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Sun-curing Prilep on the stalk

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Planter

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For space reasons I'm thinking about stalk-curing Prilep 66-9/7 under a glass roof which is exposed to midday and afternoon sun (sides are open, so the greenhouse effect is limited).
Did any of you do that before with good results? Or should I still wilt and yellow them in a dark place with high humidity first?
 

Hasse SWE

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I ain't the best on it here (only done oral-snuff out of it). But it also great as flue-cured Prilep, my wife did like the tobacco in her cigarettes, she asked me to do it this year again. But I don't grow it this year.. I hope MD#64 and Izmir Lebanese will make her happy..
 

deluxestogie

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During the 2013 growing season, I stalk-harvested the prolific sucker growth on Prilep 66-9/7, and hung them on the clothes line without prior yellowing. They turned out fairly well. I believe the presence of the stalk maintains enough moisture in the leaves to avoid their drying green. With most Orientals, the faster that they are color-cured (while avoiding drying green), the sweeter they finish.

Stalk harvested plants that are directly sun-cured can be exposed to rain, so long as they remain green (or yellowing) and alive. Once the leaves have died, they must be taken indoors when rain threatens.

Bob
 

Planter

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I did that after all, and stalk-cure half of the Prileps in a dark place (since I know that this working), the other half's now hanging under the glass roof, where it is exposed to several hours of hot sun every day, and generally much higher temperatures (directly under the glass it is a good bit warmer than air temperature even in cloudy times, and air temperature these days is 30+ degrees Celsius anyway). My concern was that they quickly wilt to peppermint-green, but they are in fact yellowing nicely:

sun-curing-prilep-stalk.jpg

(I have to add that these are the top half or two-thirds of the plants - I primed the lower leaves at maturity.)
 

Planter

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An update: I think it's going well. High temperatures and hair-dryer winds in addition to the sun did not result in flash-dried, green leaf. It seems to come out reddish.

Prilep-sun-curing.jpg
 

Planter

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Depends on ripeness, humidity, leaf position on the stalk, ambient temperature. If cut with the lower leaves just at maturity, in cooler conditions (where stalk-curing can take long, from weeks to months), I end up with a rather dull brown, generally.


At the moment it's very warm (far above 30 degrees Celsius the last week). The stalk-cured (in the dark) does not look very different from the sun-stalk-cured, just a bit more tanned, but also reddish (and some lower leaf seems to come out quite bright, after all).

Prilep-stalk-cured.jpg

I once hung overripe, primed Oriental leaf into a hot attic. It came out very bright, almost yellow. I also pile-cured Prilep and other Oriental leaf to yellow, then dried the leaves in the kitchen oven at flue-cure temperatures over a few hours. Very nice looking leaf, yellow-orange. They taste of both is interesting, but not my favourite. Especially not really incense-aromatic. It also tends to bite in the pipe.
I hear that once the leaf has colour-cured to yellow, drying should happen as rapid as possible. That has not really been my experience.
I'm getting the most aroma usually in leaf which I treated like cigar leaf, which took long to cure and dry (as long there's no mould developing), and that leaf is (colour-wise) as well often enough not the best looking. That's why stalk-curing seems to work for me better than priming for Orientals, but in a different climate (i.e. reliably "hot and humid" instead "hot and dry OR cold and wet") that may very well be different.
I've tried priming and sun-curing Oriental leaf before the way it's supposedly done in its native farming regions, with lots of leaves stringed tightly. Ended in rot.


As a downside, early harvest and long stalk-curing really compromise the sugar content. As a single variety for the pipe, Prilep still has plenty enough, for my taste. If the sun-cured above does not come out better or different, but also not worse than the ordinary stalk-cured, I've gained at least extra curing space.
 

DGBAMA

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I stalk cured Prilep and Bursa last year, worked very well. But, I lost yield weight. As soon as leaves are brown, strip the stalks. I waited till the stalks were dry to strip leaves, and the lower leaves had thinned/deteriorated noticeably. It's a delicate leaf. I will do it again, but strip stalks as soon as the leaves have dried.
 
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