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Different leaves behavior while color curing

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Youn

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My color curing leaves show two very different behaviors.
Some slowly turn yellow, then brown, a very light brown ; and the mid rib have dried homogeneously :
light_brown_OD_01.jpglight_brown_OD_02.jpg
The others turn directly brown, a quite dark brown, skiping the yellow stage ; and the thicker part of the mid rib remain totaly green :
dark_brown_OD_01.jpgdark_brown_OD_02.jpgdark_brown_OD_03.jpg

All the pictures given here for exemples are from Ohio Dutch leaves but I noticed more or less the same behavior in all my 4 varieties.
The differences between the two groups is that the lighters ones are from the bottom of the stalk (harvested a week earlier) and the darkers ones from the middle, AND, the lighters ones has been first hanged in a shed with a week of dry climate (several hours per day with RH dropping to 40% and less), then put in a little drying box with controled conditions (between 60 and 85% RH and a little warmer than the ambient temperatures) and the darkers ones has been directly put in the drying box without having to face a RH lower than 60%.

I asked myself and ask you now if those different behaviors are dued to the original position on the stalk or to the different drying conditions?
In your opinion, are the darkers ones going well or may have I made something wrong with it? (this dark brown looks appetizing but……).
 

deluxestogie

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They are all curing beautifully. Your observation is correct regarding upper vs. lower leaves. Also, the higher the humidity during color-curing, the darker the leaf color.

It is also common for thick, upper leaf to cure to a very dark color on the upper surface, while retaining a greenish hue to the under surface. With time (or kilning) this greenish hue changes to brown.

If I can gather enough energy to crawl on my belly like a reptile, I will go out to my shed and photograph some of the variations in the hanging leaf. (I often find it best not to look too frequently, since they sometimes look terrible.)

Bob
 

Youn

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so, that was it!… I think the humidity participated a lot because I was first afraid of drying green and often watered keeping the RH above 70% and during the night it probably rose to 90% quite often!
Does this difference have a great influence on the final smoked product?

I send you some energy to crawl! I want to see your leaves.
From an aesthetic point of view, I never tire of admiring the leaves at each stage of drying... colors, textures, scents... it's really fascinating!
 

deluxestogie

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Does this difference have a great influence on the final smoked product?

I send you some energy to crawl! I want to see your leaves.
Energy received. Photos now posted in my grow log.

I believe that darker leaf has a different flavor. Like all things tobacco, it's a matter of preference which is better. I like very dark leaf.

Bob
 

SmokesAhoy

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This year I've been piling 40lbs or so of green leaf in a big box and I noticed the thick mostly green pristine upper leaf cures to a beautiful deep golden color with specks of browning. I've never had color curing go this well. A lot of leaf in a cardboard box in my environment must be achieving optimum humidity and heat because I've never seen it this nice before.

Today I harvested a ton of rustica, this will be the true test I think to see if it's a rustica trait to skip yellow or if optimum conditions can get it to cure as beautifully as common tobacco.

Editing to add in some pictures, it's getting dark so some odd exposure issues but it gives an idea
IMG_20170907_191427.jpg
IMG_20170907_191259.jpg
These were taken out of the box and strung just this afternoon
 

SmokesAhoy

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In the background you can see some leaf that was never piled and is struggling to get rid of the green and has been out for weeks. In about a week the piled leaf gets more results than that will ever get I think.
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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If you like dark leaves, my Costello Negro cures up to a strong chocolate brown color. C.N. is probably too mild for cigars however. I have a modest amount that has been thru the "poor man's kiln" process and it is pretty mild in flavor. The dark color really dominates a blend. (color wise that is.) As the season advances, I'll put some curing and related photos on my grow blog.

Wes H.
 
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Youn

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SmokesAhoy :
pretty golden leaves! I would like to see it in the sun light :)

40lbs of tobacco, that makes a lot of leaves I think... I do not realize well, how big is your box?

[ I realized that I may have badly expressed myself. What I called "drying box" is actually a mini greenhouse (length: 39", width: 25", height: 28"+) in which the leaves are hung. The dirt ground allow me to water for maintaining the humidity.
I only have about 400 leaves and the most part of it are small, it fits in 3 mini greenhouses. I can't imagine doing the same with a lot of big leaves! ]

Do you think that your method is applicable for a small amount of leaves?
How do you maintain the humidity in the box?
How do you pile the leaves? Crossed, in line?
 

DistillingJim

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They are all curing beautifully. Your observation is correct regarding upper vs. lower leaves. Also, the higher the humidity during color-curing, the darker the leaf color.

It is also common for thick, upper leaf to cure to a very dark color on the upper surface, while retaining a greenish hue to the under surface. With time (or kilning) this greenish hue changes to brown.

This is encouraging to hear - A lot of my leaf is very dark on top and has that greenish hue beneath. I had been concerned it wasnt curing properly but was confused as to what could be going wrong!
 

Youn

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Wes :
Maybe in the next few years I will try Costello Negro. I'm also a cigarette smoker but for my first season growing, I limited my pretensions to 4 varieties and I wanted to concentrate on cigar leaves.
 

Youn

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This is encouraging to hear - A lot of my leaf is very dark on top and has that greenish hue beneath. I had been concerned it wasnt curing properly but was confused as to what could be going wrong!

For that reason I create the thread instead of asking in my grow blog… I suspected that I wasn't the only one in doubt :)
 

ChinaVoodoo

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This year I've been piling 40lbs or so of green leaf in a big box and I noticed the thick mostly green pristine upper leaf cures to a beautiful deep golden color with specks of browning. I've never had color curing go this well. A lot of leaf in a cardboard box in my environment must be achieving optimum humidity and heat because I've never seen it this nice before.

Today I harvested a ton of rustica, this will be the true test I think to see if it's a rustica trait to skip yellow or if optimum conditions can get it to cure as beautifully as common tobacco.

Editing to add in some pictures, it's getting dark so some odd exposure issues but it gives an idea
View attachment 21924
View attachment 21925
These were taken out of the box and strung just this afternoon

I suggest that pulling in a box enhances the ripening effects of ethylene gas.
 

wooda2008

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...Today I harvested a ton of rustica, this will be the true test I think to see if it's a rustica trait to skip yellow or if optimum conditions can get it to cure as beautifully as common tobacco...

some of my olson went from green to yellow to chocolate brown in 16 hours in my little pile. Next round I'll hang it after it yellows and see if it's any prettier.
 

SmokesAhoy

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I did see my Olson attempting to yellow on the plant. It wasn't consistent and it's been in the ground for 4 months, but I am seeing it a bit so I won't be surprised if I do get a good degree of gorgeous golden leaf in the box next week
 
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