How to tame urea smell from Va leaf

[yesrepeatno]

Bit of an odd question I guess, but the Va whole leaf that I'm working with has a distinct smell of cat piss. The smell persists through pressing and casing. This doesn't translate to the smoke at all, it burns clean and well. However it makes it difficult to share with others whose first impression from the bag note is negative to say the least. From what I've read on the forum, kilning doesn't do anything for Va leaf so is there anything else I can do to get the smell to be less unpleasant and tending towards the more traditional hay/fig like smell of Va leaf?

 

[deluxestogie]

From what I've read on the forum, kilning doesn't do anything for Va leaf

That is incorrect. If Virginia has been flue-cured, kilning alters its color and aroma. If Virginia has simply been air-cured, then kilning makes a dramatic difference.

Bob

 

[yesrepeatno]

That is incorrect. If Virginia has been flue-cured, kilning alters its color and aroma. If Virginia has simply been air-cured, then kilning makes a dramatic difference.

Bob

I'm working with flue cured Virginia, do you think kilning would help in this case?

 

[deluxestogie]

Probably. If you are detecting an ammonia odor from flue-cured tobacco, then it was likely flue-cured improperly.

Bob

 

[yesrepeatno]

While I'm figuring out a kiln build for myself, I was inspired by the Beerique thread to use the most voracious consumer of nitrogenous compounds that I know of: Voss Kveik yeast. I submerged a few leaves in water, added a tablespoon of honey and a pinch of sediment from a batch of mead. After two days, the smell was distinctly yeasty. I pulled it at this point, since I only wanted the yeast to consume the free nitrogen and not all the sugars in the Va leaf. The smell of urea has now been replaced by the smell of yeast, so it has been a lateral move at best. I've left it in a bag for the moment to see if the smell subsides with time before giving it a smoke test.

 

[StoneCarver]

That's a very interesting approach. I'd like to hear updates on how that turns out over time.

 

[yesrepeatno]

I opened the bag today and the smell is no longer dominated by either yeast or urea. The smell is now more "green" with a yeasty background note. Smoking a test bowl of shredded ribbon now, the base tobacco flavour hasn't changed at all. It remains an inoffensive Va base. I'll try this with a bigger batch and try pressing and blending with it.