Question on flue curing, and curing in general, Ive read the flue curing process over and over and think i'm begining to understand the fundamentals of it and how they translate to smaller scale situations, and I've gotten fairly good at the yellowing process via wrapping leaves in towels until they are yellow through and through other than midrib and even sometimes have gotten them to yellow completely.
So its my understanding that in the flue curing process the yellowing part of schedule is mostly independent from the very strict confines of the wilting and drying portion of the schedule. Am I somewhat correct in that suggestion? If so, my next question is ( and sorry, I apologize and understand that the easy and obvious answer to this is "just follow the G** D*mn instructions" ) If I take Virginia leaf that has been completely yellowed, via the towel wrapping method (I have tried yellowing in the temp/humidity controlled upright commercial single door fridge I have with poor success, not sure why exactly), once the leaves have yellowed can I then put them into the temp/humidity controlled chamber and hope to start the flue curing schedule from the beginning of the wilting stage through to stem drying?
and while I understand this would be much more work and require much more attending to, is it possible to set that beautiful yellow color by taking yellowed leave and placing it in a heated environment, like a oven, on VERY LOW or even an oven that's been heated and allowed to cool to the 105 starting point of wilting? and then short bursts of turning oven on and back off while monitoring the temperature to achieve the increases needed to maintain the schedule through stem drying? or is it simply to finicky and likely to result in browning trying to micromanage it this way?
On a seperate note
Also I came across this the other day, which is a public opinion axe job on Tobacco for sure enough misleading claims about tobacco to make you really angry, but its the first video showing the modern bulk barns used for yellowing, and just how hap-hazardly the tobacco is heaped into the racks for yellowing, which is super comforting to a newbie that the neurotic attention to care in handling the leaves isn't totally necessary .
View: https://youtu.be/gdV_1u-TodY
The discussion about "Whats in a cigarette" made me angry, and the claim that a cigarette only contains about 30% tobacco, but then goes on to explain that the other 70% is mostly a paper product made from tobacco scraps, and recovered tobacco from the packing lines, and returned packs of cigarettes that had gone beyond their sell-by date.... even if "Recon Tobacco" makes up 70% of a cigarette, suggesting that 70% isnt still comprised of Tobacco is disingenuous and purely intentionally negative misrepresentation intended to scare people aware...
