Controlling the controllers

[RKNL]

I am rather new to this business of growing your own tobacco, harvesting and then processing it for consumption.
I built a kiln with both a temperature controller from Inkbird, and a temperature + humidity sensor from Haozee (purchased via AliExpress). Now I have one big question for you people: what do you do to ensure that recorded values of temp and humidity are the correct values. When I compare the value of the Inkbird temperature with the one form Haozee I see significant differences, and when I check both with still other thermometers in my house I find that all indicate different values.
So it seems to me that either I check my equipment with certified temperature sensors or I calibrate the tools myself by measuring known temperature values.
Checking with certified sensors seems not viable for small scale users (in terms of economic costs). Calibrating the tools myself has its own setbacks. The only 2 values that are well-known are 0 degr C (melting ice) and 100 degr C (boiling water). The Hoazee device says 60 degr C is the max temp to measure, the Inkbird says 99 degr C is max. So I doubt I can reliably test the devices with boiling water.
Same goes for the humidity sensor. I found a calibration test on internet for 75 % RH. Put some salt in a jar/cup, add water till almost all salt has been absorbed, then RH should be 75%. My Haozee sensor was 25% off....
So what do you do? You just go with the measured temps of your tools, or what do you do to handle this situation?

 

[deluxestogie]

Welcome to the forum. Feel free to introduce yourself in the Introduce Yourself forum.

You can calibrate your temp sensor by waiting for a cup of ice to partially melt. My experience with Inkbird is that it is reasonably accurate. Location of the sensor tip within the kiln makes a difference in the reading, and this is much more pronounced if you have no circulation fan.

I think that, most importantly, fine accuracy is not all that important in a tobacco kiln. (I don't even measure humidity in my kiln.)

Bob

 

[SomeCigarGuy]

This is a pretty common issue with most hygrometers and while the vast majority offer a calibration method for RH ( relative humidity ) calibrating temperatures on these devices is none existent for the most part. My advice ( as someone who does not grow their own tobacco, so perhaps take with a grain of salt ) would be to either have two separate devices you know you can reliably calibrate and go from there, or just record that your temps/ humidity are going to be x value off. I know I have an inkbird digital stick hygrometer that I use for my flavoured cigars I keep separate from my home rolls and B&M shop cigars that cannot be calibrated ( in any way I can find where I have two digital hygros that came with my humidors that didn’t seem to have a method to calibrate but with a a little finagling I was able to figure it out ) This was however for the humidity values and not the temps, which have no way to calibrate. I understand temps are less important in a humidor to an extent. Higher temps have potential to hold more moisture in the air than lower temps but as long as the area your humidor is stored is below 27C ( 80F ) degrees consistently, it shouldn’t really effect the air trapped in your humidor.

Well that’s just my two cents. Best of luck to you good sir, and happy rolling.

 

[RKNL]

Bob said: "...fine accuracy is not all that important in a tobacco kiln... ". To be honest that came as a little shock. All that talk on the forum about keeping temp between 123 and 128 degree Fahrenheit, and RH about 85%, and now it is not that important. Ok, maybe better so. Temp readings do indeed differ considerably not only between different devices, but also by one device alone depending like you said on the location of the sensor in the kiln. I use the method of having the tobacco leaves inside a sealed jar, so that the fermentation should really work on the humidity in the leaves themselves. But also in the jar itself, temp readings differ. So, I will just do this first time experiment and learn from the results.
Thanks for your answers though, appreciate, you too SomeCigarGuy

 

[deluxestogie]

All that talk on the forum about keeping temp between 123 and 128 degree Fahrenheit

Surely you can figure out a way to maintain a temp above 122°F, to prevent mold growth. It sounds like your kiln has stability issues. Adequate insulation of the kiln, and a snug seal at the closure (door) make the greatest impact on stability of interior conditions. Add a fan. Above about 135°F, the taste and aroma of the tobacco is altered. The relative humidity needs to be above about 60%, so that fermentation can occur. How high the humidity climbs does not matter, so long as the temp is higher than 122°F.

Keep in mind that a kiln simply accelerates the natural fermentation that would occur without a kiln. (The speed of the enzymatic process increases exponentially with increasing temp.)

Bob

 

[RKNL]

... It sounds like your kiln has stability issues ,,,

Stability issues, I don't think so. The Inkbird controller is doing its work fine. I was just curious how to be certain that the temperature range traveled by the controller was indeed a range between 123 and 128 as I set the device to work with. The temp does differ depending location but you said so too. I doubt a fan will work as all the tobacco is in an insulating glass jar.
I have been fermenting the tobacco now for almost 4 weeks. And I will stop when reaching 1 month. As the indicated range on this forum is from 1 to 2 months but there is no clear indication when the process has largely finished, I will stop with the 1 month, and see what I got...

Additional question: does the fermentation makes the tobacco easier to smoke? Before kilning I shredded one properly dried leave, but it proofed hard to smoke in the sense that lighting the rolled cigarette was practically undoable.

Thanks for your suggestions

 

[Knucklehead]

Before kilning I shredded one properly dried leave, but it proofed hard to smoke in the sense that lighting the rolled cigarette was practically undoable.

Is this home grown? Did you use chlorinated water for watering the plants? Chlorine can make a leaf fireproof.

 

[deluxestogie]

• tobacco variety?
• growing conditions (soil type; pot or in the ground; etc.)?
• stage of leaf maturation when harvested?
• stalk level of the leaf in question (lower leaf, upper leaf, etc.)?
• conditions during color-curing?

Bob

 

[RKNL]

Is this home grown? Did you use chlorinated water for watering the plants? Chlorine can make a leaf fireproof.

Home grown yes But chlorinated water no. In the Netherlands we like to think we have good water that does not need chlorine to be safe.
Ok, I said it was properly dried, I don't really know if it was. I understand you have 4 levels of humidity in the leaves. My dried leaves (already yellow when I harvested them) hung several weeks in my house (RH probably around 60%) and thereafter in an open carton box same environment. When I put one leave to the shredder though, I was not really able to light the cigarette. So fermenting does not help here?

 

[RKNL]

• tobacco variety?
• growing conditions (soil type; pot or in the ground; etc.)?
• stage of leaf maturation when harvested?
• stalk level of the leaf in question (lower leaf, upper leaf, etc.)?
• conditions during color-curing?

Bob

• variety: Nicotiana tabacum
• soil type: pot with potting soil
• leaf maturation: yellow
• level: all the leaves I could get , upper, lower
• color-curing: inside my house, temp about 68*F, RH about 60%