1st Time Flue curing, Looking for a bit of advice, Leaf isn't yellowing quick enough.

[KiwiGrown]

Definitely going to assemble into a block, I saw some pictures of the Samuel Gawith factory and when I saw there blocks stacked up to age I decided I had to have a big old block of tobacco one day.

I went to the refuse center today and picked up a Bottle jack, I'm going to build a stand like those you see at St James factory for perique making and use an old pot as a vessel to perique half of this year's burley.

The other burley is going to be my 1st hand rolled cigars, 1 has grown in shade and the leaf is untouched by bugs looks good for wrappers I'd think.

 

[burge]

I press mine in a tobacco tub and the flavor changes. I use my first to push a pound in a 100 gram tub. Temperature changes will also affect the taste fo the tobacco as well as moisture.

 

[KiwiGrown]

By the time I get around to pressing, I'll be finished flue curing so I was going to make the stand to fit my chamber and press it under a yet to be decided heat for the duration, then keep the pressed block at optimum aging temperature till about next season or till when im satisfied what ever comes 1st.

 

[paintercote]

Just go by the chart. I ignore the humidity, once I leave the yellowing stage. During the few weeks that I'm flue-curing, I use this very image as my Windows wallpaper.

Bob

Wilted leaf:
View attachment 22822

Leaf just after picking:
View attachment 22823

Finished leaf:
View attachment 22824

my humidity is 70, my heat is 80. The temperatures these guys are talking about is (to me) border line fermenting, not curing. My leaves are going from green to yellow to brown in about a 2 weeks. The advice you gave me about using a box to yellow is working fantastic in 4-5- days. Im hanging them tomorrow. As you know some of my leaves hung green didn't yellow nicely and I lost control of humidity so I will be tossing a lot of it. But the box trick works fantastic. Anyway, Im confused on the lingo in here when it comes to curing, temp 80, humidity 70 apposed to fermenting, temp 122, humidity 64 or 70 in kiln.

 

[paintercote]

I pile the leaves for two to four days in the garage without any heat, depending on the yellowing, then hang and leave it at 100F 85% until it's almost completely yellow, minimum 1, maximum 3 days. If there are some leaves that I suspect will cure green, I remove those individual leaves and sun cure them. It isn't until then that I increase the temperature. 120F 50% for 24 hours, followed by 135F 35% for 24 hours, and 165F 15% until stem dry.

hey there, I just read this. I think I know now what you meant when you said to heat em up. If I do this, I will be very careful to keep them humidified and watch for mold. Thanku, I appreciate this sight.

 

[Knucklehead]

hey there, I just read this. I think I know now what you meant when you said to heat em up. If I do this, I will be very careful to keep them humidified and watch for mold. Thanku, I appreciate this sight.

After yellowing, the humidity can go down. The idea is to keep the leaf alive until yellowing and then you can dry it down to brown as it dies and dries.