Joe's (laugh at the new guy, he's doing it wrong) Grow.

[JOE1977]

I'm gonna need a bigger boat!

 

[JOE1977]

Also, what is spectrum good for? All I know is it is a bright leaf.

 

[JOE1977]

Two days in. I thought I would be much farther in yellowing. I have kept the temp at 100 and humidity has been plenty, maybe too much as I had a puddle on the bottom. I believe my R value is sufficient as I feel no obvious heat loss at the seams nor to the touch of the back of my hand to the walls exterior. I have the rather large crock set on low but had it filled more or less with water and the lid slightly cracked open. The leaf is not wet to the touch so that seems good.
i cleaned up the puddle and wiped down the interior wall then put the lid on fully to see if that helps any.
I think I will use a multimeter I have and make a wet bulb tomorrow.

 

[Brown Thumb]

If the leaf is not mature enough it will take a while sometimes a long while.

 

[Knucklehead]

Are you trying a flue cure or just using the chamber to air cure?

 

[COLIN]

The green leaf will have enough water in it you will not need the crock pot as well.

 

[JOE1977]

At the moment I have va bright and Izmir in it trying to yellow it then the plan was to remove the Turk to finish sun curing then remove the Va to set color on some burley and cigar leaf that was primed so that I don't run any risk of setting it green since weather is hit and miss in Ne. Then return the Va to flue cure and then back to the other .

 

[DGBAMA]

If the leaf is not mature enough it will take a while sometimes a long while.

x2

some of my late season picks last year took near a week. As long as the leaf does not dry out, it will happen.

i try not to harvest any cigarette leaf until the leaf starts getting lighter with a tiny yellow/brown tip on the leaf. If the very tip of the leaf is green, it may be mature but it is not ripe.

 

[Smokin Harley]

Two days in. I thought I would be much farther in yellowing. I have kept the temp at 100 and humidity has been plenty, maybe too much as I had a puddle on the bottom. I believe my R value is sufficient as I feel no obvious heat loss at the seams nor to the touch of the back of my hand to the walls exterior. I have the rather large crock set on low but had it filled more or less with water and the lid slightly cracked open. The leaf is not wet to the touch so that seems good.
i cleaned up the puddle and wiped down the interior wall then put the lid on fully to see if that helps any.
I think I will use a multimeter I have and make a wet bulb tomorrow.

Are you kilning green leaf??

 

[JOE1977]

Yes sir.

 

[JOE1977]

Failure! Well, I've heard Edison had massive failure during the time he was creating the light bulb. I try to keep this in mind when I also have set backs. I am sot sure but I think my Izmir is botched. A week after setting upon the goal of color curing it, I think I may of failed. It never yellowed only to a direct brown drab color. I am not sure if this is normal or not.
it did get some mold at the stems, should I just pitch it to the bin or keep it and let it dry?
My smugness in skipping the tyvek tape and going withe a sealant has also failed. It appears this will not work in high humidity situations. It I had wondered why there was a milky pool on the floor and then noticed it was from the sealant breaking down, I guess I will get some tape after all.
the burly I hung in the shed is 50/50 drying green as well as my Cuban Crillio. Damnit.
on a good note. The Va seems to have colored well, a nice golden with smattering of brown here and there. I have removed the Izmir and started to up the temp on the va to set the color and so on.

sorry for the Debbie downer attitude guys, I also got a wicked head and chest cold and also cannot taste the Dewars and Balkan in the pipe. Here's to another day! Carry on gents.

 

[Knucklehead]

50% vinegar/water will kill the mold. Let it dry afterwards before rehydrating.
You can also just pull out the stems and keep the leaf.

 

[DGBAMA]

Some varieties transition green to brown slowly, without ever yellowing.

 

[Knucklehead]

Some of my cigar varieties cure brown on the top and a greenish gray on the back. This comes out with kilning.

 

[Smokin Harley]

Ive noticed in my color curing , the Little Dutch spends very little time in Yellow phase...maybe a day or so then right to med to dark brown almost a chocolate color . However , Florida Sumatra and a couple of the Havana varieties go yellow very quickly and stay yellow a while . Black Mammoth gets a nice mottled bright yellow along the crevices of the gator skin leaf surface, very pretty actually. PA Red in my barn though , is not turning yellow very fast at all . I am taking note now though that even though they were picked in the gator skin leaf "mode"and snapped off like celery, if the very tips are not yet the least bit brown they aren't turning yellow very soon or quickly at all. Machu Picchu Havana , now thats a tobacco plant I like all the way around, seeds came up nice , seedlings grew steady and the plant just looks amazing with its big leaves with light gator skin texture and the crinkled edges. Very hardy plant. The MPH in the main plot I've primed in two phases and the leaves are doing great color curing. I have the single MPH plant all by itself that was in my second seeding "spare" plant batch. Its up front in the garden and was grown in a lot of shade (morning shade until about 9 and then the garden trellis arch shades it from about 1pm on), the leaves are just a bit paler green and finer texture than the ones that were sun grown. I haven't primed a leaf off of it yet ,still has its mudlugs and all the leaves look ready to pick . I'm contemplating stalk harvesting this one and see how it cures as all wrapper. DEFINITELY a re-grow .
I check them all every day twice a day ...sometimes 3 or 4 just because I like to go out and look at my stuff and anticipate the smoking pleasure of home grown baccy. I check barn temp and humidity and of course critters (tiny horn worm count so far at 2 , found 3 small patches of eggs as well)

 

[JOE1977]

First fruits. The first pic is a few pilones of the Cuban Crillio. I color cured it and then gave it a week at 130deg, now boxed for whenever it feels aged enough, see ya in the spring!
the second is the first priming of the Va Bright.. I must messed up somewhere as it cured darker than the nice gold color I was hoping for. It took about a week for it to uniformly yellow and then I stepped up to 110, 130, 160 and then back to 130 for about 2 weeks. I did load some in a pipe and it had almost a nuttiness to it. Not really harsh at all. I will pack it away for a bit also.

 

[kullas]

Looking good to me

 

[Brown Thumb]

Looks Good to me. Flue Curing to get 100% yellow leaf is not a easy task.

 

[Knucklehead]

Nice looking leaf. Good job.

 

[DGBAMA]

Joe, keep in mind with flue curing that finished color is more a criteria of "market standard" than in the taste/flavor of the finished product. I have made plenty of "brown flue cured" that still has great flavor and aroma. The personal satisfaction of producing "bright flue cured" still drives me to do better, whatever that is, but the finished product is still good brown if the times and temperatures of the process are followed.

I think the key area is the 118-135 temp range where starches and carbohydrates are converted to sugars, much like the brewing process. Color is nice but not a deal killer. Looking good.