deluxestogie's Trash Can Cozy Flue-cure Chamber

[DonH]

This run I placed both sensors, the temperature sensor for the Ranco and the humidity/temp sensor near the top. There seems to be a difference of about 4 degrees between the two that are placed in different locations. On the first run they were lower down and more towards the side. Now I have the hygrometer sensor laid over the angle bar in the middle, above the crockpot. I wanted to have one sensor where I thought it would be hottest. On the first run, the parts of the leaves that were burned were at the top (at the fat end of the mid rib), so I think I burned them in the stem drying stage. The thermostat was set at 165F but there must have been hotter areas near the top. It was during that stage that I smelled more of a burning smell, but I thought that was normal. Now I will be more careful and set the thermostat lower at the last stage.

This time, since I had no room, I also put no bowl of water in. Shouldn't be a problem since there are more leaves and more water in the system. Right now the hygrometer sensor says 97.5 F at 86% humidity and the Ranco sensor reads 93-94F.

Here's a picture of a leaf with burn spots:



I went through and removed all the burn spots and green areas from the leaves and shredded the rest. The good parts taste good, except everything got a faint smoky flavor from the parts that burned. But the good parts do have that sweet flue cured taste. Tastes pretty good blended with last year's Burley and Izmir.

 

[deluxestogie]

During the week following the cure, if the leaf is in light case, some of the green will change to dull yellow. With my second batch of flue-cured Prilep, I set aside the "mostly green" leaf in a Ziplock, and tossed it into my humidor. (It was already in light case.) Today, when I opened the humidor, that bag slipped out. "Mostly green Prilep," it said on the label. There was almost no green to be found.

The downside is that some of the prettiest gold will fade a bit with time.

Bob

 

[DonH]

Filling the can with more than 50 leaves has made it so the exact right humidity 90-95 but going down to 80 late at night) with no pan of water and the lid completely closed. I set the thermostat to 94-95 and even when it spikes, due to residual heat from the crockpot, it stays below 98f.

 

[deluxestogie]

The OK, the Bad and the Ugly

My third batch of flue-cured leaf just came out of the Cozy Can.

All of the leaf for this batch came from higher on the stalk, so the leaf was thicker. I made one intentional adjustment (mistake) and one unintentional adjustment (mistake).

• I extended the yellowing phase (~95ºF) by 1/2 day, to 4-1/4 days. This was too long.
• I goofed, and allowed the wilting phase (~125ºF) to run for an extra 6 hours. Heat + moisture = brown.

I'll let it all rest for a couple of days, then sample it. I suspect that none of it will be as sweet as the earlier batches. It's certainly not as pretty.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Although the Çelikhan from this latest batch appears to be air-cured, it is definitely flue-cured. It retains its sweetness, and is aromatic. The stems are brittle.

I finally identified the aroma of the flue-cured Çelikhan. Don't laugh. It's a nice flavor. It's the toasty flavor of breaded, deep-fried eggplant. (Eggplant and tobacco are in the same family.)

This batch of Prilep, though a bit darker in color than earlier batches, still possesses its "tobacco candy" quality. Today, I started a batch of Prilep 66-9/7 that included the upper stalk positions. I'll be more attentive to the time schedule.

Bob

 

[BarG]

deluxestogie, how does the air dried prilep and celikhann, compare to the flue cured?

 

[deluxestogie]

deluxestogie, how does the air dried prilep and celikhann, compare to the flue cured?

Since it's air-curing, it won't be ready until if finishes curing, and is kilned. Check back in October.

Bob

 

[BarG]

Pardon, I forgot about the regional difference. All my Bursa,ottoman,samsun are cured, and I unloaded the top rails of my hanging rack to complete the stem drying in a closed shed with one window where it will stay till needed. I have been resisting the urge to finish off the samples you sent.

 

[deluxestogie]

Two other trials now in the Cozy Can are Tabasqueño Prieto, which I believe is an Orinoco type, and a good candidate for flue-curing, and secondly, Costa Rica Iztepeque (589), which is more suggestive of a cigar filler variety. With these two, I'm not worried about the color, since I waited until nothing but upper leaf remained. If it comes out sweet, then I can list it among the suitable varieties for flue-curing.

So many of the experiments that catch my interest require many months to complete. With flue-curing, the outcome is fairly apparent in a week. What fun!

For members who smoke cigarettes or pipes, setting up a Cozy Can is quick, easy and cheap. Last year, I flue-cured VA Bright, Big Gem, Little Yellow, Paris Wrapper and Silk Leaf. Of those, the VA Bright came out the nicest (lemon bright), and is the only flue-cure variety I planted this year.

Bob

 

[DonH]

I've been too busy to report on the results my second run. I had 2/3 Bright Leaf and 1/3 Del Gold. Total of about 50 leaves. The problem was I was only home for the first three days, so I had to text my wife and ask her the readings and have her make adjustments. The first run, I yellowed the leaves with the crockpot on low, but had a hard time getting the temps up for the other phases, but got some burned leaves, so the second run I decided to keep it on low. That was a mistake because I couldn't get the temps high enough and the humidity low enough at the right time to move to a new phase. I decided to move to wilting when the Bright Leaf was yellow, but the Del Gold still had a lot of green. As it turned out, since the wilting phase and the leaf drying phase took way too long and the leaves had a bit too much moisture, most of the Bright Leaf dried too brown and is very harsh. The Del Gold had a nice yellow and gold color, BUT, since the leaf drying phase took too long, it's not really flue cured. In other words, no sweetness like the first run. I basically just air dried the leaf quickly.

So, for the next run, I will turn the crockpot to high after yellowing, and I have been cracking the lid a bit during yellowing, last time I only did that for the other phases. I think I need to get more moisture out earlier. I loaded about 30 more Del Gold yesterday for the second run. I will also be traveling starting Tuesday, so my remote spousal controller will have to be activated again. Tricky process.

 

[grgfinney]

I like that remote spousal controller,I am a truck driver I know what you mean ,its going to be scary when I fire off kiln next weekend with 20 lbs of baccy and leave for 5 days

 

[AmaxB]

Am reading all of this with great interest

 

[deluxestogie]

Re: Latakia from Samsun

My scoreboard on flue-curing (FC) varieties other than flue-cure varieties.

• Little Yellow (a dark-air): FC to dull, deep yellow. Retains some sweetness. Neutral pH. Interesting and tasty.
• Çelikhan: FC to light yellow for lower leaf, yellow-gray for upper leaf. Sweet. Aromatic. Slightly acidic. OK.
• Xanthi Yaka 18a: FC to dull yellow and dull light brown. Minimal sweetness. Mildly aromatic. Not as good as air-cured and kilned. Neutral pH.
• Prilep 79-94: FC to yellow-orange. Sweet. Intensely aromatic. Mildly acidic. Very nice.
• Prilep 66-9/7: FC to gold and orange-red. Very sweet. "Tobacco Candy." Acidic. Nicer than sun-cured or air-cured. Outstanding.
• Bolivia Criollo Black: FC to yellow and light brown. Moderately sweet. Excellent burn. Minimal throat hit. Smoke smells like a cigarette. Acidic. While no menthol aroma, it does tickle the membranes with a similar edginess.
• Tabasqueño Prieto: FC to dull medium brown. Not sweet. Robust strength. Good burn. Neutral pH. Dry and subtle flavor.
• Iztepeque [Costa Rica 589]: FC to medium yellow and light, dull brown. Crêpe texture. Excellent burn. Acidic. Mildly aromatic. Probably a flue-cure variety.
• Mutki: pending

Bob

 

[DonH]

The week before last, I flue cured a third batch, this time one variety: Del Gold. It was a success.

One mistake I made on my second run is not switching from the low setting to the high setting on the crockpot. And, being out of town I wasn't able to fix that. I wanted low for the yellowing phase, otherwise the temps get too high due to the heat the crockpot stores. But then for the higher temp stages it took way too long to get the temps up and so it ended up just curing the leaves, not flue curing them.

So this time, before I left on my trip I was able to switch the crockpot to high after the yellowing phase. Also, I started the yellowing phase a little early, there was still some green in the veins and on top. Most of that came out during the wilting phase because I raised the temps for wilting in two phases, first to 110 from 95 (but after 12 hours it was only 103 and 78% humidity. So that agrees with what Amax concluded about yellowing. I then had my remote spousal controller up it to 120 12 hours later. 12 hours after that, it was at 117 degrees and 66% humidity. 12 hours after that, I set the thermostat at 135 degrees for the leaf drying. 24 hours after that 155 degrees for the stem drying. About 16 hours after that I got home from my trip and the stems were dry.

 

[DonH]

The week before last, I flue cured a third batch, this time one variety: Del Gold. It was a success.

One mistake I made on my second run is not switching from the low setting to the high setting on the crockpot. And, being out of town I wasn't able to fix that. I wanted low for the yellowing phase, otherwise the temps get too high due to the heat the crockpot stores. But then for the higher temp stages it took way too long to get the temps up and so it ended up just curing the leaves, not flue curing them.

So this time, before I left on my trip I was able to switch the crockpot to high after the yellowing phase. Also, I started the yellowing phase a little early, there was still some green in the veins and on top. Most of that came out during the wilting phase because I raised the temps for wilting in two phases, first to 110 from 95 (but after 12 hours it was only 103 and 78% humidity. So that agrees with what Amax concluded about yellowing. I then had my remote spousal controller up it to 120 12 hours later. 12 hours after that, it was at 117 degrees and 66% humidity. 12 hours after that, I set the thermostat at 135 degrees for the leaf drying. 24 hours after that 155 degrees for the stem drying. About 16 hours after that I got home from my trip and the stems were dry.

To clarify the timing of all this. I loaded the can on Saturday, yellowed for three days, could have gone longer, but I left for a trip on Tuesday morning. Brought the temps up slowly to 103 for a day, then on Wednesday turned it up to 120, Thursday to 135, and Friday to 155.

I started a new batch yesterday of Lizard Tail Orinoco.

 

[AmaxB]

Yep your in there
Every one will be a little different because of set-up and tobacco but within a range.

 

[deluxestogie]

If your tobacco comes out more brown, and less yellow, it doesn't mean it isn't flue-cured. It's true that it isn't "bright cured," but it may still be excellent smoking tobacco. It may also be nearly as sweet. I think the browner flue-cured leaf has a slightly different taste--fuller, somewhat less acidic--than the bright cured, my opinion is that it's hands down superior to air-cured leaf from a flue-cure variety. Whether bright cured or dark flue-cured, it still improves significantly with a little age.

Bob

 

[AmaxB]

I'll go with that.......

 

[DonH]

If your tobacco comes out more brown, and less yellow, it doesn't mean it isn't flue-cured. It's true that it isn't "bright cured," but it may still be excellent smoking tobacco. It may also be nearly as sweet. I think the browner flue-cured leaf has a slightly different taste--fuller, somewhat less acidic--than the bright cured, my opinion is that it's hands down superior to air-cured leaf from a flue-cure variety. Whether bright cured or dark flue-cured, it still improves significantly with a little age.

Bob

The problem I had with my second run was not the color but that it didn't have any sweetness. The first run had sweetness but parts of lots of leaves were burned which gave the unburned parts a bit of a smoky flavor. So I've been trying since then to cure it fast enough to stay sweet yet at temps and humidity low enough not to burn.

I did notice last night doing some shredding that Don's Flue Cured has a color on the dark side. My last run looked and tasted a lot like the Lemon Virginia although it needs aging.

 

[DonH]

The problem I had with my second run was not the color but that it didn't have any sweetness. The first run had sweetness but parts of lots of leaves were burned which gave the unburned parts a bit of a smoky flavor. So I've been trying since then to cure it fast enough to stay sweet yet at temps and humidity low enough not to burn.

I did notice last night doing some shredding that Don's Flue Cured has a color on the dark side. My last run looked and tasted a lot like the Lemon Virginia although it needs aging.

I tasted some of the Bright Leaf from the second run, and there actually is good sweetness there. Relieved about that because that run had more leaves than the others.