Flue curing questions?

[Chicken]

thier are many '' very old '' stick fire cured, drying barns from days gone by, still standing in my area, i'll try to get some pic's,

and then perhaps we can have a better idea,. of how to downsize, it , to a home grower's scale,

 

[holyRYO]

thier are many '' very old '' stick fire cured, drying barns from days gone by, still standing in my area, i'll try to get some pic's,

and then perhaps we can have a better idea,. of how to downsize, it , to a home grower's scale,

There is an old defunct, (wood fired, I think), flue cure barn right up the road from me, I hope some day to get permission to explore...

 

[deluxestogie]

The difference between a flue-cure barn and a fire-cure barn is that in a flue-cure barn, a flue or chimney conducts all the smoke from the fire to the outside, so that none of the leaf is exposed to the smoke itself. In a fire-cure barn, there may or may not be a chimney, but the entire barn is filled with smoke during the processing.

In "south-side" Virginia, from just south of Roanoke, continuing nearly all the way to the tidewater, abandoned log flue-curing barns can be seen in various states of decay. Most of the flue-curing today is performed in pre-fab flue-cure barns, such as the so-called Roanoke Barns, that look more like mobile homes with an external heating system at one end.

Five Roanoke Barns.
http://birddoggin4u.com/Products/TobaccoEquipment/tabid/73/Default.aspx

Bob

 

[Boboro]

A fella could buy one of them cheaper than he could build it.

 

[holyRYO]

There is an old defunct, (wood fired, I think), flue cure barn right up the road from me, I hope some day to get permission to explore...

Wood heated I should say... from talking to people who worked on the flue cured, was the most common fuel source around these parts... you would never know it, they say this area (eastern shore of NC) was all planted in tobacco when they were young.

 

[Matty]

I read somewhere that virginias are flue cured to enhace the virgina's flavor and aroma. With that, I would assume the same would happen to other varieties as well, an enhancement of their current, unaged flavor and aroma. I'm sure most varieties could be flue cured. I have some turkish that has many yellow/blond colored leaves. The main unknown is what the tobacco will taste and smell like after flue curing. As mentioned before the constituents (sugars, carbs, proteins, ph) within each variety will determine what happens in the flue cure process. I've thought about flue curing non-virginia types as well and if my grow works out this season I will be attempting some flue curing.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Flue curing only "enhances" the flavor of a Virginia because it locks in the sugars. With Turkish and Burleys ( and cigar types) there are no sugars so to speak of so flue curing them would be futile. The reason the sugars are important in flue curing is because flue cured tobacco is for cigarettes. As the tobacco burns the sugars they lower the pH of the smoke making the smoke smooth as it is inhaled.

 

[AmaxB]

Don't know all the nitty-gritty and suppose I should go by what has been already done by others in the past and take their word for it. But I have a thing about just needing to see for myself.
Most of what I am growing is of a Flue Cure type being I am a Cig smoker, but will Flue Cure all of what I am growing just to see if I like it.
Sweating after flue curing can make it like a whole new tobacco.

 

[DonH]

Don't know all the nitty-gritty and suppose I should go by what has been already done by others in the past and take their word for it. But I have a thing about just needing to see for myself.
Most of what I am growing is of a Flue Cure type being I am a Cig smoker, but will Flue Cure all of what I am growing just to see if I like it.
Sweating after flue curing can make it like a whole new tobacco.

If I were you, for the non flue cured varieties, I would only flue cure small test batches. You don't want to ruin large amounts if it turns out to be a bad idea.

 

[AmaxB]

If I were you, for the non flue cured varieties, I would only flue cure small test batches. You don't want to ruin large amounts if it turns out to be a bad idea.

Prime should tell if good, am hoping so I don't need to come up with space to hang it...

 

[holyRYO]

Flue curing only "enhances" the flavor of a Virginia because it locks in the sugars. With Turkish and Burleys ( and cigar types) there are no sugars so to speak of so flue curing them would be futile. The reason the sugars are important in flue curing is because flue cured tobacco is for cigarettes. As the tobacco burns the sugars they lower the pH of the smoke making the smoke smooth as it is inhaled.

From what I understand, enzymes in the leaf convert the starches to sugars (same as in beer making, alpha amylase I think), the middle of the temp cycle is optimized for this reaction (same as with beer). Then the temp is ramped to denature all enzymes so that everything is "locked in" (same as with beer).

So theoretically, if there are starches, and assume the natural enzymes present in the starter tobacco regardless of variety, the flue cure cycle should result in a sweeter tobacco.

 

[jekylnz]

What if you added sugar to lower sugar types??

 

[jekylnz]

thier are many '' very old '' stick fire cured, drying barns from days gone by, still standing in my area, i'll try to get some pic's,

and then perhaps we can have a better idea,. of how to downsize, it , to a home grower's scale,

If the people who's land it's on are nice they might even let you use it..long as you didn't burn it down..or is it already to old and damaged??

 

[leverhead]

With Turkish and Burleys ( and cigar types) there are no sugars so to speak of so flue curing them would be futile.

One my main reasons for seeking out Bitlis was for the high sugar content, 20-25% dry weight. Tasova isn't far behind at 20%. A good question would be, using sun-curing. How do they end up with that high of a sugar content in the finished leaf? With a dry leaf in full sun, I could see getting the leaf up to maybe 130 F. That's a long way from 165 F.

I wanted to try flue-curing some Bitlis this year, but it doesn't look like I'll have enough leaf to try it. I might luck out and get the timing right with the Southern Beauty with either Bitlis or Tasova, I'm not betting on it though. I think it might be very close to sun-cured.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

What if you added sugar to lower sugar types??

It's already done. It is common to add sugars to pipe tobacco and most people that toast Burley will add some type of sugar containing sauce.

 

[jekylnz]

What do you think it would be like casing then flue curing???

 

[DonH]

What do you think it would be like casing then flue curing???

The problem I see with that is you have to flue cure green fresh leaves, so they wouldn't be able to absorb the casing much.

 

[holyRYO]

Been doing homework. The earliest flue cured tobaccos were Orinoco . Since it was discovered by accident, it what was everybody else was growing at the time. Orinoco, was used from 1839 to the 1930's. Then they crossed the Orinoco with White Burley to increase yields and lighten the body for the developing cigarette market. Along the way they also crossed Orinoco with Cigar leaf. Then they started crossing the crosses. I seems Orinoco provides the character, the Burley and Cigar provide the bulk.

Next question, has anybody sampled old fashioned flue cured Orinoco? If so, what's it like? A fuller bodied Virginia sounds good to me...