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Photo of my tobacco - OldDinosaur

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OldDinosaurWesH

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I've noticed that the atmosphere in my basement has been changing.

I've adopted a two stage process for initial curing. That is, the curing necessary to get to actual kilning. In stage one, I hang my strings in the store room in the basement, where I can maintain a humidity level of 65 - 70% I leave the strings in there for ten days to three weeks depending on the variety. After the leaf has lost all it's green and is starting to color down, I move the string out into the main basement to hang.

The main basement maintains a humidity level of 50 - 55% This level of humidity is too low for the initial phase (stage one) of color down - getting rid of the green chlorophyll. Previous attempts to use this level of humidity for color down resulted in a lot of green flash. Chock that up to "live and learn" learning curve. After the green is gone, stage two begins, by moving the string out into the main basement. With the somewhat lower level of humidity providing a slow drying atmosphere that takes three to four weeks to get the fat stems fully dried out and ready for kilning.

One of the things that I have noticed by using this two stage process is the ammonia smell. Ammonia is a by-product of curing, and as I increase the amount of hung tobacco in my basement, the ammonia smell gets stronger. This is an interesting side-effect that although I have been aware of this phenomenon, I've never had sufficient critical mass of tobacco in one place for the scent to be this strong.

Tobacco growing is definitely a learning curve, and maybe one of these years I'll get off of the steep part of the curve!

Wes H.

P.S. to Bob. Fire cured indeed!
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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I anticipate 5 - 6,000 leaves when I'm done. That would be off a crop of 13 varieties and about 230 plants. I have three varieties that I haven't touched yet. Totaling 36 plants. These three varieties are extremely green, and I'm letting them get as mature as nature will let me before I harvest those. The rest have been primed to about 2/3 of the way up the stem.

The only secret I have is a carefully balanced custom blend of fertilizer, and lots of manual labor. Oh, did I say, lots of manual labor.

This tobacco growing is a lot of work! Or as my cousin Jim used to say, "If it was easy, everybody would be doing it."

And not everything I touch turns to gold...I have 21 Connecticut Shade plants that look awful & will never get harvested. That 230 plant number I gave above is a net # after deducting those 21 C.S. and my ornamental tobaccos.

Wes H.

...and I've gotten some very useful advice from the members of FTT.
 

deluxestogie

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If your CT Shade produces any clean, relatively intact leaf that is at least 6" long, and you have time to mess with it, harvest and air-cure it. After kilning, or prolonged aging and neglect, such leaf can be added as a condiment to cigar filler blends. It will probably not have much strength, but it does have a distinctive aroma, and can broaden the flavor profile of a cigar.

Bob
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Bob:

Interesting you should mention that. I was outside with my tripod trying to get some photos of the smoke filled sunset. I wasn't getting much, so I took a few photos of my tobacco patch.

Tobacco Seedlings 9-07-17 150.jpgSmoke.jpgSmoke3.jpgSmoke1.jpg

Photo 1, I do have 15 (of 36 I originally planted) that have gotten enough light to make some usable leaf. They're not much, very tall and skinny, but have produced some 16 or so inch leaves. Maybe I can get a string or two out of them. The tallest is about seven feet & starting to bloom. Good to know that down to 6" is usable leaf. I probably would have thrown that away. Would C.S. make a decent accent say 5% or so to add to a cigarette blend? (Something to do with the small stuff.)

Photo 2, looking down the alley a distance of about one block.

Photo 3, the late day sun trying to shine through the smoke. Hillside over the roof tops on bottom of photo is about two miles away.

Photo 4, telephoto attempt to get closer shot of setting sun. Taken @ ~18:18 hours. Shortly thereafter the sun disappeared completely. This is the worst I've seen it. Can't they run out of trees to burn?

I also noticed the crickets chirping started just after 18:00, more than an hour early.

Wes H.
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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I picked a few of these a while back to do a test cure batch. They seemed to do okay under the conditions I am able to provide. I'd better check on those test subjects & see how they are doing. I haven't paid that much attention.

Thanks Bob.

Wes H.
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Connecticut Shade photos

Tobacco Seedlings 9-08-17 152.jpgTobacco Seedlings 9-08-17 151.jpg

Photo 1, 17" x 13" Connecticut Shade leaf. There will be at least one string of 100 or so that are 12" or longer. Maybe more.

Photo 2, two foot high Connecticut Shade in my front yard. There might be a few 6" leaves on these. They just don't get enough light to prosper. Oh well! Live and learn.

I checked my test string of C.S. and they have browned down to a nice buckskin color. With that reassurance, I'm optimistic about that which I do have. It's that steep learning curve kicking in again. One of the problems with agricultural pursuits, is the cast in stone nature of farming. Once you make your decisions and plant, you're stuck with it. Maybe next year...

Wes H.
 

deluxestogie

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You could consider treating those petite CT Shade plants like a small Oriental. Maybe try a sun-cure, or just air-cure it. If you have too much leaf already, then just ignore it.

Bob
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Today's pickings.

Tobacco Seedlings 9-08-17 156.jpgTobacco Seedlings 9-08-17 153.jpg

Photo 1, two piles of leaves to string.

Photo 2, two strings totaling 173 leaves. Ternopolskii 14 left, (South) African Red right. Ternopolskii 14 is a low nicotine cigarette tobacco. African Red is a high nicotine (2.97% per the seed catalog) multi use tobacco. Interestingly, I have observed that Ternopolskii is quite sticky, whereas African Red is dry and not at all sticky. Who knows?

Tobacco Seedlings 9-08-17 155.jpgTobacco Seedlings 9-08-17 154.jpg

Both of these types like to make big suckers from the base of the plant.

Photo 1, Ternopolskii 14 with 2+ foot suckers. These have formed up in about two weeks after I removed the previous squatters.

Photo 2, African Red with multiple and similar 2 foot high suckers. They sure do pop up fast.

Wes H.
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Bob:

Air curing seems to work for these just fine. Sun cure isn't really an option around here, as our humidity is too low. You would just end up with a bunch of green flash. Although, I have an idea for a test I'm going to try out on some of that miserable Turkish I have planted. If said test doesn't work, I'm not out much. If it does work, hey!...I'm in like Flynn.

Wes H.
 

SmokesAhoy

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I've thought about hanging strung leaf above the grass, running a pole along the top and then tenting it with clear plastic for a sun cure. One of these years I guess.

Rustica is great sun cured.
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Photos of my tobacco

Tobacco Seedlings 9-09-17 172 Af Red 9 footers.jpgTobacco Seedlings 9-09-17 170 panorama east.jpgTobacco Seedlings 9-09-17 171 panorama HV.jpgTobacco Seedlings 9-09-17 164.jpg

Note all photos in this series has an 8' 2x2 somewhere in there to give a reference point for the height of the tobacco plants. Also, most of these have been primed about 2/3rds of the way up the stem.

Photo 1, African Red peeking over the fence. These are now 9' at the crows foot.

Photo 2, panoramic view of my main garden. There are about 150 plants in here.

Photo 3, panoramic view of Harrow Velvet. There are 36 of these.

Photo 4, Panoramic view of west garden. There are about 45 in here.

Wes H.
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Curing Photos.

Tobacco curing 9-9-17 - 8, 6 strings.jpgTobacco curing 9-9-17 - 6 4 strings.jpgTobacco curing 9-9-17 - 3.jpgTobacco curing 9-9-17 - 2.jpg

Photo 1, 6 strings hung on 4' sticks.

Photo 2, 4 strings hung on 4' sticks.

This is a very "high tech" operation. Strings attached to sticks with construction wire. Sticks attached to floor joists with screws and construction wire. Sticks were free from another guy's construction project. Screws were left overs from another construction project. Construction wire is >$7.00 for a 300' roll. So I have maybe $2.00 tied up in this. I don't know I can afford to keep doing this!

Photo 3, Inside my high humidity "curing" (read storage) room with curing strings.

Photo 4, also inside my "curing" room with more strings showing.

Each string has about 100 leaves on it.

...And a bunch of junk in the storage room.

This digital camera really covers up a lot of sins a conventional camera won't. Modern technology!

Wes H.
 

Gavroche

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Can you look if in the suitcase of the photo n°3, there is no my cat? He hides wherever..


Pouvez-vous regarder si dans la valise de la photo n°3, il n'y a pas mon chat...? il se cache n'importe où...
 
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