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Flue curing questions?

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holyRYO

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Been pondering, have some questions, anybody have any insight?

1. What happens when you flue cure Turkish plants, do they do it, anybody try?

2. Burley plants if flue cured?

3. Dark fired Virginia, flue cure and smoke at the same time, is it done? Gawith Hogarth and Mac Baren reference it in some product descriptions, but I can't tell if it is misprints or translation errors?
 

leverhead

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#1 Don't know, but I'd like to try it.

#2 Don't know.

#3 It wouldn't be flue-curing with the smoke and the open fire will add moisture to the system.

I don't mean to be a dick, but there are allot of questions about flue-curing waiting for an answer.
 

jekylnz

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Been pondering, have some questions, anybody have any insight?

1. What happens when you flue cure Turkish plants, do they do it, anybody try?

2. Burley plants if flue cured?

3. Dark fired Virginia, flue cure and smoke at the same time, is it done? Gawith Hogarth and Mac Baren reference it in some product descriptions, but I can't tell if it is misprints or translation errors?

Im just glad I wasnt the one asking..but good questions...it would be good to know
 

deluxestogie

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The questions are good ones. There are no readily available answers. The season of 2012 witnessed the first successful attempts at flue-curing on a home growing scale. To my knowledge, it had simply never been done before. Counting myself, I expect 5 or more members to be performing flue-cures during the 2013 season. Some of us will try a batch of Oriental leaf of some sort.

I may try some Harrow Velvet (burley). I have serious doubts about the outcome, since the carbohydrate and protein composition of burley differs so dramatically from that of flue-cure varieties.

Bob
 

leverhead

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Im just glad I wasnt the one asking..but good questions...it would be good to know

Why? When I first started thinking about it, I'm sure the same or similar questions went through my mind. It's not something you can do in the off season. All you can do is set yourself up the best you can and go for it, pass, fail or something in between. There are some that are taking their best shot at it this year, what goes in and what comes out remains to be seen.
 

AmaxB

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Will be doing all of mine will be interesting (if I can do it at all) including 3 Turkish. But will have to wait till this harvest or 1st prime.
 

jekylnz

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Cause its obviously just something thats not done..im sure people would have done it already (the old school masters..there will be reasons they dont..not that im saying I know..but like was said burley just wont cure the same as bright leaf etc..no offence but just would rather not get the flack from asking unusual questions. .ive done enough of that already.lol
 

johnlee1933

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Cause its obviously just something thats not done..im sure people would have done it already (the old school masters..there will be reasons they dont..not that im saying I know..but like was said burley just wont cure the same as bright leaf etc..no offence but just would rather not get the flack from asking unusual questions. .ive done enough of that already.lol
Yes but what is life without a little flack? Ask any B-17. LOL
 

Michibacy

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Hey, curiosity is the mother of invention, don't give up asking questions. You'll get flak but plug on through. Just because someone 50 years ago didn't do something do to what ever reason, doesn't mean it might not work now. Advances in technology, decreases in prices and increases in availability for us at-home growers could allow us to make our ideas work.

That being said, I don't have answers and am just as curious to find out, I plan on smoke curing air dried turkish this fall.
 

Fisherman

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I am fascinated by the Time Life series about WW2 and the "Air-war over Germany" especially. Those airmen went thru living hell and without any modern navigation equipment at all. The attacks to Ploesti was good example.... My hat goes off to those vets who served then and now.
It was amazing the flak they took and made it home with for sure
 

deluxestogie

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What has gone before.

Most of the tobacco production practices of the past 150 years were determined by feasibility and, even more, by current market. Like clothing fashions, brown tobacco, golden tobacco, red tobacco were each in the greatest demand. Most American cigars were made entirely of American tobaccos (burley, seedleaf, broadleaf), through the first third of the twentieth century.

The flue-curing method was not even discovered until the 1860s, and much of its popularity with growers stemmed from the dramatic decrease in risk to the grower. The leaf was harvested, flue-cured, and off the farm (and no longer the grower's responsibility) in a matter of weeks, instead of months. It also reduced the needed shed capacity. Although I think it tastes better than air-cured Virginia, it's certainly different. And the last thing most smokers want is different.

It will be interesting to see what everyone comes up with.

Bob
 

holyRYO

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The questions are good ones. There are no readily available answers. The season of 2012 witnessed the first successful attempts at flue-curing on a home growing scale. To my knowledge, it had simply never been done before. Counting myself, I expect 5 or more members to be performing flue-cures during the 2013 season. Some of us will try a batch of Oriental leaf of some sort.

I may try some Harrow Velvet (burley). I have serious doubts about the outcome, since the carbohydrate and protein composition of burley differs so dramatically from that of flue-cure varieties. Bob
Are they all that different before the flue cure? Seeing how the flue curing converts the carbs to sugars and then "locks it in " by denaturing the enzymes...


Will be doing all of mine will be interesting (if I can do it at all) including 3 Turkish. But will have to wait till this harvest or 1st prime.

Can't wait to here how it turns out, a sweet Turkish would be interesting... I think...

All this grow stuff is new to me... next year I hope to grow at least enough to play around with... the wheels are spinning on some sort of ghetto type flue cure barn thingy... lol
 

deluxestogie

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Are they all that different before the flue cure?
Actually, they are quite different. Flue-cure varieties will kiln to a slightly acidic state, while cigar types will kiln to a more alkaline state. Burley starts with much lower sugar content, and higher nicotine.

Bob
 

holyRYO

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Actually, they are quite different. Flue-cure varieties will kiln to a slightly acidic state, while cigar types will kiln to a more alkaline state. Burley starts with much lower sugar content, and higher nicotine.

Bob

Because they are cured/kilned differently, is that where many of the changes or differences occur? For example, air cured Virginia plants are said to come out like a mild burley with low sugar (PH ?) ...

So vice a versa, flue cure a fresh Burley plant, it should result in high sugar and I assume a more acidic condition like Virginia ...
 

deluxestogie

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The plant varieties are biochemically different in and of themselves. Feel free to try all the processing combinations that you're suggesting, and let us know how it turns out.

Bob
 
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