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Is There a Consensus on Aging Cigarette Tobacco?

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larryccf

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Does it age better shredded or as whole leaf?
Curious if there's a consensus

tks in advance
 
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Brown Thumb

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Re: IS THERE A CONSENSUS ON AGING CIGARETTE TOBACCO AGES BETTER SHREDDED OR IN LEAF FORM

I am storing mine now in black plastic bags.
I shredded like 200 pounds and have it stored in ziplock bags.
I lost a bunch to mold being too damp when shredded and packaged.
The bags of shredded can't breath and still off gas after 3 yrs.
i open them and let breath for a few days.
 

deluxestogie

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Shredded or whole leaf should make little difference. Flue-cured tobacco ages significantly more slowly than non-flue-cured leaf.

Bob
 

larryccf

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THANKS Brown Thumb - i've been giving some thought to a UV-C light to eliminate that mold "surprise".

deluxestogie - reason i asked, i rcvd some virginia lemon from don back at the end of november, 5 months ago. I shredded a few lbs of it not long after it arrived and stored it in some airtight jars. It was packed pretty tight in 2 liter jars. At the 3 month mark i started smoking it and i could notice the taste had mellowed or softened some, and i've been smoking that ever since. Today, i took the remaining 3 lbs that came in the same bag from WLT and shredded it today, hoping to notice it had aged similiarly, but there's still a slight bit of bitterness to the smoke, down toward the end of the cig that isn't there with the tobacco that "aged" shredded in the jars - both came from Don in the same shipment. I shredded a few leaves from different bags later, and then smoked some tobacco from them, and still the same slight bitterness at the end of the smoke.

I remember, years ago, on another forum there was some discussion/debate about anaerobic vs aerobic aging.

While this was only a preliminary experiment, i'm leaning toward letting the tobacco age shredded, and doing like Brown Thumb indicated, air the jar every few months


'
 

deluxestogie

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One other variable. The shredded tobacco had been removed from the bag, and thoroughly aired, prior to storing it. Though the bags of tobacco from WLT have some air trapped inside, after a long storage, there may be only low levels of O[sub]2[/sub] remaining.

While you're airing your jars every few months, also air the bags of the same leaf, stored at the same temperature. Then compare.

I know of no mechanism whereby shredded leaf would age more rapidly than whole leaf, under identical conditions.

Bob
 

larryccf

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i'll give that a try, but just to be clear - i didn't air the shredded tobacco after it was sealed - both bagged and shredded tobacco were in the same wardrobe i've converted to a tobacco storage closet, so same temps etc

but airing both and trying again in the next 3 months would give me some indication. One point i dispute though, is if aerobic aging is the best approach, and O2 is critical, then the shredded would seem to offer the micro-bacterial (or enzymes or whatever is aging the tobacco) greater exchange area, ie greater area exposed to the ambient air vs leaf only having two surfaces exposed to the surronding air.
 

larryccf

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Re: IS THERE A CONSENSUS ON AGING CIGARETTE TOBACCO AGES BETTER SHREDDED OR IN LEAF FORM

I am storing mine now in black plastic bags.
I shredded like 200 pounds and have it stored in ziplock bags.
I lost a bunch to mold being too damp when shredded and packaged.
The bags of shredded can't breath and still off gas after 3 yrs.
i open them and let breath for a few days.

Brown Thumb - a question occurred to me - how do you know they're still off-gassing? Do the ziplock bags balloon up or expand some?
 

Brown Thumb

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This is my homegrown Baccy I shredded.
It smells grassy ammonia per say.
I do not think some was dried even a yr. before shredding and storing.
no the bags did not blow up.
My flue cured seems fine tho.
 

larryccf

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just wanted to say thanks for mentioning the ammonia - for the hey of i opened a couple of the jars that were shredded 4/19 - holy toledo the ammonia smell was strong, I had no idea that whatever microbial action is taking place gave off that much ammonia
 

burge

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Heat and temperature variations affect the tobacco in the aging process. I personally have found in my tobacco tubs that when the tobacco is pressed it forms a somewhat cake. it ferments which may be why you noticed the difference in taste. I leave mine in the bag until I am ready to shred and have some that is pushing on 2 years old. That stuff is really good.
 

meatmailbox

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Some of my family and I were discussing prepping.I would like to find or take any info on storing flue cured and prilep. I want to build myself a small tobacco piggy bank so to speak. I know it should be stored dry but what to store it in? I want to keep it from absorbing any odors and ruining the flavor. Also needs to keep from absorbing humidity. Another question I had was, what and how do companies that process leaf, clean the dirt and foreign material off the leaf. I buy most of my leaf from WLT. It doesn't matter who I buy from,the oriental leaf always has a lot of dirt and filaments from what could be dandelions or something similar. American leaf may have a tiny bit of sand but that's no problem. What I have been doing is,before I shred I brush every single leaf,put them in a wire colander then shake the rest of dirt off. I doesn't get all of it off but most of it. It would blow your mind to see how much stuff is left on table when I decide to stop. This is a very time consuming operation. does anyone know of a quicker way of cleaning the leaf. I am also very interested to know how professional leaf processors do it. Maybe I could adapt some their method somehow for myself.
 

deluxestogie

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I'll answer one part of your question. Keeping out odors and moisture from stored leaf (or almost anything) can be accomplished with a vapor-proof bag. Unlike Ziplock bags, which are polyethylene and not vapor-proof, laminated poly-nylon bags are vapor-proof. You can buy them in bulk in various sizes from Uline.com. The material is the same as used in Seal-a-Meal pouches. It can be heat fused, or rolled and taped. The leaf bags from WLT are an even heavier gauge poly-nylon, so they are great for storage.

With regard to dirt, the lower the priming, the more dirt there is. This is true of most flue-cured or air-cured tobacco. With cigar leaf, by contrast, each leaf is handled by as many as a dozen workers along the way, are often rinsed prior to fermentation and rarely have much debris. Home-grown tobacco is always groaty, but again, the lower the leaf, the greater the crud.

Bob
 

BarG

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I'll answer one part of your question. Keeping out odors and moisture from stored leaf (or almost anything) can be accomplished with a vapor-proof bag. Unlike Ziplock bags, which are polyethylene and not vapor-proof, laminated poly-nylon bags are vapor-proof. You can buy them in bulk in various sizes from Uline.com. The material is the same as used in Seal-a-Meal pouches. It can be heat fused, or rolled and taped. The leaf bags from WLT are an even heavier gauge poly-nylon, so they are great for storage.

With regard to dirt, the lower the priming, the more dirt there is. This is true of most flue-cured or air-cured tobacco. With cigar leaf, by contrast, each leaf is handled by as many as a dozen workers along the way, are often rinsed prior to fermentation and rarely have much debris. Home-grown tobacco is always groaty, but again, the lower the leaf, the greater the crud.

Bob
Tell it like it is. It realy doesn't hurt to rinse dirt of before drying or air curing. but where I live it will pick it right back up again in an outdoor environment..
 

BarG

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Some of my family and I were discussing prepping.I would like to find or take any info on storing flue cured and prilep. I want to build myself a small tobacco piggy bank so to speak. I know it should be stored dry but what to store it in? I want to keep it from absorbing any odors and ruining the flavor. Also needs to keep from absorbing humidity. Another question I had was, what and how do companies that process leaf, clean the dirt and foreign material off the leaf. I buy most of my leaf from WLT. It doesn't matter who I buy from,the oriental leaf always has a lot of dirt and filaments from what could be dandelions or something similar. American leaf may have a tiny bit of sand but that's no problem. What I have been doing is,before I shred I brush every single leaf,put them in a wire colander then shake the rest of dirt off. I doesn't get all of it off but most of it. It would blow your mind to see how much stuff is left on table when I decide to stop. This is a very time consuming operation. does anyone know of a quicker way of cleaning the leaf. I am also very interested to know how professional leaf processors do it. Maybe I could adapt some their method somehow for myself.
whoever said they cleaned it of the leaf, Did you read that some where., Seriously, I have used Don's 5 lb vapor proof bags and they are outstanding after 5 yr. trials.{ they clean it off then sweep the floor and add it back to lower priced baccy LOL }
 

meatmailbox

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Didn't read it anywhere,learned from experience over the years what was choking me every now and then. It's always oriental leaf no matter which vendor I buy from. Leaf Only or WLT. Fresh Choice just threshes up and it's impossible to get the dead bug shells,grasshopper or caterpillar shit out. I know what bug shit looks like from growing my own tobacco. I accept the foreign material as a fact of life, since it is an agricultural product. I just wanted find out if anyone had a quicker easier way to do it. As for the dirt,I have felt it in my mouth even in fine cigars while lighting but, not to the extent that the oriental leaves have it. I've seen pictures of how it's cured. Just trying to find an easier less time consuming way of doing because,I love it. I can't make a blend without Lots of oriental in it.
 

meatmailbox

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I watched a video some time back from a company called Kentuckey's Best. They make cigs RYO and Pipe tobacco.They shredded their tobacco,put it in those heavy bags.Then they put the bags in cardboard boxes to age in a controlled environment. They grow,age then make their product all at their farm.
 

meatmailbox

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What brand of tub do you use? I have one called Sterilite and it imparted a plastic flavor to the smoke.
 

burge

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I use Canadian ryo tubs. I ordered from leaf only scrap organic Canadian Flue cured. It was pure garbage. It was like they swept the floor and put the scraps directly in the bag. The leaf was so dirty that a wet paper towel padded down was literally black.
 
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