up a hygrometer. Calibrate it. Be creative in keeping the humidity right in the garage. You probably won't need a humidifier. If it's warmer in the garage, it will be less humid than outside. Outside is more humid at night and early morning, so letting air in and out at the right times might be all you need to do. If by chance you do find it a little dry in the garage, and don't want to buy a humidifier, a bucket of water with a wick, like a couple cloths or towels suspended in it with a fan blowing on it might be all you need to do.
 

BigBonner

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Things to remember about tobacco curing in buildings .
If you cure it in a place that has certain smells like paint , gas or other types of smell the tobacco may cure and take on those odors .
 

Michibacy

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BigB - Good point, my first year curing I had some very strange Kerosene smelling Yellow Twist Bud.


Nowa days, I've built a separate partition to my barn for curing tobacco. Dirt floor, decent air flow (open or close a door for more or less air flow), a plug just on the opposing side of the door (fire hazard, I like to keep plugs or lights away from dried/drying materials). It's not perfect, but it dries bacca.

I can grab some photos if anyone is interested?
 

BigBonner

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BigB - Good point, my first year curing I had some very strange Kerosene smelling Yellow Twist Bud.


Nowa days, I've built a separate partition to my barn for curing tobacco. Dirt floor, decent air flow (open or close a door for more or less air flow), a plug just on the opposing side of the door (fire hazard, I like to keep plugs or lights away from dried/drying materials). It's not perfect, but it dries bacca.

I can grab some photos if anyone is interested?


Good point Jeremy
Tobacco is very flammable . I know a farmer who had a old Farmall tractor . When he went to start it under a barn full of dried tobacco , It flamed out the exhaust a little and burnt the whole barn full of tobacco down . Fire went up to the top of that barn like you had of poured kerosene on it .
 

mwaller

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Thanks for the inputs, guys! I'm in the Seattle area. Although we get quite a bit of rain, summers tend to be dry. The hygrometer in my garage is currently showing about 40% humidity. The garage is not connected to the central air system, so it is unaffected by AC. However, it gets quite warm due to sun exposure and hot car engines being parked. I also have a ground-level rec room that is unconnected to the heating system. It stays much cooler than the garage, and is often more humid. Would this be a better choice?
Thanks,
Mwaller
 

ChinaVoodoo

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Thanks for the inputs, guys! I'm in the Seattle area. Although we get quite a bit of rain, summers tend to be dry. The hygrometer in my garage is currently showing about 40% humidity. The garage is not connected to the central air system, so it is unaffected by AC. However, it gets quite warm due to sun exposure and hot car engines being parked. I also have a ground-level rec room that is unconnected to the heating system. It stays much cooler than the garage, and is often more humid. Would this be a better choice?
Thanks,
Mwaller

The rec room might be better. The warmth in the garage is only a bad thing because it contributes to the low humidity. Tobacco will air cure nicely between 90 and 100, so i would rather humidify a warm space than use a cool space that is humid - if that makes sense. Bob suggested using plastic, like drop sheets, tarp, or vapour barrier to isolate a space within the garage. If you do that, the leaves themselves will likely supply all the humidity you need. My curing shed is completely sealed and vapor proof except for two 3/4" pipes with a fan attached to one of them. This particular batch I'm curing, there is enough leaf that the humidifier hasn't turned on once, and I'm constantly venting with a fan via the holes to maintain my target humidity.
 

Smokin Harley

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Although 70F would be fine, I prefer air curing between 90F and 100F because it is faster. The humidity would still need to be around 70%, no matter what temperature it is.
when I prime and hang my leaf, I keep a cheap plastic wall thermometer with a coil type hygrometer (from Menards, around $7-10) up in the hanging tobacco . Temps at cure time are generally mid to high 90s with humidity ranging from 65-75% . My leaf color cures in approximately a week. I go out a few times a day and open doors to move fresh air in and if need be I keep them open on unusually hot or humid days .
 

riverstone

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I air cured what I had last year in my car port attached to the house. It is open on three sides, the wind blows through and the sun gets on the roof most of the day. Our summers, in this part of NZ, are mainly 30-35c with pretty high humidity I didn't have a clue but it all colour cured in about a week and then dried in the garage rafters with a fan going and two doors open. I then hung it in a lean-to green house to dry the stalks before storing it in cardboard boxes.
No complaints from "she who smokes" so I will probably try the same this year. I do have a small kiln/curing chamber if things look dodgy or it gets late in the season.
 

SmokesAhoy

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Now that it's getting cooler but forecast has no freeze in it I've moved my crop up to the attic to continue drying since the temps are in the 90's up there and they can dry out much better than the basement
 
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