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Dan · Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 6:37 pm Post subject:

Hey Guy,
I understand your frustration. It's tough till you get you get a few crops under your belt.
You can go here and learn how to make your own fementer: http://www.seedman.com/wkiln.htm Hmmm, that looks easy enough. Confused

Or you can do what bob said and by the way it’s the way I handle my tobacco. That is: hang it till it goes brown if it starts drying out crisp before it turns brown give it some humidity or spray it, mist it. Keep it alive. If it dries green use it for mulch.
If you pick it when it is mottled with a lot of yellow it will get brown. A little yellow, it will still get brown unless the air is very arid.
So now you have brown leaf. Strip it off the stalk while it’s supple. If it is crispy dry then wait till a humid day and it gets supple then strip it. Or mist it to get it workable. (able to be handled without crunching all up)
As bob said, fermenting will get the ammonia and other harsh chemicals out of the leaf fast. A month of curing does the same thing it’s only a little slower but a lot cheaper.
If you can get your leaf when it’s almost completely dry - just able to be handled without crisping up but not wet then you can start curing it. This is tricky because if it’s too moist it will mold. I use a big trash bag for this. Put it in the bag loose and close it. Check it a couple times a week smell it and toss it around. Get a little fresh air in the bag. If you detect mold then it’s too moist. Take it out of the bag and spread it out. Let it air out. Check the leaf for mold. Wash it off in the sink or with a hose if you see any. If it’s getting too dry and it starts to hear crinkling (crispiness) mist it a little. Keep it just pliable and leathery. If you check it every couple of days it won’t mold beyond recovery. And don’t even look at the mold on the center vein/stem of the leaf. That’s natural. You’re going to get rid of that part of the leaf when you smoke it anyhow. The moisture in the vein will help keep the leaf from drying out so fast.
Okay, now assuming you are doing everything right in around a month you’ve got good tobacco ready to smoke. What I do then is pack it in a big plastic trash bag set in a large cardboard box then I leave the bag and box open till the leaf dries out and I close the bag over the leaf and gently close the box. When I want to use some I open the box and bag and gently take it out. I mist it and put it in a smaller plastic shopping bag to soften it up. In 4 to 5 hours it’s good to go.
Understand though that once it dries out completely it won’t age. You’ve got to keep it a certain humidity and temperature to keep it aging. Too much trouble for me. I just cure it for a month or more then pack it away.
So there you have it. You can do it the easy inexpensive way or you can go more sophisticated. It’s up to you.
As for plastic buckets you can look around any new home or commercial construction site. I used to finish drywall so I have stacks of them. But every big job I ever worked on would have loads of 5 gallon paint buckets and mud buckets in the dumpster. Drill some ½ holes around the outside at the bottom and put a few flat rocks in before you add the soil. It’ll help with the drainage.

Guy · Joined: 12 Jul 2009 Posts: 60 Location: NC

Thanks Dan for your reply and all that good information. I had determined from the start to do as both you and Bob are doing by hanging it to dry.
But I seemed to have gotten confused with a lot of talk and reading about fermenting and kilns and things and began to question myself. Now I am back on the straight and narrow as far as what to do, thanks to this forum.
I acquired a few buckets here and there but not nearly enough for 150 plants. I had contacted a few nurseries trying to purchase some of those black buckets they use for shrubs and small trees but they wanted $2.50 each and I wasn't about to do that. That was a ridiculous price I thought but then again I pride myself on being Cheap! Laughing

All my plants were very slow to grow and I did successive plantings and have different stages of growth. I still have plants in cups and some in 2 liter Pepsi bottles, some in different sizes of containers up to 3 and 4 and 5 gallon. I have since tilled up my backyard and have decided to plant as many as I can in the ground. I know it is late to be doing this now and afraid that many will flower out before they get any size. But I consider this year an experiment anyway and next year I will plan better and know a little more.

Thanks again for your reply and thanks so much for starting this forum. It's not only informative and helpful, but enjoyable as well.
_________________
When Stressed-Smoke and have a drink.

bob_kemp · Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 3:03 pm Post subject: Finding pots

Hi --

I have a greenhouse so I'm always looking for pots. one thing you can do is post on Craig's List that you will pick up pots.

Another thing, as I mentioned before, is to stop by landscaping companies and ask to raid their dumpster. When they do big jobs they frequently have lots of pots they must haul away from the jobsite and trash. Do not call to ask, stop by yourself. I also stop on the road whenever I see a company planting landscapes and ask the workers who are usually more than happy not to have to haul them home.

Another great pot is a drywall compound bucket, or what is called in the industry "mud". Drill 4-5 holes in the bottom or sides at the bottom, drop some gravel in and it's great! Stop by bigger housing development projects, ask to talk to the foreman, ask when the drywall will be mudded, and be sure to stop by and pick them out of their dumpster.

ANOTHER source of buckets are swimming pool maintenence companies and supply houses. They have chlorine buckets which have the added advantage of being pre-sterilized!

Bob

russ · Joined: 02 May 2009 Posts: 29 Location: n.mi

could you atleast tell me if it is in the burley family the leaves are real wide like my tennessee burley????

bob_kemp · Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 3:51 am Post subject: My Crop

Hi --

Hvaen't been here for a while, thought I'd update y'all on what I've been up to.

ok, I've harvested about 40 lbs wet now of the Silk Leaf tobacco I got the seeds from New Hope seed co. I'm waiting until th leaf either yellows on the stem or shows signs of rotting before I snap it off. I planted 220 plants but only about 100 of them did well because of late planting out. I'm pulling in about 10 lbs wet a week.

I picked 2 lbs of dirt leaves, small ones at the bottom first. Didn't wash them. Left them on a table. They turned into a soggy, moldy mess. Threw them out.

Then I picked another 8 lbs of leaves, still not great big leaves but slightly bigger. This time, I washed them immediately and tied them into "hands" with twine, hung them up and dried them in the house until they were a bright yellow, then put them in a plastic tent in my garage loft with some buckets of water for humidity and dried them

This is the first batch I started curing. I"m doing these using a method similar to what Dan said, only in a plastic tote, with a sponge on a plate for moisture. I"m also keeping these in the garage for the heat and humidity. This tote doesn't close complately, so there's some air circulated. After about 3 weeks, I took out some leaves, chopped them up and smoked them. Still a little grassy, but all in all tolerable.

Then I built a kiln for the rest of the leaves, I have pics of the kiln and stuff here if you want to see 'em.

http://www.howtogrowtobacco.com/forum/cpg14x/index.php?cat=11571

Bob

Dan · Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 11:36 am Post subject:

Checked out the photos. Looks like you're having a good year. Fun part about it is that each year it gets better and better Smile

bob_kemp · Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 11:46 am Post subject:

Dan,

Yeah! it's a lot of fun, plus a huge savings in cash spent on taxes!

From tasting my Silk Leaf tobacco, it's obvious to me I'll want to make a blend, so I'll definitely want some burley, a light variety, to mix with it. Are any of your burley seeds from lighter burley suitable for mixing with cigs? I'll also want some pounds of your burley to mix with my yellow leaf but I don't know what a reasonable blend is. 5% burley? 10%? Just to add a little darker taste to it....this leaf seems so mild that you hardly know you are smoking (although the nicotine content is up there).

Now that I have a kiln, I can cure it fairly quickley, 30 days or so.

Bob

Dan · Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 1:28 pm Post subject:

Bob, Some folks do mix a light cigar tobacco like #6 with cigarette tobacco but I have never, in any ratio, mixed cigar tobacco with cigarette tobacco and liked the end product. But that's me. Some do mix and like it.
I know what you mean by too mild. When I was a kid my mom smoked Kent my dad smoked Camel non filter. I would favor mom's pack over dad's back then. If I was still pilfering cigs from them today It would dad's
I may have something this December. Something that I know you will like. I'm hoping my guy comes through.

russ · Joined: 02 May 2009 Posts: 29 Location: n.mi

dan i have so many#14 thats gonna be my most bounty how should i cure them

Dan · Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2009 9:47 am Post subject:

Hello russ, I am glad that you have a good harvest. I let two of my #14's go to seed and they are near 8' tall. Great plant. Wait till you try it. Very smooth. As for curing, I've made several posts about it. So have others. Click on the search tool at the top of this page. It's next to the FAQ link. There are also some links: try here too http://tobaccotalk.myfastforum.or...ew_Tobacco_Talk_Forum_about3.html

Good luck.