Blotchy Color Cure?

[JLP]

Hi,
Some of my leaf has cured with green blotches, I think I'm right in saying this was because of the humidity level?.

What I'd like to ask the forum is, will kilning cause the green spots to disappear?

If pics are needed I'll upload a couple tomorrow as I'm about to fill the savinelli with best brown flake for my pre-turn in pipe

 

[SmokesAhoy]

Sometimes they go away a bit, but if it's crispy and green that's pretty much it. You can still use it though, just won't be to the same level of quality.

Yeah to avoid flash drying while green you need to up the humidity and temperature (80-100 is a pretty reliable range). If you can color cure them in a semi enclosed environment it works pretty good. I use a cardboard box, it traps moisture, gasses and most of the heat, but the walls will absorb some of the excess moisture and the holes will let some out too. Just 1 idea of probably infinite ideas but it worked real good for me this year.

 

[OldDinosaurWesH]

Some varieties are worse about this than others. I grew one last year called Stolac 17 that gave me fits trying to cure it. Green flash, mold, you name it. I won't grow that one again. Kilning may help with the color some, but as SmokesAhoy said, if it's green you are pretty much stuck with it. I was making shred with my tobacco, so I just cut the green parts out and threw them away. If you are making cigars, that is a different matter. Good luck with the kilning!

Wes H.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

In 2015, my Japan 8 was on someone else's land. He didn't pick the suckers. Then he stalk harvested and hung in his garage without my knowledge. Once discovered, I took it and hung it up in my greenhouse where I made sure the humidity was good. Because he picked too early, and his garage was too dry, about 50% of it had an olive to green shade somewhere on it, usually the entire underside. We sorted the cured leaf by color and size and labeled the bags w/green, and w/o green.

I did not kiln any of the w/green that I can recall. However, none of it has any green color any more. I consider myself lucky.

 

[deluxestogie]

What I'd like to ask the forum is, will kilning cause the green spots to disappear?

If the question is about whether the color will disappear in the kiln, the answer is somewhat or maybe completely. BUT...as the others have observed, those portions of the leaf will never be as smooth/flavorful/inviting as it would have been, had it not dried green.

When leaf is yellowing, it is still alive. As it yellows, it simultaneously metabolizes and eliminates certain carbohydrates and albuminous proteins. The fact that the leaf is yellowing while it is also breaking down these compounds is entirely a coincidence. (White stem burleys yellow very rapidly, but the other chemical processes are as slow as in other varieties.) Key to understanding flash-green leaf is that once the leaf desiccates, it dies, so no more metabolic changes. With most varieties, once the leaf has fully yellowed, you can then allow it to dry as rapidly as you can manage, and it will go on to turn brown. I discourage that approach with white stem burley varieties, since the color change is not synchronized.

If just the underside of a very dark leaf appears greenish, that will usually resolve favorably with kilning, and is common with dark maduro and oscuro leaf.

Kilning, or even just exposing the flash-green dried leaf to direct sunshine, will slowly breakdown that stubborn chlorophyll. But only a great deal of aging has any chance of minimizing the leftover carbs and proteins.

Sorry. I got wordy.

Bob

 

[OldDinosaurWesH]

Bob:

Interesting. That's why my Kentucky 17 is so easy to color down. It is a white-stemmed burley. I learn something new around here every day!

I still have a string of 50 Brown & Williamson low nicotine left over from last year. The down side turned brown, but the up (sun) side stayed green. Even now a year later, the up side still has considerable green in it. This string has browned down some over time, but as I said it still has significant green. I have since learned through the forum that B&W is better flue cured. Like I said, there is always something new to learn on the forum.

Wes H.

Bob: should I hang on to my string of B&W or maybe just pitch it? I never really cared for the flavor much anyway.

 

[deluxestogie]

Since you have nothing else to do with your time, you can try hanging the green leaf in sunshine for a week or three, and see if it makes a difference in the color or taste.

Bob

 

[OldDinosaurWesH]

Bob:

When I get a chance, I'll give that tobacco some sunshine. It's only been a year, what the hey?

Wes H.

 

[BigBonner]

Burley we cut , spear on a stick and let the sun wilt it for a couple of days . It will sunburn but with the night dew it most usually comes out or letting burley hang in our barns and stripping at late season . The green from sunburn will most usually be gone .
I have found with most other cigar tobacco that if it is left in the sun , will sunburn easy when the sun hits the underside of the leaves . After curing it will have green where the sun burnt it . I have some Ct Broadleaf that I first grew and I let it stay in the sun a little too long . It has green in the leaves . I have not checked it lately but I am sure the green is still there . It is only filler and is 6 years old .

 

[deluxestogie]

I have some Ct Broadleaf that I first grew and I let it stay in the sun a little too long . It has green in the leaves . I have not checked it lately but I am sure the green is still there . It is only filler and is 6 years old .

I'll bet that's mighty fine filler, and full of usable wrappers.

Bob

 

[burge]

I can say in the batch of lemon last year when everyone thought was mold which was Chlorophyll the green has gone inside the vapor proof bags. We have low humidity here and varied temperatures. Celsius its been 32 day time over the summer and 12-14 at night so the apartment had been 30 degrees and kind of cool in the morning. I would suggest that big temperature swings could help.