Really Easy Perique Press

[deluxestogie]

What is the preferred schedule for unpacking and repacking the leaves during a 3-month cure?

If I recall, the folks in St. James Parish, Louisiana unpack, air and repack after the first 3 weeks, then repeat this at 3 week intervals a time or two more. They let the batch run for as long as 9 months, and do the unpacking routine a few more times at wider intervals.

My impression (mine alone) is that unpacking and repacking serves only to darken the color of the batch, but has little if any impact on the final flavor and aroma. Exposing the pressure-damaged leaves to oxygen serves to oxidize (darken) the color of the nicotine uniformly.

I've run a couple of batches with no unpacking at all. It comes out at the end of the run appearing much lighter, but once exposed to air it darkens quite a bit. Another approach I've tried is periodically releasing the pressure on the mass of tobacco, allowing the dark surface juices to penetrate more deeply, then reapplying the pressure the next day. This causes at least the upper and outer portions of the wet mass of tobacco to darken, but does not fully infuse the deeper areas of leaf.

Recommendation: Air it once, after the first 3 weeks, then just keep it under pressure the remainder of the time. Don't add too much water, when maintaining the liquid seal, since Pichia anomala yeast need a highly concentrated liquid in order to thrive and supplant less desirable microbes (like E. coli, which imparts the initial "barnyard" aroma early in the process).

Bob

 

[mwaller]

Thanks, Bob!
Should I expect to see bubbles or any other activity to indicate that fermentation is occurring?

 

[deluxestogie]

Everybody else says they see bubbles indicating fermentation. My impression is that I see bubbles indicating that air is being squeezed out of tiny pockets in the mass of leaf. Either way, you should see some reassuring bubbles.

Bob

 

[mwaller]

Ok, I will keep my eyes on it. I certainly got a ton of bubbles when I first pressed the leaf mass down...

Everybody else says they see bubbles indicating fermentation. My impression is that I see bubbles indicating that air is being squeezed out of tiny pockets in the mass of leaf. Either way, you should see some reassuring bubbles.

Bob

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Everybody else says they see bubbles indicating fermentation. My impression is that I see bubbles indicating that air is being squeezed out of tiny pockets in the mass of leaf. Either way, you should see some reassuring bubbles.

Bob

I believe we are seeing both. When I first press my leaf I see a lot of bubbles. They subside later on, usually by the next day. A few days later I see bubbles again but they are much smaller in size and volume. I believe the first set of bubbles are from the air being pressed out and the second set are from the leaf fermentation.

 

[Gavroche]

When we take(bring) out the leaves of the jar, I think that mushrooms colonize the tobacco then either die in the anaerobic or develop.

Quand on sort les feuilles du bocal, je pense que des champignons colonisent le tabac puis soit meurent dans l'anaérobie soit se développent.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

The tobacco I was fermenting in a jar with airlock bubbled off CO2 for about three weeks then stopped, presumably when the fermentable sugars were used up. The proceeding stage doesn't seem to involve any/much gas production.

 

[deluxestogie]

I'll have to concede to Jitterbugdude and ChinaVoodoo. Late bubbles, well after initial pressing, are likely due to fermentative outgassing. I don't notice those late bubbles, but I haven't really watched for them. An airlock tells all.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I'll have to concede to Jitterbugdude and ChinaVoodoo. Late bubbles, well after initial pressing, are likely due to fermentative outgassing. I don't notice those late bubbles, but I haven't really watched for them. An airlock tells all.

Bob

Well, you never know. Fermenting in a jar without pressure might be so dramatically different from the proper way to make perique that completely different microorganisms take over.

 

[deluxestogie]

Well, you never know. Fermenting in a jar without pressure might be so dramatically different from the proper way to make perique that completely different microorganisms take over.

If the solution is not high osmolarity, then that is certain.

Bob

 

[mwaller]

The ABS drain cover wrapped with a freezer bag seems to work well for me. No bubbles yet, but the leaves have darkened and gained a more uniform appearance. The aroma is slightly fermented, perhaps.

The juices wick up between the bag and the bottle wall creating the appearance of a 1cm layer of juice on the top. In reality, there are only a few mL of liquid there to create a seal.

 

[deluxestogie]

What kind of bottle is that?

Bob

 

[mwaller]

What kind of bottle is that?

Bob

It's a 32oz Nalgene water bottle with the top cut off. This is the older style bottle, made of polycarbonate.... meaning, it contains BPA :-( We had several of them in the cupboard collecting dust... The material itself is incredibly tough and resilient. Seems great for this application.
For water, we now use the newer Nalgene bottles are made from Tritan, a BPA-free polymer.

 

[deluxestogie]

Polycarbonate (brand name, Lexan) is bulletproof in thicker sheets. Good choice.

Unfortunately, Nalgene no longer makes Lexan bottles. I say "unfortunately", because you get a much larger exposure to BP-A through your skin, by handling a cash register receipt (those waxy feeling, thermal printed things that every store uses today) than you do from directly ingesting liquids stored in a BP-A containing bottle. So, making Perique in a Lexan bottle, and then smoking the Perique is surely a trivial exposure.

I have been searching through literally hundreds of listings of plastic jars and bottles that would be cheap, and could be used as a Perique pressure container. Most of them, even if they appear sturdy, have a reinforcement rim around the outside margin of the bottom surface, so that it is difficult to support the bottom in a Perique press setup.

If your Lexan water bottle does not split from the pressure, then it would seem to be ideal.

Bob

 

[Gavroche]

, because you get a much larger exposure to BP-A through your skin, by handling a cash register receipt (those waxy feeling, thermal printed things that every store uses today) than you do from directly ingesting liquids stored in a BP-A containing bottle.
Bob

does'nt exist in France today

 

[mwaller]

does'nt exist in France today

Don't worry - you are not missing out! Thermal receipts are terrible for other reasons, too - they fade badly in your wallet, and will turn completely black if left in a hot car.

 

[mwaller]

10 days into my perique batch, I definitely have some interesting smells.
There is a pungent vegetal / floral aroma - like a lily flower that has gone past its prime...

Thanks to guidance and encouragement from many in this forum, I've decided to take a chance on homemade perique. My goal is to create a potent blending component to spice up mild pipe blends. I only grew cigar tobaccos this year, so my choices were a bit unconventional. My Havana 142 was so thin and crispy that it literally turned to dust in my hands. I decided instead to use Florida Sumatra ligero... Here are the first steps in process...View attachment 22004

 

[mwaller]

At three weeks into my perique, I decided to repack the leaves. I was surprised by how much the leaves appeared bonded together, yet with gentle teasing, a majority separated and unfurled completely without harm. I was also pleased to note that the leaves actually smelled a bit like cigars, albeit with an odd lilly-like floral musk. So far none of the cigar leaves that have come from my kiln actually smell like cigars... LOL!

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

How do they dry perique after it's done?

 

[deluxestogie]

If, by "they", you mean the Perique producers in St. James Parish (SJP), I'm not sure. Traditionally (as seen in many old photos), women manually teased apart the individual leaves, then spread them out to dry in the air. I would guess that they now use a drum dryer. I have received some whole leaf (full stem in) Perique from one grower in SJP, and the leaf was fairly intact. But I failed to inspect it for how it might have been hung for drying.

I usually slice it into cut plug, then dry that on a seedling heat mat, in several batches.

Bob