SeanKelly
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![IMG_1261[1].JPG](https://fairtradetobacco.com/data/attachments/22/22621-aa7e65b4610fe654efd32b57c55ae3bd.jpg "IMG_1261[1].JPG")
About half of this years produce.
Before going into the oven at 175 degrees F for 12 hours... Oweee!... I'm excited the finished product is 25 min away from this posting.
Photos of my Air Cured and Oven Colour Cured Burley
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About half of this years produce.
Before going into the oven at 175 degrees F for 12 hours... Oweee!... I'm excited the finished product is 25 min away from this posting.
SeanKelly
Active Member
Thought it might be getting a little dry in there around 8 hours in so I put in a pot of water.![IMG_1271[1].JPG](https://fairtradetobacco.com/data/attachments/22/22623-41dae1600f3d7c2d2b7788d509b3a543.jpg "IMG_1271[1].JPG")
SeanKelly
Active Member
One Plants worth of finished Burley!
The appearance is good. How's it taste?
I attempted to flue-cure burley (starting with yellowing leaf), and found that burley in particular tastes awful after flue-curing, and never subsequently improves. The outcome will depend on whether or not the color-cured burley has adequately aged prior to being baked. One potential trap with white-stem burleys is that the leaf colors nicely, but more quickly than the leaf's chemical metabolic tasks are completed, in contrast to non-white-stem tobacco varieties. The source of its "white-stemness" is a chlorophyll defect, so the green goes away soon after harvesting.
That having been said, well-aged burley becomes quite tasty when "toasted".
Bob
I attempted to flue-cure burley (starting with yellowing leaf), and found that burley in particular tastes awful after flue-curing, and never subsequently improves. The outcome will depend on whether or not the color-cured burley has adequately aged prior to being baked. One potential trap with white-stem burleys is that the leaf colors nicely, but more quickly than the leaf's chemical metabolic tasks are completed, in contrast to non-white-stem tobacco varieties. The source of its "white-stemness" is a chlorophyll defect, so the green goes away soon after harvesting.
That having been said, well-aged burley becomes quite tasty when "toasted".
Bob
SeanKelly
Active Member
It tastes pretty good I would say, a decidedly woody flavor to it. Though it is not burning very well. I left a bowl out to dry over 24 hours and it was still hard to smoke... seems I need to keep a flame on it the whole time to keep it going.
The poor burn may be a sign that the leaf needed to color-cure for longer (say another 3 to 6 months), or be kilned, prior to further finishing. One of the tasks of color-curing and aging is to eliminate albuminous proteins and starches, both of which decrease the burn, and tend to give you a black, rather than white or gray, ash.
It's tough to know, since your are approaching this in a manner that is wholly unfamiliar to me. There is certainly a lot of latitude in how one cures and finishes tobacco, but some methods just don't yield gratifying results.
Bob
It's tough to know, since your are approaching this in a manner that is wholly unfamiliar to me. There is certainly a lot of latitude in how one cures and finishes tobacco, but some methods just don't yield gratifying results.
Bob
SeanKelly
Active Member
Tomorrow I am going to do 175 degrees F in the oven for another 6 hours and see where I get. I can say for certainty that the ash is black in colour. I know that cigar smokers talk about a white ash as the best ash a cigar could have. I wonder if this is related to the amount of sugars (What i know to be, as starches) are left in the leaf. From my head... we want to ferment all the sugars out of the leaf for best flavour, I imagine that this would produce a more fuller burning tobacco, leaving a whiter ash (something of a more complete combustion)
ChinaVoodoo
Moderator
The dark ash is more likely excess proteins. I think what you need is to keep it at 120F to 124F, in case, for a month or two.
SeanKelly
Active Member
So I tried another six hours in the oven at 175 F. There was little need for drying out the tobacco this go around after baking. The tobacco came out just where I would expect it for moisture levels. So I put in 1/4 bowl and started to smoke. The smoke stayed lit and had to light every 4-6 puffs. The colour of the ash was dark grey. I'm going to try out 6 more hours at the same temperature to see ash colour and smoke-ablity. I will say that I noticed that it didn't taste as woody, and maybe more tobacco like. Currently the unsmoked tobacco is giving off a baked raisin smell (as opposed to a fresh out of the package raisin smell - like with fresh commercial cigarettes). I'm going to do another six hours again and see if I can get the smoke-ablity and the ash more in line with Whiteish and cherrying nicely.
SeanKelly
Active Member
ChinaVoodoo: I wish I had a mechanism capable of maintaining 120 - 124f. I was designing this: http://www.hobbyware.org/Projects/Tobacco Curing Kiln/TobaccoCuringKiln.aspx , but this will likely not happen until I have a large amount of room to grow tobacco. Until then its the oven.
Have a look at this thread on a kiln design: http://fairtradetobacco.com/threads...tal-wood-tobacco-kiln-flue-cure-chamber.5767/
You can build a smaller version with no wooden frame, by just joining sections of XPS foam using Tyvek tape. You can put a simple wire rack inside to use as a single shelf above the Crockpot, and kiln the leaf either in a pile or in a large, heavy plastic bag.
Bob
You can build a smaller version with no wooden frame, by just joining sections of XPS foam using Tyvek tape. You can put a simple wire rack inside to use as a single shelf above the Crockpot, and kiln the leaf either in a pile or in a large, heavy plastic bag.
Bob
ChinaVoodoo
Moderator
Do you ever come to Edmonton? If so, let's sit down for a smoke and you can see that all this learning experience you're having is worth it.
ChinaVoodoo
Moderator
As Burge buys his tobacco from WLT, you could also do the same. At $20ish per lb, and being some of the best tobacco in the world, I shouldn't have to recommend it.
Anyways, happy New Years, fellas.
Anyways, happy New Years, fellas.
SeanKelly
Active Member
Not sure who you are referring to, but if it is me. I could potentially make a trip on a long weekend. If so inbox me and we can discuss.
SeanKelly
Active Member
Another 6 hours in the oven, putting the total to 24 hours at 175 degrees F has yeilded a nice moderately grey ash tobacco. It cherries reasonably well. I would say that this is what I expected it to be like. The taste is woody in character, though not as woody as the 12 hour and the 18 hour tobacco successively.
You can buy a bunch of burley from Big Bonner at 12 bucks a pound. With shipping works out to be 16 bucks us a pound. Every year at Black Friday Don has a sale Right now I think Bob is on the money with the aging process. That is something you pay for when buying whole leaf. I still keep my motto to try and pay no more than 12 dollars a pound.
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