I haven't come across any science involving the curing, fermenting, and aging of tobacco leaf yet, so I wanted to open up a discussion since I've been drawing parallels between that and mashing schedules for malt barley.
It seems that the 'fermentation' temperatures of tobacco (120-130*F) are in line with what's called a protein rest in the beer brewing world. The protein rest is to activate proteolytic enzymes to breakdown larger proteins into amino acids. This sounds exactly like what's happening in leaf tobacco. I'm curious to know if the same can be applied to flue-cured leaf. The main temperatures for mashing are between 148-156*F. At these temperatures, alpha and beta amylases breakdown long chain starches into smaller sugars. Beta creates fermentable sugars while Alpha amylase creates dextrins in addition to fermentable sugars. Dextrins are non-fermentable sugars that can add body and sweetness to a beer. Flue cured leaf goes through these temperatures, and I highly suspect that this is also happening in the leaves. @deluxestogie has a flue curing temperature chart that shows the temperature going higher than that. At 150*F, beta amylase denatures, while alpha amylase denatures at 162*F.
I will post more when I have the time, including some questions I have.
It seems that the 'fermentation' temperatures of tobacco (120-130*F) are in line with what's called a protein rest in the beer brewing world. The protein rest is to activate proteolytic enzymes to breakdown larger proteins into amino acids. This sounds exactly like what's happening in leaf tobacco. I'm curious to know if the same can be applied to flue-cured leaf. The main temperatures for mashing are between 148-156*F. At these temperatures, alpha and beta amylases breakdown long chain starches into smaller sugars. Beta creates fermentable sugars while Alpha amylase creates dextrins in addition to fermentable sugars. Dextrins are non-fermentable sugars that can add body and sweetness to a beer. Flue cured leaf goes through these temperatures, and I highly suspect that this is also happening in the leaves. @deluxestogie has a flue curing temperature chart that shows the temperature going higher than that. At 150*F, beta amylase denatures, while alpha amylase denatures at 162*F.
I will post more when I have the time, including some questions I have.
