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Boiling tobacco

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davek14

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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.
 

ChinaVoodoo

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I've seen a number of guys on Facebook doing this. My thoughts are that for some, they're trying to fix leaf that was cured too quickly and stayed green. They should learn to cure properly. For others, they just need to be either patient and let their leaf age, or they should be inventive, and build a proper kiln. There are no shortcuts. Even steaming, and perique making are meant to be done with decent leaf to change it, and are not intended to be used to fix the tobacco.
 

davek14

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I agree. The product was surprisingly not too bad. That's not a great review by any means.

I might try to make a quick little kiln of sorts next summer when I think mold might be less of an issue. Right now I am purchasing leaf. I only grew four plants this year. Next year I hope to double, or triple that. That's not enough to supply me and not enough to justify a real kiln. Since I am really only playing at growing right now I am figuring on ageing for my meager crops at the moment.
 

SmokesAhoy

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I think the quickest method that was reported to be not bad was the rajangan China tried.
On the drive on to work I was actually thinking about boiling tobacco too but in a pressure cooker with enough water to get a decent slurry going and then allowing it to dry out while it off gasses and ages.
 

davek14

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Just read ChinaVoodoo's thread on rajangan. Looks good. I think I'll try that with yellow leaves next summer. I'm guessing I can put my really yellow leaves this year in a separate box to age and maybe try them in the spring?
 

Gavroche

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J'ai perique des feuilles vertes juste ceuillies... le gout est intéressant.

I have perique of the green leaves just picked the taste is interesting.
 
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