Buy Tobacco Leaf Online | Whole Leaf Tobacco

Freeze/Thaw-Sun Cure Experiment

Status
Not open for further replies.

SmokesAhoy

Moderator
Founding Member
Joined
May 22, 2011
Messages
2,686
Points
0
Location
VT
I had only left sucker growth in the end. They had matured to an open flower or so before dying.

The leaf had achieved a beautiful dark brown but the snow was becoming concrete and I was afraid I wouldn't get even a single sample so I rolled a cigar and let it dry out in the dry kiln for a couple days. This 1 sample gave me beautiful looking nomex leaf. It burned well enough under a flame but couldn't continue burning once the flame stopped. It was not moist at all but wouldn't burn. It looked beautiful though.
IMG_20170131_112915.jpg
IMG_20170131_112922.jpg

Flavor never got a chance to develop. It certainly wasn't raw tasting, but not in the kilned class either. If it would have supported a cherry perhaps it would have been very nice, I don't know. I threw it out after snapping the pictures.
 

deluxestogie

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
May 25, 2011
Messages
23,931
Points
113
Location
near Blacksburg, VA
Still too much carbs and protein. In the cold, the dead leaf cells never have an opportunity to enzymatically degrade all that stuff. So it won't burn. Yup. Nomex.

If you rescue some of those nice looking leaves, then allow them to "age" a bit, they may improve.

Bob
 

SmokesAhoy

Moderator
Founding Member
Joined
May 22, 2011
Messages
2,686
Points
0
Location
VT
Possible fork in the road to success after getting hit with a freeze then. If that happens I just won't harvest until color cure is complete, then kiln it.

With my py171 in hand though, this'll likely be the last I think of this.
 

Smokin Harley

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2014
Messages
2,573
Points
48
Location
Grant ,Alabama
my freeze thaw sucker plants still stand albeit dead (zombie tobacco?) in the garden. Leaves are now all blackish brown . The one leaf I pulled back in November I shoved in a vapor proof bag . It smells wonderful but still has a lot of green . Might go pull the zombies and see how they age out .
 

ChinaVoodoo

Moderator
Joined
Sep 1, 2014
Messages
7,166
Points
113
Location
Edmonton, AB, CA
I'm not getting the beautiful brown like some of you, or like I did the first time I unintentionally did this. This year had a strange autumn where it first froze for weeks, then warmed up for a couple with rain. So I got mold. Aspergillus in particular. The leaves smoked and tasted pretty good.

However!!! I've had the worst ear infections of my life since before Christmas, and it started by noticing black specks in the wax. Tests have come back as Staph aureus, primarily( I have to get a bone scan to be sure it's not in the skull bone), but there was Candida and indeed , there is Aspergillus. This is the worst pain I've experienced in my life. No exaggeration. What the progression was, I don't know, but I suspect the aspergillus came from the tobacco.
 

Smokin Harley

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2014
Messages
2,573
Points
48
Location
Grant ,Alabama
I'm not getting the beautiful brown like some of you, or like I did the first time I unintentionally did this. This year had a strange autumn where it first froze for weeks, then warmed up for a couple with rain. So I got mold. Aspergillus in particular. The leaves smoked and tasted pretty good.

However!!! I've had the worst ear infections of my life since before Christmas, and it started by noticing black specks in the wax. Tests have come back as Staph aureus, primarily( I have to get a bone scan to be sure it's not in the skull bone), but there was Candida and indeed , there is Aspergillus. This is the worst pain I've experienced in my life. No exaggeration. What the progression was, I don't know, but I suspect the aspergillus came from the tobacco.

Get that checked out asap...My son ,when he was 17 got a nasty and aggressive ear infection the day before Christmas. Long story short he ended up in the hospital for 10 days with a pic line and IV antibiotics for nearly a month then had to have his head opened up behind his ear to have the mastoid bone scraped of all the infection behind his ear drum. He is 100% deaf in his left ear because of it. Don't wait .
 

Charly

Moderator
Joined
May 1, 2016
Messages
2,209
Points
113
Location
France
That's really a sad... :(
You are right SH, when it comes to health, it has to be taken seriously ! Life is too short !
 

ChinaVoodoo

Moderator
Joined
Sep 1, 2014
Messages
7,166
Points
113
Location
Edmonton, AB, CA
Get that checked out asap...My son ,when he was 17 got a nasty and aggressive ear infection the day before Christmas. Long story short he ended up in the hospital for 10 days with a pic line and IV antibiotics for nearly a month then had to have his head opened up behind his ear to have the mastoid bone scraped of all the infection behind his ear drum. He is 100% deaf in his left ear because of it. Don't wait .

Thank you. It sounds like your son had the same thing. I went to emergency yesterday, and I'm now on a sulfa antibiotic. I'm being persistent with the doctors. My wife is a nurse and has gotten me to the front of the line, kind of, with a specialist today. I'm getting a bone scan asap.
 

BigBonner

Moderator
Founding Member
Joined
May 22, 2011
Messages
1,671
Points
63
Location
Kentucky
I am deaf in my left ear. Had infection when I was 6 up to 18 years old . Quacks could not fix my ears . Now I have severe ringing in my head all the time . Can't hardly watch TV , don't talk on the phone and I can't tell direction a noise come from .
If some one calls my name outside I can not tell where they are from sound . Turkey hunting is really rough to do . I take a extra set of ears with me when I go , son , wife , Someday my grandson . I may hear a turkey gobble but cant tell which way he is coming from or where he gobbled at .
 

ChinaVoodoo

Moderator
Joined
Sep 1, 2014
Messages
7,166
Points
113
Location
Edmonton, AB, CA
Results: Costello and Helena leaves blew away. I gathered some off the ground months ago. I got 55g of fully cured Canik off one plant. Due to the wet warm autumn, I got some Aspergillus on it, and won't be smoking it as is because of my ear thing. However, I will do some pressure cooker Cavendish out of it. The Ternopolski is cured nicely and no mold. I don't understand why. I got 25 g of it. Only small leaves. Big ones either stuck to the dirt or blew awry.

Here's the Canik.
IMG_20170317_121938250.jpg
Maybe there is a little green.

Here's the Ternopolski
IMG_20170317_122127839.jpg

It's quite strong and elastic.
IMG_20170317_122153851.jpg

Overall, based on what I've smoked before, and how it tasted, this was a worthwhile experiment. It's an unreliable method and I doubt think it's worth it. . The last time I let tobacco stay out all winter there was no mold. How could you plan for it?

Well I'm going to cook this stuff and see how the Cavendish works out.
 

Charly

Moderator
Joined
May 1, 2016
Messages
2,209
Points
113
Location
France
Thank you for reporting.

I left a few plants in the ground during this winter, but all the leaves turned completly black and moldy (probably aspergillus too ?), so it went directly to the trash.
Not working at all for me :(

We had a lot of humidity, not strong cold either, so it might not be the best weather to try...
 

ChinaVoodoo

Moderator
Joined
Sep 1, 2014
Messages
7,166
Points
113
Location
Edmonton, AB, CA
Thank you for reporting.

I left a few plants in the ground during this winter, but all the leaves turned completly black and moldy (probably aspergillus too ?), so it went directly to the trash.
Not working at all for me :(

We had a lot of humidity, not strong cold either, so it might not be the best weather to try...

The entire reason I wanted to do this was because once, years ago, I accidentally did it. That year it went directly from a short fall to minus twenty with a foot of snow by Halloween. It hit minus 50 that winter. I conclude from this experiment that this would only work if winter came on suddenly, and didn't relent. Literally, worst case scenario is the only scenario that will work. Otherwise, mold.
 

Smokin Harley

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2014
Messages
2,573
Points
48
Location
Grant ,Alabama
mine just kept getting pounded by extreme differences of weather and I just yanked it and turned the garden over a couple weeks ago when we had an unseasonably warm few days.
Getting ready to start seeding the 2017 crop in just a couple weeks.
 

deluxestogie

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
May 25, 2011
Messages
23,931
Points
113
Location
near Blacksburg, VA
It's been interesting to follow. Although I've harvested a few larger sucker leaves that had remained all winter, I was never impressed with the result. (Maybe it wasn't consistently cold enough.)

My philosophy on this freeze/thaw sun-cure approach really has little to do with the quality of the final leaf. It's just a statistical argument. Starting from the very first day that a leaf is ready to be harvested, each additional day that passes while the leaf remains on the plant is one more day of risk for insect damage, hail damage, wind damage, rain soaking, and every other late season risk to tobacco in the field. The shed represents safety from all these field risks.

If you are caught by surprise cold, and immature leaf is frozen, then the benefit of properly handling it when it thaws is minimal, and you may as well leave it out there to bleach the chlorophyll and maybe survive to a harvestable state. In this scenario, you begin with a total loss of that leaf, and may recoup some fraction of the effort that went into growing it.

Many years ago, when Don was growing, he offered me some leaf (Rabo de Gallo Negro) that had experienced some sort of freeze trauma. He seemed genuinely surprised that I requested more of it. It possessed a rare aroma that I enjoyed as a cigar filler condiment. I've never been able to replicate that result with anything that I've grown.

Bob
 

SmokesAhoy

Moderator
Founding Member
Joined
May 22, 2011
Messages
2,686
Points
0
Location
VT
My best leaves from a visual standpoint were those that had frozen solid, dying in that manner. Otherwise the winter was slow to come on and most leaves didn't receive this decisive kill. This experiment was helpful to me in that moving forward if I have a hard frost that comes in fast and annihilates the plant I'll leave it out until chlorophyll is gone and then kiln it.

From that I'm happy this was done by everyone. Gives us something to work with up north if we get unlucky.
 

ChinaVoodoo

Moderator
Joined
Sep 1, 2014
Messages
7,166
Points
113
Location
Edmonton, AB, CA
I made 3 hour 15lb pressure cooker Cavendish out of the freeze cured tobacco. The Canik has an aroma of freshly baked dark rye bread. In the pipe, it tastes like a French cigarette with a hint of je ne sais quoi.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top