Burley Puro Cheroot

[Krausen89]

So when i originally bought whole leaf tobacco and seeds I did not intend to be rolling cigars as I was planning on mostly blending pipe tobacco. I have blended a few I like and made some nasal snuffs which were nice but i started buying cigars here and there as i have always enjoyed them on occasion. I ordered some whole leaf cigar tobaccos and started playing around with the Burley since that makes a decent stick especially with some fire cured (i used latakia) I really enjoyed the ones that i rolled but i was just playing around getting used to the process and bunching for different ring gauges. I have a bunch of burley seedlings now and have been already thinking of what i can do with said burley once its finished. I read over the thread about fire curing the oriental to try to re-create latakia. which since i have a large amount of Cherrywood and Sassafrass for smoking meats i thought i would try my hand at fire-curing some burley. (will prob experiment with different wood) I would use the fire-cured as filler and use dark air cured for the binder (prob no wrapper) as a small cheroot or cigarillo. I ordered some Red Lion Cheroots that are KY fire cured filler with PA broad leaf binder... i believe.

While, to me, these sound amazing I wanted to get everyone opinion on this. and i have so many questions for fire curing and air curing the burley as i am a noob and this will be my first time growing tobacco. The main questions, other than what your thoughts are, are as follows,


Fire curing once the leaves have yellowed would take away the aging process? or once they are fire cured they would still need to age?

Could i roll the cigars with dark air cured before aging completely and then age the cigars themselves in a humidor?
I make a brandy that is aged on charred cherry wood and blend it with one aged on charred white oak. I was thinking of aging them with the pieces of charred cherry that have soaked up some brandy.

Any input would be appreciated!
Thanks, Andy

 

[Knucklehead]

I would suggest a dark fire cured variety. Our fellow member Skychaser sells tobacco seed and I see a dark fire cured variety on his website. http://nwtseeds.com/Greenwood.htm
I’ve never tasted a burley that was fire cured although I’ve had some toasted burley that was quite tasty. There are threads here on toasting burley in your home oven, you might give that a try. Use the search feature top right.
www.wholeleaftobacco.com has some dark fire cured whole leaf on the site. I have sampled it and it is very nice. https://wholeleaftobacco.com/product/kentucky-fire-cured-va-309/ Best of luck and keep us posted on your results.

 

[Krausen89]

Thanks for your input knucklehead. I know its ideal to use the variety thats known to be fire cured.. Its my first year growing so im just going to stick with the burley. I have some latakia so i might roll some up tonight after i get the kids to bed and put in a container with the charred cherrywood. If i do i will post pics.

As far as toasting i will def try that. It is probably easier than fire curing anyway.

I am waiting on leaves and cigars already which with everything going on will prob take longer than normal. I did get some low grade that has fire cured mixed in so i will def roll some of that up. If all goes well i will order fire cured variety to grow next year

 

[deluxestogie]

im just going to stick with the burley

I would say to go ahead and fire-cure some of the burley. I've fire-cured a number of varieties. Other than the nicotine content, they all come out tasting like the smoke from the firing materials.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/agr/agr152/agr152.pdf

A helpful source for info on fire curing. Opens a pdf.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I rolled up some burley cavendish in a Connecticut wrapper leaf. Not bad.

 

[Knucklehead]

As far as toasting i will def try that. It is probably easier than fire curing anyway.

Just to be clear, I wasn’t suggesting that toasting was anything like fire curing. They are two different animals. I was just suggesting another way to use your burley to add tools to your toolbox.

 

[Krausen89]

So same night i posted this i had rolled up these 2. burley and latakia. one i smoked which was nice and the other i used my finger and rubbed a little straight rye whiskey on it and let it dry over night and then placed in humidor. The one i first smoked was very nice but it def lacked some sort of sweetness. and maybe add a bit of burley to the filler. I realize this wont taste anywhere close to what fire cured burley would be but still a nice idea of how it would be. they tuned out nice regardless. hopefully my red lions will make to to me sooner or later and i can see how they are in comparison.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Good job. Nice rolls.

I put Latakia in cigars. I think it's better tasting than using American fire cure. It also burns better.