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Can you dry tobacco in the oven?

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sjnawa

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Howdy,
I live in Southern California, and have had some amazing luck growing a variety of Tobacco. But that's where the problem lies. There is not enough humidity in the air and all my attempts at curing/drying have resulted in dry brittle leaves. Mind you last year was my first time planting and harvesting, I do not need much but it would be nice to properly cure the leaves not dry the hell out of them. I have resorted to putting them in my oven and just allowing the pilot light to be the only heat source. I put the leaves in a plastic baggie and fine mist water into the oven to keep up the humidity. The temperature remains at a constant 100 to 105 f. I figured if it gets below that i can take a can of Sterno and use as a supplementary heat source. I could turn the oven on briefly but on two prior occasions I got a little carried away and ended up making tobacco toast.

My question is without building my own tobacco box would anyone know of another way to dry the leaves? Or will this idea work?
any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
 

Alpine

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Welcome to FTT. Is your problem with properly curing the leaves i.e. turn them yellow or the subsequent phase of kilning? I figured out how tu cure my leaves, but for aging I had to build a kiln.

pier
 

Charly

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I don't fully understand your question too :)
You should begin by reading the FAQ : http://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/695-FAQ-for-Beginning-Growers

Tobacco Box (or kiln) is not for drying leaves, it's used for fermentation (or speed aging), it's used AFTER you have dried your leaves slowly (color curing).

When your leaves are harvested, you have to "color cure" them (by doing "air curing" or "sun curing" or "flue curing" or "fire curing"...)
During this "color curing" (or drying), you want your leaves to turn from green to yellow to brown and then let them become dry. To do so the easiest way (with "air curing") : you have to hang your leaves in a place with about 70% of humidity.
Color curing (air curing) can take from a few weeks up to 2 months. Then your leaves with be crispy dry.
When they are dried, you have to give them a bit of humidity so they will not turn to dust when you touch them.

In this state, they will age naturally, you will have to wait some month to some years before they are ready to be smoked, OR you can put them in a kiln (50°C or 120°F for 1 month) to speed up the aging process.

Hope this help ;)
 

ChinaVoodoo

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Man, there's a few way things you can do. Here's some budget friendly ideas you can adapt. First, though, I say don't worry about temperature.
I know you'll see a lot of people using heat even for air curing, because 80 to 90 degrees is effective, but it's not nearly as necessary as humidity, seeing as you're in Southern California. The following ideas are based on my assumption that your leaf is still green. If it's brown or yellow, it's ok to dry it.

1. Go to the hardware store and pick up some plastic drop sheets in the paint section, or some vapor barrier in the insulation section. Use the sheet to block off an area in your garage, a spare room, bathroom, or the like. Find a used humidifier, or build one out of a bucket of water with a towel or two hanging into it, and a fan blowing on the towel(s).

Or.

2. Pile the green leaves in a cardboard box. Every day pull the leaves out, rearrange them, & inspect them. Cut out any any ugly brown bits. Take any leaves that have turned fully yellow and lay them or hang them separately out in the sun to dry until even the mid ribs are dry. If you want to, you could speed it up by removing the ribs.

Or.

3. Same as the second, except you shred the yellow leaves and dry the shredded leaf in the sun, maybe in a clear but open container if you like.

One more note... If you're adding heat with the expectation of drying your tobacco yellow instead of brown, it will not work unless the leaves are not stacked. They need to be hanging. Also, an oven doesn't really work because it lets the humidity out too quickly, and even if the temperate appears to be right for flue curing, because of the radiation from the oven, the tobacco is getting toasted with far more energy than it would if it was simply in a hot room.
 

sjnawa

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Yes Charly Thank you very much I did the air cure got the leaves to turn pretty much yellow, then I put them in the oven. So I guess what I am trying to do is the Kiln method using the oven in place of the Kiln. In terms of keeping the Humidity up I placed them in zip lock baggies. Do you think that might work? Let me know Thanks,
 

sjnawa

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ChinaVoodoo,
Thank you very for that tip.....I like the idea of the cardboard box, but I think the humidifier will be the best way to go for me. So here is the question, Lets say I pick the leaves green. I then want them to yellow via Humidifier, than I want to dry them via sun? Please Please let me know. With the oven method I placed them in zip lock baggies which has kept them rather moist but I guess that still wont produce a good smoke? or will it. Thanks for all the input
 

sjnawa

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Alpine, thanks for responding,
I actually picked them a little yellow and then just let them hang until they were pretty uniform in yellow color. That's when i put them in the oven and sealed them in zip lock baggies allowing a little air in. But I have yet to try to smoke any so I am not sure if this process will even work. Thanks for any advice.
 

ChinaVoodoo

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ChinaVoodoo,
Thank you very for that tip.....I like the idea of the cardboard box, but I think the humidifier will be the best way to go for me. So here is the question, Lets say I pick the leaves green. I then want them to yellow via Humidifier, than I want to dry them via sun? Please Please let me know. With the oven method I placed them in zip lock baggies which has kept them rather moist but I guess that still wont produce a good smoke? or will it. Thanks for all the input

I do get a little confused whether we are talking about kilning or curing.

It sounds like you have no problems with your curing method. If you wanted to add sun curing to the process, though, yes, after the yellowing phase, you can dry the leaves in the sun. If the air outside is humid enough, you can put it in the sun even before it yellows.

So aging/kilning in the oven sounds like a very energy wasting process in addition to the poor heat distribution (too hot on one side, cool on the other), and zip lock bags will definitely not keep the humidity up. Plastic is porous and the water will evaporate through the bag. Mason jars would work, but you still have the issue of too hot on the bottom. It should be an even heat. Think sauna, not tanning bed.
 

sjnawa

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Thanks again ChinaVoodoo, the pilot light actually keeps the oven at a standing 100 to 110 and I put a sponge right in front of it, according to my my Hygrometer its about 70% humidity, I do have a problem with the even disbursement so to solve that I lay the leaves down flat on a tile which absorbs the heat quit nicely. And yeah on the Sauna idea (please dont think I am being a smart ass) but I built one for my wife years ago I was wondering if I could still use it. The Sauna not my wife she left me.
Thanks
 

ChinaVoodoo

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Thanks again ChinaVoodoo, the pilot light actually keeps the oven at a standing 100 to 110 and I put a sponge right in front of it, according to my my Hygrometer its about 70% humidity, I do have a problem with the even disbursement so to solve that I lay the leaves down flat on a tile which absorbs the heat quit nicely. And yeah on the Sauna idea (please dont think I am being a smart ass) but I built one for my wife years ago I was wondering if I could still use it. The Sauna not my wife she left me.
Thanks

Lol. I think a sauna could be adapted to all sorts of tobacco processes.
 
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