Bringing tobacco to case inside a kiln

[Brennus_Coe]

I have been air curing dirt leaves to practice a more efficient setup, and am now at the stage to test my newly built kiln with actual tobacco.

The kiln has been able to successfully hold heat and moisture quite well, it takes a few days to drop from 70%rh to 50%, which seems like a reasonable leak rate given that you would have to check on the tobacco, and the kiln was empty and so only had the air to store moisture in.

However, once I have placed my air cured, and crispy dry tobacco in it, I simply cannot get it into case. I used more water when I added them into the kiln, and even misted them with a bit more boiled water since I figured they would need it, the kiln settled at 85%rh, and dropped to 79%ish over the course of about 24h. I was curious how it was doing, pulled the lid off, and they are still entirely crispy dry.

During the dry-runs I noticed it would condensate near the gaskets a bit, something something dew point, but that seemed to imply that my instrumentation was fairly accurate. Since these are 'test' leaves I sprayed them more heavily and put them back in and will see how they are tomorrow night.

Do you guys have any advice on getting these into case easier for aging/fermenting purposes?

 

[deluxestogie]

If your kiln can eventually stabilize at 123°F to 128°F with a relative humidity over about 70% (preferably 70-80%), then just allow the leaf to kiln in there. Totally dry stems will absorb a fair amount of water before the leaf lamina becomes pliable. Determine how often you need to add more water, then just check the leaf at that interval.

Bob

 

[WillQuantrill]

I don't know if this helps at all but when I load leaf into the kiln I spray it down to high case (not dripping). My thought is this: it requires much more moisture to achieve 75% RH at 75*F then 125*F. So, as the leaf is loaded into the kiln it is actually closer to ideal moisture content at 125*F. Initially I started doing this because I noticed it took my humidifier less time to recover to optimal RH from opening the door. If you notice RH crashes when the door is opened, obvious right, but its a very small window to "feel" the leaf at medium case before it really is dry because the temp is 125*F.

 

[StoneCarver]

Brennus,
I'm curious how you are heating and humidifying your kiln. I'm still tweaking my kiln. So. I'm trying to learn from others.

 

[Brennus_Coe]

Brennus,
I'm curious how you are heating and humidifying your kiln. I'm still tweaking my kiln. So. I'm trying to learn from others.

I'm still using the first method that has occurred to me, for humidity - leaving a small dish with boiled water in it. I ended up using something with about 3-4 sq inches of surface area, because it appears to be enough surface area to quickly get the humidity up, (within 2-3 hours it seems to be saturated) and then in my mind works more as a battery if 'overfilled' . I also spritz them a bit.

This seems to work fantastic for humidifying the kiln, but not the tobacco.

I've been very busy so I had let the kiln run until now, just checking the humidity gauge. It had stayed above 80 for most of the days, last night I noticed it was at 50. I opened the kiln then and the tobacco was still bone dry. This could be that it had come into case after 3 days of 80%RH, and then I let it dry out again from neglect. I will try again keeping a closer eye on it this time. Still just test hands in there luckily. It also stinks !

My general kiln design is a 4x2x2 ply wood box lined with 3/4 foam board insulation (foil coated) with gaps covered with aluminum tape, holes filled with RTV and covered with tape. Two AC brushless fan motors, and 2 reptile heating ceramic lamps from amazon. One of each is plenty. I have both heating elements wired into a thermostatic switch, and each individual circuit has an off switch. I just leave one of each on, and cycle them when I think about it, as one of each proved to be plenty of heat and air-flow. I use a pressed RTV gasket and then automotive D gaskets outside of that, with the lid help in place with cam lever latches. I use sacrificial cheapo hygrometers I happened to have, inside (for comparison), and and modified hygrometer wired to probe into the kiln so I can view from outside.

By the numbers it seems very successful, the only problems I have had is that I used suspended stainless wire for the internal structures, which has harmonic buzz that I had to chase to dampen, from the fans, and that my tobacco will not come into case.

Thank you for the replies I will update if I get it solved

- Also I have about 70 plants of pre-smoked tobacco growing tall here in Michigan, yesterday one of them was officially 6 ft tall. I swear I can feel this wildfire smoke on my skin if I drive with my windows down.

 

[StoneCarver]

I forgot about those ceramic reptile heaters. I had another type of reptile heater, which was just a resistance cable, but it didn't have enough oomph to heat up my kiln. So, I went with a single burner stove. Its a bit over-kill though and I'm still tweeking it. Here lately, I'm wondering if a chafing dish warmer would be more suitable for my needs.

I hear you about the wildfire smoke. I hope it doesn't affect the flavor of your tobacco too much.

 

[Brennus_Coe]

I also forgot; I went with heaters listed as 150W heaters, even though a online calculator I used predicted nearly 400w would be necessary to heat the insulated box. I haven't instrumented the heaters at all so I don't know if they are simply rated incorrectly or not.

I believe most people use crockpots- I might try that before a chafing dish warmer. They are useful for many other things (cavendish, snus) and naturally provide a solution for the humidity, people just put the water into the crockpot (or a dish inside, I am not certain).

 

[kshamala]

Use a 100-watt bulb; providing two heat sources might work.