Absolute noob question regarding color curing

[GonzoAcres]

Ok, so despite reading lots of posts about curing, color curing, yellowing, and the various curing methods and a number of various tobacco variety decriptions associated with the curing process they are particularly suited to, I guess I had sort of missed a crucial detail here, in that the ultimate goal is not always having the tobacco turn yellow, and infact some (correct me here) varieties do not turn yellow, at least in terms of the "bright leaf" yellow generally pictured associated with tobacco curing.... in those varieties the leaves will begin the process of breaking down the chlorophyll but wont nessicarily have that beautiful maple leaf like transition, some will simply look dead and dying until they eventually turn brown, am I correct in this hard learned observation?

 

[deluxestogie]

"Bright leaf" varieties (often called "Virginia" varieties), as well as most Oriental varieties are suitable for flue-curing or sun-curing. Other varieties are not.

Flue-curing uses a scheduled ramping of artificial heat to transition green leaf into bright yellow or reddish yellow leaf over a period of 5 to 7 days, then ends the further transition to brown by destroying the oxidase enzymes (aging enzymes).

Sun-curing attempts the same process using sunlight, and generally requires 14 to 21 days to complete, and results in leaf that is not as bright, and not as sweet as flue-cured.

Both bright leaf varieties and Orientals can alternatively be successfully air-cured (in the shade), but the result is different from leaf that is flue-cured or sun-cured. [If you wish to flue-cure your bright or Oriental varieties, then you will need to construct your own flue-curing chamber.]

All other varieties are usually air-cured in the shade, either as primed, strung leaves, or as entire stalks. These all eventually color-cure to some shade of brown, over a period of many weeks.

Yellowing of air-cured leaf happens naturally during the color-cure, but only if the relative humidity is not so low as to cause the curing leaf to flash-dry green (which ruins the leaf). A number of forum members have developed methods to yellow the leaf (in boxes, or nestled in towels, etc.) prior to hanging it for completion of the color-cure to brown. Flash-drying green is unlikely with stalk-harvested, stalk-cured leaf.

For air-curing, the more ripe the primed leaf when harvested, the easier it will be to color-cure in the shed.

Bob

 

[Knucklehead]

Curing, Fermentation, Aging, Kilning? Basic Definitions

Curing Tobacco When you begin with leaf from the field (primed or stalk-cut), and then allow it to convert from a living leaf to a dead leaf (of yellow or brown), you have cured the leaf. Often in this forum, we refer to this as "color-curing". There are a number of methods for color-curing...

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