davek14
Well-Known Member
I have read of boiling tobacco as a quick and dirty method of curing. The consensus seems to be that you are basically boiling some nicotine out and mellowing the leaf.
I grew a few plants this year and figured I would give it a shot, just to tinker a little. There are always a few little dried tips from topping and suckering that are too much trouble to clean and flatten, etc. to get them ready for aging. Smoking them fresh dried gives that rank, green taste and maybe a headache.
So I took some of these and boiled them. The boiling gave off a rank, green smell and got me to thinking. Maybe there is more than boiling out nicotine happening. I boiled for 1/2 - 1 hour till the green smell abated quite a bit. There was not much water left in the boiling, by design. I didn't want the extraction of nicotine, etc. to be the dominant effect. I wanted the vaporization of volatile "green" compounds to be. Not scientific I know, but I was just playing.
When the leaf was dried it wasn't that terribly bad, although I can't say it was "good". Taste was not too bad but there was an aftertaste as I have seen described by people who have done this. Not that bad, but different. If I did not have whole leaf already purchased I could see myself smoking this until I aged some leaf properly.
So... an experiment, and one which produced a smokeable product I guess. But it's not one which I will likely repeat. Now to search for other quick and dirty ways to cure scraps.
I grew a few plants this year and figured I would give it a shot, just to tinker a little. There are always a few little dried tips from topping and suckering that are too much trouble to clean and flatten, etc. to get them ready for aging. Smoking them fresh dried gives that rank, green taste and maybe a headache.
So I took some of these and boiled them. The boiling gave off a rank, green smell and got me to thinking. Maybe there is more than boiling out nicotine happening. I boiled for 1/2 - 1 hour till the green smell abated quite a bit. There was not much water left in the boiling, by design. I didn't want the extraction of nicotine, etc. to be the dominant effect. I wanted the vaporization of volatile "green" compounds to be. Not scientific I know, but I was just playing.
When the leaf was dried it wasn't that terribly bad, although I can't say it was "good". Taste was not too bad but there was an aftertaste as I have seen described by people who have done this. Not that bad, but different. If I did not have whole leaf already purchased I could see myself smoking this until I aged some leaf properly.
So... an experiment, and one which produced a smokeable product I guess. But it's not one which I will likely repeat. Now to search for other quick and dirty ways to cure scraps.