Smells like brown sugar and honey wheat bread

[poplarshepherd]

My 'Havana 263' cigar leaves have been slowly fermenting in mason jars in a low case on top of a seedling heat mat (~98ºF) for close to 5 months now. For the first few weeks, the jars smelled weakly of ammonia when opened. Now, the leaves have turned a dark red brown and smell of brown sugar and freshly baked bread, with no funk or ammonia. The leaves are just moist enough so that they bend and almost crack, but are not soft.

My questions: What stage of the process am I currently in? Are the leaves ready to be rolled into cigars? Are they finished fermenting?

I plan to use these leaves to roll cigars with, but every time I take a small piece and chew on it, I don't get any of that strong spicy black pepper burning sensation that I get when I chew on the cap of a premium cigar. I know that spiciness is nicotine, so could it be that my leaves just don't contain much nicotine? Or do I need to continue fermenting for at least a couple years? I should also note, most of these leaves are seco, with a few viso leaves. I did not prime any ligero. The leaves were also grown indoors under an LED, but I would not call these leaves "bland", as they definitely have a flavor to them. I will probably continue aging this batch and use these leaves in a blend.

Chase

 

[Knucklehead]

Is the 98C a typo? That's 208F.

 

[poplarshepherd]

Is the 98C a typo? That's 208F.

Ah, yes. Thanks for the correction! Should be 98F.