1st flue cure chamber build

[tropicdunder]

Hi there,

I got gifted some tobacco seeds. Germinated them just for fun and put them on a free pot of land, never expected to actually harvest real tobacco. Well, seems like the first plants will be ready to be harvested in maybe 2 weeks. The seeds were labeled Virginia Gold, Burley and Izmir. From what I gathered in this forum the Virginia tobacco needs to undergo a flue cure to produce something recognizable as cigarette tobacco. My final goal is a classic American blend Filter cigarette.

I stumbled over deluxestogies trash can chamber, and decided this is what I want to reproduce. Thing is some stuff is not available here in Germany or too expensive. I just payed 70€ for a galvanized 125l trash can, as those are not usually used here.

I was wondering if I could skip the whole water heater thermostat and crockpot thing by using my digital thermometer that I already own for homebrewing pourpouses + a reptile ceramic heating lamp.

Would that work? How manny Watts should the lamp have?

Also, can someone elaborate on how to control the humidity, I couldn’t quite gather that info from the original thread and to be honest I still don’t have a clear picture of what flue curing really is. I load up the can with leaves and let them undergo several different temperatures over the course of about 5 days. So is it a set and forget process or do I have to open the lid at specific times during the process? It would be great if someone could clarify this for me.

 

[Frelono]

The itc-308 works great.

 

[deluxestogie]

A belated welcome to the forum, @tropicdunder. Feel free to introduce yourself in the Introduce Yourself forum.

Your gadgets should work.
The first stage of the flue-curing process uses a well-vented container warmed to below ~104°F, to allow the rapid yellowing of the leaf (while still alive). Successive stages then progressively kill, dehydrate the lamina and finally dehydrate the stems. You need to visually check the leaf during yellowing, to avoid its progression to brown prior to killing the leaf. After that first stage, you no longer can open the chamber to view the leaf. Each successive stage requires less venting. The final stage usually requires no venting. [With my Cozy Can, which was a concept demonstration, rather than a recommended chamber, the venting was accomplished by variably adjusting the lid.] The duration of the first stage varies, and is dependent on the variety and the extent of maturation of the leaf (which should be done in batches of similar maturity). Bottom leaf may require more than 48 hours to yellow. As your leaf primings progress up the stalk, the time required for yellowing is shorter. Follow the flue-curing chart schedule blindly, after yellowing has completed. I never measure the humidity (i.e. watch for the yellowing, and ignore the humidity curve on the graph).

Flue-curing works for flue-cure ("Virginia") varieties and for Oriental varieties. You go from barely mature, green leaf on the plant, to finished leaf in about a week per batch. Other varieties are ruined by attempting to flue-cure them, due to their lower sugar content and other metabolic processes. For flue-curing, I usually have to perform 5 successive batches, to work my way up the stalk—priming only leaf that is barely showing a yellow tip.

Bob

 

[tropicdunder]

This is just what I needed! You answered all my questions plus a couple more that I didn’t even knew I had yet. Thanks a lot.


So when I just finished the yellowing phase and im about to ramp up the temps for the drying process … do I vent first to drop RH before setting the temerature? I could imagine temperature rises much faster than RH drops.

Regarding the Izmir tobacco you mentioned I could be flue cured as well. What is best practice amongst the industry. Sun cured or flue cured? I’m aiming for something in the direction of American Spirit.

Alex

 

[deluxestogie]

When I move from yellowing to wilting, I gradually decrease the venting, until I begin stem drying, at which point I close the venting completely, to reach 165°F. [For a flue-curing barn filled with tobacco, you need to monitor the humidity to adjust the vents. For a home-size chamber, there is no compelling reason to watch the humidity reading.] Since vented, humid air will condense on the exterior of the lid or vent opening, you can see what is going on. Most of the forum members who have tried flue-curing have determined the best method for their unique chamber by trial and error. Usually by the 3rd batch, the idiosyncrasies of your equipment will be manageable.

There are no "best practices", only different results. When I flue-cured Prilep, some of those to whom I sent samples of it described it variously as "tobacco candy" and "smells like a cookie bakery". The Ottoman Empire never flue-cured their "Turkish" tobaccos, so the traditional outcome is from sun-curing. If you have a flue-cure chamber, then try both methods, and see which you like. Flue-cure = less than a week, and sweeter; sun-cure = ~3 weeks.

Bob