There's Something About Mary! Maryland Tobacco

[Orson Carte]

Since I've been unable to buy Burley (through WLT) I've been buying Maryland.
Now, it might just be me but every time I've shredded a batch and let it sit for a few days it starts to smell like the cat's used it as a litter-box. It has a very distinctive aroma of ammonia.
And what is making me think that this might be peculiarity of this variety is that last season I cropped fifty plants of Catterton- and that too (after about ten months) also has a strong ammonia note about it.
I've grown Twist Bud burley in the past and never noticed any taint with that.
Getting back to the shredded Maryland, after about a month (or a little longer) the ammonia is pretty much unnoticeable but it certainly isn't pleasant until it is given this airing.
Has anyone else experienced this with Maryland?

 

[Jitterbugdude]

I've only grown 3 varieties of Maryland and have not noticed any smell like you describe. I just finished kilning some Welk's Pride and it smells nice.... You have not noticed this with any other variety?... This has nothing to do with the 15 cats you have right?

 

[OldDinosaurWesH]

I've got tobacco that has been hanging for a year that still smells of ammonia. This means that the nitrates in the leaf are still (slowly) breaking down into ammonia. Said leaf either needs to hang for at least another year or be kilned for a month.

Wes H.

 

[Orson Carte]

I've only grown 3 varieties of Maryland and have not noticed any smell like you describe. I just finished kilning some Welk's Pride and it smells nice.... You have not noticed this with any other variety?... This has nothing to do with the 15 cats you have right?

I, myself, have only grown two 'Maryland-type' varieties (Yellow Twist bud and Catterton) so I don't have a broad reference. With the Twist Bud (or any of the Brightleaf varieties I've grown in the past) I have not noticed any ammonia. Mind you, I flue-cure the Brightleafs and, in the past, have fermented my burley.
This last season, as an experiment with Catterton, I skipped the fermentation (mainly to economise on electricity), thinking that mere time, stacked in a crate would do the trick. It's only been aging for about nine months and feel that it's pretty likely to come right. So, that isn't my primary concern.
It's the WLT 'Maryland' that has me puzzled; I don't notice any hint of ammonia until I shred it. But after that it's very apparent. However, as I have already mentioned, the smell dissipates after a month or so.
Up until now I had assumed that with WLT the 'aging' had already taken place (in the bale, or whatever) - and it was pretty much ready to go straight out of the packet. Maybe this just isn't case.