First Time Grower: eekay in Canada

[eekay]

That is correct. Once the leaves have fully yellowed, they will color to brown. After kilning, you can make a plug with it.

Bob

Thanks Bob.

I guess I'm on the right track.
And to further clarify, if I wanted to , say, turn 10 plants into a quick and passable product for cigarettes, I'd be better suited to look for a flue cure setup? But this flue cured leaf would still benefit from aging to mellow out? (re: your FTT Essentials post on Ammonia)

That's kind of where a lot to the online resources seem to trail off in terms of clarity, to me at least.

If my grandma enjoyed her baccy but she's finding times hard, widow's pension short, and the government just boosted the cost of a pack of smokes to $20+. Which method can I use to turn 15 or so plants into a sociable, "not quite du Maurier but still good with morning coffee" every day smoke?

 

[deluxestogie]

I would say that flue-cured leaf is quite smokable relatively soon (a week or so) after the flue-curing process. It will slowly age and become smoother with time or subsequent kilning, but I think you will be impressed with how nice the leaf is without prolonged aging or kilning. Just be sure to complete the flue-curing to the point where the stems are brittle dry, then rehydrate to low case for storage and settling for a week or two.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

One further note: The above is with regard to flue-cure varieties or Orientals. It doesn't work with other varieties.

Bob

 

[Alpine]

Bright leaf strains can be successfully air cured (even better sun cured) kilned for a month and smoked straight away. In fact, I only air/sun cure all my “Virginias” and blend them with burley/Maryland/oriental/rustica for my everyday cigarettes. Your granny too wouldn’t be disappointed if you give her something similar.

pier

 

[Knucklehead]

Bright leaf strains can be successfully air cured (even better sun cured) kilned for a month and smoked straight away. In fact, I only air/sun cure all my “Virginias” and blend them with burley/Maryland/oriental/rustica for my everyday cigarettes. Your granny too wouldn’t be disappointed if you give her something similar.

pier

Your blend is similar to mine, except I substitute dark air for the rustica.

 

[deluxestogie]

eekay,
If your grandmother typically smokes Canadian cigarettes, then there is a good chance they are mostly or entirely flue-cured Virginia.

Bob

 

[Alpine]

Yep, I’d skip the rustica if it’s granny’s blend...

pier

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

In Canada all Canadian cigarettes are 100% flue cured by law.

Air cured bright leaf makes a decent cigarette in my opinion, but a regular smoker would likely be displeased by the difference.

It would be like giving a microbrew to a person who swears Molson Canadian is the only beer worth drinking. You would know they're being silly, but they wouldn't.

 

[eekay]

Air cured would be like giving a microbrew to a person who swears Molson Canadian is the only beer worth drinking. You would know they're being silly, but they wouldn't.

As someone who's also heavily invested in home brewing, that is a very very apt description. Perhaps next year I'll try some Burley and Orientals as well , provided I can find the seed.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

... , provided I can find the seed.

That's easy. www.northwoodseeds.com

Northwood Seeds Providing organically grown seed for home gardeners

 

[eekay]

So back to making this a grow log.
It is now about 4 weeks post topping of the flowers of the plants. They were topped before the flowers had opened. In so far there is no evidence of the leaves being ripe enough to pick and I have about 30 days left before our first frost. No yellowing as of yet or fabled "alligator skin" appearance to the leaves. Suckering has increased exponentially and are being removed as they emerge.

The test leaves in the basement are continuing to yellow, temperatures are beginning to drop so I may need to find a new home. There is still some residual green closest to centre rib. The conditions are definitely not ideal for getting the stems to twig dry.

A flue cure system may definitely be something I will have to invest in.

The beauty of it is I've been meaning to make a fermenting station/ bread proofing box as well and this may actually serve as dual purpose.

 

[eekay]

That's easy. www.northwoodseeds.com

Northwood Seeds Providing organically grown seed for home gardeners

Thanks. I got my initial seed from Elana's Organics in Ontario. Selection is not vast. Any issue with importing this across the border?

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Thanks. I got my initial seed from Elana's Organics in Ontario. Selection is not vast. Any issue with importing this across the border?

Zero issue. Totally legal. Nothing to do with tobacco legislation.

 

[eekay]

Progress update. We've have some stormy weather and my weaker plants in the plastic 7 gal pots have bared the brunt of it. A few snapped leaves from hail. My larger, more robust plants were unphased. It's now nearly 6 weeks since topping the plants and I'm now seeing some signs of yellowing, so in a day or two on my next stretch of days off I'll be harvesting a good bulk of it.



I have two color curing arrangements at the moment. A series of hands hung in the basement are yellowing but these were fairly damaged leaves to begin with, some having been affected by hail showing some frost damage from contact with the hail stones on the ground. Another batch is sitting on my patio table inside an old pillow case and they are yellowing nicely. I'll trip to Walmart this week to snag one of those short under the bed sterilite storage containers and set up a paper/piling color cure thing. Once yellowed they will be hung with some air circulation.

Still heavily contemplating the next phase when it comes to fermenting . An exoskeleton style box that has been popularized on here seems like the sure bet. InkBird temperature controllers from Amazon seem to be the sure bet in eliminating some of the safety hazards when it comes to jigging my own controllers. I'm not sure if I'll have enough time to make a full on flue cure setup, there is still some anxiety about relative safety with this.

 

[eekay]

View media item 24340
Three batches hanging. Many of them had a lot of tears and holes which caused for uneven drying.

 

[eekay]

View media item 24341Switched a using a pile box. They're in the box until all green is gone, the leaves are a bright banana yellow. After hanging for about a week in 18C/60% RH some are taking on these brown spots.

Any thoughts?

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

View media item 24341Switched a using a pile box. They're in the box until all green is gone, the leaves are a bright banana yellow. After hanging for about a week in 18C/60% RH some are taking on these brown spots.

Any thoughts?

The spots are normal and fine. The entire leaf will turn brown.

 

[eekay]

Grow log update.
We are about a week away from our first frost according to the almanac. My plastic 7gals are stilll a light jade green. I'll definitely be avoiding these containers next year. The cloth bag leaves are yellowing at the tips so I've taken this as a cue to begin priming . I've broken our a large plastic tote to use as a pile box. Don't have access to any new print right now so I just have them all in a stack sandwiched between two pillow cases. Rotating once daily.

My two plants in the garden beds are the biggest of the lot and not showing any signs or yellowing. I'll leave these until the 8th which is a day before the expected frost.


Now that the milk vetch has died off the black aphids have migrated to the tobacco plants. No visible damage yet but I'll need to give them a good wash before piling.


The yellowed leaves strung in the basement are continuing to mature and dry. Conditions are 19c /46% RH. Ill be fashioning a curtain from poly film to create a cell, and sticking a small heater plus humidifier within to keep conditions ideal. The leaves are beginning to dry in that banana yellow and not really darkening. Humidity may be the factor.


My main focus will be just on getting the leaves dried . Once I've wrapped up my end of season dealings on my property, torn down and winterized the garden I'll focus on my kiln build.

 

[deluxestogie]

We are about a week away from our first frost according to the almanac.

Check the 10-day weather forecast at weather.com, and give yourself a few degrees leeway for micro-climate variations from the forecast. (Sloping ground is less prone to frost. Low areas are more prone to frost. Still air is more prone to frost.)

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Both your and my 14 day forecast looks clear.

Red Deer, Alberta 14 Day Weather Forecast - The Weather Network

Find the most current and reliable 14 day weather forecasts, storm alerts, reports and information for Red Deer, AB, CA with The Weather Network.

www.theweathernetwork.com