Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Air Cureing.

Air-cure tobacco by hanging the leaves in a ventilated barn until they have no sugar remaining. This usually occurs by the time they have turned a light to medium brown.


The Method that i really like useing is just picking the all the leaves and washing them off with the hose then settting them to dry for about an hour. After they are dry i take them and with a needle and string string up all the leaves and hang them up in the basement which works really well i suggest this method overall becuase its the easiest for someone with not alot of room and money to do.

14 comments:

WrethaOffGrid said...

How long does your tobacco take to air cure? What part of the country are you in? What are the temps in your basement and what humidity do you generally have?

I'm in far west Texas, we are very dry (except in the rainy month at the end of the summer).

Wretha

Tony said...

I am Actually in Massachusetts so it is very cold right about now. I Have a space heater to try and keep the tobacco humid it is kind of hard i find the best way is to try you're best at keeping it humid. And afterwards when the tobacco is all dried if you have a humidor Make the tobacco into bricks and place them in the humidor for a while. (hope this answered you're question :)

WrethaOffGrid said...

Thanks Tony, the only other question I have (for now) is how long does it usually take for your tobacco to cure in this manner? I understand it will be different for me, but it will give me an idea.

Wretha

Tony said...

It takes me between one and 2 months in these conditions.

Anonymous said...

Ha! Got my 6 ft virginia baccy up 10 ft and still going. I've had some hanging for a few months now, and still the smell puts me off. Smokes alright, but will be researching flue cures as winter comes out here in the pacific NW. I found using bailing wire works great. I dipped the whole rusty roll in muriatic acid (cheap- swimming pool supply store), then hosed it off and filled a cottage cheese container with vegatable oil. Slick and easy. Cut the wire on a diagonal and it is razor sharp.

Tony said...

ahaha you use Miracle Grow or something?

sheepdog said...

Miracle grow once a week early on. They get one hour of drip at 5 AM, and another hour at 5 PM. I am also crediting the NW moderate climate. Stays 80 to 90 from July to Sept, giving me excellent curing temps for my early pluckings.

Tony said...

nice thanks for the miracle grow tip

Anonymous said...

Do you know what is in that Miracle Grow? I wouldn't smoke something grown with it. Long-term studies at the University of Wisconsin have shown that acidic chemical fertilizers are causing serious, permanent damage to our soils. Usually these fertilizers are also highly soluble, so they leach away and pollute our water systems, too (the water we DRINK). Soil fertility authority Garn Wallace, Ph.D., of Wallace Laboratories in El Segundo, California, points out that Miracle-Gro contains muriate of potash, which contains excess chlorine that will burn plants and inhibit the uptake of nitrogen. Dr. Wallace also warns that products such as Miracle-Gro often contain unsafe levels of zinc and copper that will be toxic to soil life.
Soil life is important because it has to support our life and our children's (children's) lives for generations to come.

Sheryl at Providence North said...

We did that this year, hung it in an enclosed shed with a fan and ventilation. A lot of it grew mold :-(

Anonymous said...

Need some advice , this is the first time that I have had a go at growing my own tobacco , its been growing now for about 3 months and I have picked some leaves and I used paper clips to hang them in the garage , problem is , once they are dried ,and they are slice up and rolled they taste like shit and they keep going out after every drag .While hanging they turned a little yellow and then a very pale brown . I live in Australia in an average temp . What the F**k am I doing wrong . I can be contacted at lowe.des@gmail.com and I would appreciate any advice from anyone .
thanks
frustrated
Aussie

Anonymous said...

BJust started myr plants. I will watter them from the bottom till i transplant them the first time. Ill keep posted

Anonymous said...

I'm in new zealand and have same plants growing very good and i have managed to dry the leaves but want to no how to make it teast better can any one halp

Unknown said...

I need help, i have a few plants growing at home, i have tried to air cure maybe 3-4 leaves at a time to see if it would work well. i tried once in my basement, after a few days the leaves turnes yellowish then couple of days after they became super dry and almost black. Then i tried with a fan and it didnt work. why is this happening? why do they become all dry? is it to dry in my basement? should i try with a humidifier or something? has this happened to anyone before? i live in eastern canada if that can help you.