Advice: removing harshness of home grown

[websu]

So today I busted out some homegrown pipe tobacco I made this tobacco had been steamed throughout a day (I don't own a kiln and currently don't have the funds to make one) I imagine steaming is the same concept for fermentation when smoking my home grown the flavour is there the tobacco smoke smell is there but was still a bit harsh on the tongue and throat any ideas on how I could reduce harshness? It's a blend of Golden Virginia and burly and had been aged roughly 7 months

 

[deluxestogie]

I imagine steaming is the same concept for fermentation

Steaming actually destroys both major, intrinsic oxidizing enzymes that bring about fermentation as well as subsequent aging. Steaming cooks the tobacco into Cavendish.

Freshly cooked Cavendish will change noticeably with time, as some of the harsher volatiles dissipate. Think weeks to months of "resting", after cooking the Cavendish. Just sample along the way. Burley and Virginia (I assume it was air-cured, rather than flue-cured.) can definitely make an enjoyable blend as a Cavendish.

I divide tongue bite into "front of the tongue bite" (low pH—too acidic) vs. "back of the tongue bite" (high pH—too alkaline). When using flue-cured Virginia, which is considerably more acidic than burley, a roughly 50:50 blend of VA and burley works to balance the pH. Using air-cured Virginia, I would suggest starting with 80% Virginia to 20% Burley, then adjusting the ratio to try and eliminate whichever tongue bite you detect. [If front of the tongue bite, then increase the burley. If back of the tongue bite, then increase the Virginia.]

For next year: An inexpensive method of curing Virginia without a flue-cure chamber is to string the mature, freshly primed leaf, and hang it in the sun to sun-cure (like is done with most Oriental tobacco varieties) for 2 to 3 weeks, shielding it from rain . This results in sweetness and acidity that is between what you get with air-curing vs. flue-curing.

Bob

 

[Old Gasman]

Time and patience is the answer. Grow the tobacco, colour cure it and, in the absence of a kiln, pack it away at the correct humidity for a year. Repeat the process year on year and pretty soon you'll have a stock of tasty well aged tobacco.

 

[websu]

Steaming actually destroys both major, intrinsic oxidizing enzymes that bring about fermentation as well as subsequent aging. Steaming cooks the tobacco into Cavendish.

Freshly cooked Cavendish will change noticeably with time, as some of the harsher volatiles dissipate. Think weeks to months of "resting", after cooking the Cavendish. Just sample along the way. Burley and Virginia (I assume it was air-cured, rather than flue-cured.) can definitely make an enjoyable blend as a Cavendish.

I divide tongue bite into "front of the tongue bite" (low pH—too acidic) vs. "back of the tongue bite" (high pH—too alkaline). When using flue-cured Virginia, which is considerably more acidic than burley, a roughly 50:50 blend of VA and burley works to balance the pH. Using air-cured Virginia, I would suggest starting with 80% Virginia to 20% Burley, then adjusting the ratio to try and eliminate whichever tongue bite you detect. [If front of the tongue bite, then increase the burley. If back of the tongue bite, then increase the Virginia.]

For next year: An inexpensive method of curing Virginia without a flue-cure chamber is to string the mature, freshly primed leaf, and hang it in the sun to sun-cure (like is done with most Oriental tobacco varieties) for 2 to 3 weeks, shielding it from rain . This results in sweetness and acidity that is between what you get with air-curing vs. flue-curing.

Bob

Thank you for confirming my thoughts about steaming, I'm thinking I'm going to let this age a fair while and hope that will help the harshness.

Yes all my tobacco was air cured, I'm un able to do any sun curing ATM as it's getting close to frost and weather here in UK is pretty unreliable.

When it comes to the blending I was an absolute idiot when planting my tobacco and forgot to label what's what so I don't know which plant is burly and which is golden Virginia so all the ratios are mixed up, definitely a lesson well learnt there.

Once I have my green house I'm thinking I'll be able to do some flue curing using my bonfire pit and the green house as my barn.

 

[websu]

Time and patience is the answer. Grow the tobacco, colour cure it and, in the absence of a kiln, pack it away at the correct humidity for a year. Repeat the process year on year and pretty soon you'll have a stock of tasty well aged tobacco.

Yeah I know time and patience is one of the main things, I'll keep giving it time and trying every 6 months or so to see how it's progressing

 

[HillDweller]

So today I busted out some homegrown pipe tobacco I made this tobacco had been steamed throughout a day (I don't own a kiln and currently don't have the funds to make one) I imagine steaming is the same concept for fermentation when smoking my home grown the flavour is there the tobacco smoke smell is there but was still a bit harsh on the tongue and throat any ideas on how I could reduce harshness? It's a blend of Golden Virginia and burly and had been aged roughly 7 months

I'm keeping to a pretty tight budget myself, and just waited until a used freezer became available. Just got it in time to do my first flue-curing runs. So my only expense was a heat controller and a cheap fan which actually didn't survive. Already had a crockpot for heat and humidity. So a budget of thirty dollars or so. Maybe you can find a freezer, not sure how common they are where you are. I bought a heftier fan which I will be using in future for about thirty dollars.

 

[websu]

I'm keeping to a pretty tight budget myself, and just waited until a used freezer became available. Just got it in time to do my first flue-curing runs. So my only expense was a heat controller and a cheap fan which actually didn't survive. Already had a crockpot for heat and humidity. So a budget of thirty dollars or so. Maybe you can find a freezer, not sure how common they are where you are. I bought a heftier fan which I will be using in future for about thirty dollars.

Yeah I'm keeping an eye out for a old freezer or a large wooden toy box, unfortunately I don't drive so picking up is a bit of a difficulty, atm money is very tight last minute Xmas shopping should've started earlier I've got a crock pot ready to use, so just need to get a heat controller and a computer fan, if I end up with a wooden box I'm gonna have to buy some insulation so the box doesn't break down over time from the humidity