How long is air cured tobacco aged for snus?

[SnuffmeisterUK]

Can anyone shed light on how long (typically) air cured tobacco is aged for before being used for snus?

This is my harvest so far, mostly burley and Virginia , I made a batch of snus from the first leaves I cured, it was OK, but weak in nic and tasted 'young' and slightly vegetal still...

Also, they were mostly bottom leaves of the plants in my first batch as they were harvested and cured first obviously. This may explain the young taste and mild nicotine level.

 

[wruk53]

It's a little tough to answer that question. Everyone's conditions and circumstances vary. But, for what it's worth, here's what I do. After the leaf has been color cured and completely dried, I bring the leaf into case, tie the leaves into hands and pack them into a cardboard box or paper bag and bring them into and out of case for at least few months. I then remove most of the mid-rib, dry the leaf completely, then grind the lamina into flour and use as needed. Different varieties may take more or less time to age.

 

[Farside]

I use the discarded stems, which are completely dry and snap like an old twig. I roast these in the oven and then powder them.

Then using that flour I mix it with the freebase and other ingredients, put it in a glass jar and seal it.

I read somewhere that it's important to leave it sealed for at least 6 months. Do not open the container. The fermentation process requires an anaerobic environment.

 

[Bottenslam]

Funny, i was thinking of posting something similar... when harvest is done here and i got tobaco of the same variety aged 2, 1 and 0 years i'll do a comparison, Then i atleast have a opinion to share.
By typically, i assume you mean comercially? I would guess it kind of depends on what brand etc one is refering to... i'we been trying to recreate Göteborgs prima fint, and im suspecting its made with propperly fremented/aged tobacco. Tho of course this is just my working theory.

 

[SnuffmeisterUK]

Sorry for my late reply I've been away/busy with the chaos of life.

Does anyone know any reason why ground tobacco flour would age worse than whole leaf? I'm thinking or grinding some of my harvest down already to make it smaller to store.

Thanks for the replies, I think I'll just sit on my tobacco and monitor its smell changing.. I suspect I'll use my nose and once I feel the 'green' note I had in my first snus batch has 'hopefully' dissipated I'll give stuff a go.

 

[deluxestogie]

Grinding certainly disrupts the cell walls of leaf lamina, increasing the exposure of intrinsic enzymes to ambient conditions. Since I don't have the remotest idea how that would impact the quality of the aging process, you might do a comparison. Age a portion of the whole leaf, while grinding a different portion. Check back with us in a few months.

Bob

 

[Hayden]

Maybe for next year fertilize and let them ripen some more like the fotos from my grow blog. My virginia gold has definitly quiet a bit nicotine and i feel it in small pipe heads also seems to help with the tobacco taste as well.

 

[wruk53]

Seems to me that in order to turn the leaf into flour, the leaf would have to be very dry. So then, the problem would be how to rehydrate the flour enough that it would be able to age. It has to have some moisture in order to age properly and it would be near impossible to tell the moisture level. I suppose you could weigh the dry flour and add a certain percentage of water weight, but I think it might be kind of hard to get it mixed evenly. I'm currently experimenting with fermenting some flour in carottes at 70% hydration. but it will be several weeks before I know how it turns out. I'll post the results when I open one up. Check out the video that China Voodoo posted on making carottes using a plastic bag and wrapping it with reinforced tape. He made his out of destemmed leaf, but I don't see why it wouldn't work with flour also. https://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/china-voodoos-carotte-method.12000/

 

[Farside]

I've done some leaf, and yes you have to add alkalized water very slowly until you eventually reach a desired consistency. I like the stems because the flour rehydrates into a definite structure which helps a lot with texture.