Bex
Well-Known Member
And pretty darned happy to have found this website!! I live on the northwest coast of Ireland by the sea- windy, rainy, cool, etc. Originally from New York (Long Island) and not much of a gardener, my idea when moving here was to become 'self-sufficient'. Fast forward about 15 years later, and I grow most of my own veg. So, it was a natural progression, a few years ago, to try my hand at growing tobacco. I'm a 'middle-aged' female, pretty self sufficient, and live by myself (with, of course, the myriad of cats that older females are required to have...). Anyway, I bought Virginia and Burley seeds off the internet a few years ago and planted some in my tiny greenhouse. I allowed 10 to keep growing (and stupidly, never identified which was the Virginia or the Burley) and then let 2 go to seed to collect my own seeds (meaning, of course, I don't know what kind of tobacco I have). In the meantime, I was scouring the internet for ways to process my leaves....
Talk about an exercise in confusion - aside from the different definitions for the same word - how many definitions are there for 'curing' anyway - much of the information came from different climates, as well. My first year, I hung the leaves from my 10 plants in the shed. Sadly, in Ireland, it isn't warm enough or dry enough for this method, which I learned to my dismay, as everything was attacked by mold, almost overnight. The second year, I had about 20 plants going, and found a site from the UK that uses a 'toweling' method - toweling the leaves up in a seed propagator for heat in order to yellow them. This worked well enough for yellowing, but the steps afterward were a bit 'iffy'. My leaves yellowed, were then hung to brown and dry, and to this day, the smoke is pretty harsh. It works well enough to mix with the leaves I get off the internet, but it's not a stand alone product.
This year, I have about 100 plants going. The idea of trying to towel this is overwhelming, so, once again, I've spent hours scouring the internet for a solution. I had read about flue curing, of course, but it seemed awfully technical and I didn't have any of the necessary equipment (or knowledge). And then, yesterday afternoon, the gods were smiling and I came across deluxestogie's excellent Cozy Can thread. This, now, is my future. I hope.
My plants are doing well, although a bit slow this year. But I look forward to learning more from this forum, and maybe, in time, contributing some of my experience as well.....
Talk about an exercise in confusion - aside from the different definitions for the same word - how many definitions are there for 'curing' anyway - much of the information came from different climates, as well. My first year, I hung the leaves from my 10 plants in the shed. Sadly, in Ireland, it isn't warm enough or dry enough for this method, which I learned to my dismay, as everything was attacked by mold, almost overnight. The second year, I had about 20 plants going, and found a site from the UK that uses a 'toweling' method - toweling the leaves up in a seed propagator for heat in order to yellow them. This worked well enough for yellowing, but the steps afterward were a bit 'iffy'. My leaves yellowed, were then hung to brown and dry, and to this day, the smoke is pretty harsh. It works well enough to mix with the leaves I get off the internet, but it's not a stand alone product.
This year, I have about 100 plants going. The idea of trying to towel this is overwhelming, so, once again, I've spent hours scouring the internet for a solution. I had read about flue curing, of course, but it seemed awfully technical and I didn't have any of the necessary equipment (or knowledge). And then, yesterday afternoon, the gods were smiling and I came across deluxestogie's excellent Cozy Can thread. This, now, is my future. I hope.
My plants are doing well, although a bit slow this year. But I look forward to learning more from this forum, and maybe, in time, contributing some of my experience as well.....
