Weekly update:
Everything I bagged last week has come out of the bags and is drying. Some of the PA red was still greenish around the base, and threatening to compost at the tips, so has been layered out of the bags in a star formation.
Humidity is 70 to 90% so I'm more concerned with composting than flash drying.
As the green goes, it gets laid out on the drying rack
Plants are doing well. Daily rounds of sucker removal.
I'm aware they're mature and need to do another round of priming, however, life has given me different priorities. More days wont ruin anything.
Half the rustica has finally sun dried and is in a big paper bag, waiting on a kiln. The other half, which has been "resting" / colour curing in other paper bags is ready to string up and sun dry. Most of it was vibrant yellow, apart from the dark green newest growth tips , which are now yellow. Overall a rich, vibrant yellow tinged with orange.
It still smells like Bigfoot's Dick.
My piles of dried tabacum leaf, especially the PA Red smell, well, like tobacco. Really quite inviting. Its finally transitioned into a recognisable tobacco. Excited to see what kilning will do to it.