my experiment with fire curing

[Chicken]

i fire cured some big-gem,,,and shariza{turkish baccy} as a experiment, using some allready air-cured leaves,,,to see if constructed a fire kiln would be a good idea,,,,

my plans are to put the exaust vent from my grill and burning pecan wood,,, hang some baccy in a box connected to the exaust pipe of the grill for fire curing,,,

i ran a experiment on the grill this past weekend,,, to give me a rough idea of the flame curing,,,,

i got the leaves very brittle,, and the midrib completely dry,,,, i had it at 130-150degrees,,,,,

i hung it on the back porch,,,and this morning it had went into case very nicely,,,,

....even the midrib wasnt brittle this morning,,

...

 

[deluxestogie]

Chicken,
That's a nice setup. Be careful not to run the temp too high, maybe closer to 130ºF than 150ºF. Also, if you get the leaf back in case each morning, and fire it slowly over 5 to 7 days, it will acquire a good, smoky aroma. The Samsun that I fire for a week (over Hickory) needed several more months of aging, before it was really ready, even though it smelled good right after firing.

Bob

 

[FmGrowit]

I agree with Bob, Fire curing really has more to do with the smoke than with heat. I'd be careful not to get a fire going within such a close space to the tobacco. Your choice of wood is excellent. In the hardwood business...Hickory and Pecan are the same hood. Don't use Black Walnut, it's poisonous.

 

[Chicken]

well its nice to know i a, on the right track.....

im gonna try and get my '' smokebox'' mounted this weekend for some real fire curing experminting,

 

[Chicken]

the baccy i had air cured first,,,and then fired,,,,

is what i been smokin for the last 2 days,,,, and im quiet pleased with it,,,

i have a 4 day weekend ahead of me,,,,

my plans are to have a crock-pot kiln going,,,,,with a heat lamp bulb,,,,

and a box i can hook up to my grills exaust for a fire curing chamber,,,

 

[chillardbee]

So, am I to understand that if fire curing is more to do with smoke, that during a curing session wether by air or flue curing that the application of smoke will produce something simular to a fire cure? at what stage of the curing would one start to smoke the leaf?

 

[deluxestogie]

Fire-curing originated as a simple method of heating a curing barn to allow raw leaf to cure without molding. A slow wood fire was burned on the floor of the barn. This always resulted (of course) in leaf that carried a smoky flavor and aroma.

This (to some) undesirable effect was eliminated by adding a flue to carry the smoke out of the shed, while still releasing heat. The accidental discovery of the modern "bright" curing method resulted in the 1860s from a fire tender falling asleep during the night (he was supposed to keep the low fire of the flue-cure barn fed when it needed more wood), and compensating by adding too much wood. The high heat produced "bright" leaf for the first time.

While many fire-curing methods begin with raw, green leaf, previously color-cured leaf likely yields the same product after exposure to smoke. I have done it both ways. A week of once or twice daily firing of the smoker will give you lovely, lightly smoky leaf. Several weeks of this makes for a heavier, smokier leaf. Latakia is processed this way for at least 3 months continuously.

I would suggest avoiding bark on the smoking wood, since that tends to make the leaf have a campfire-in-the-woods smell, which you may or may not like. Be sure to do a Google search for toxic wood smoke, since some woods are poor choices.

Bob

 

[DGBAMA]

Definitely will try something like this. Maybe with leaf fully yellowed in the kiln for uniform color then moving to the smoker box until dried? Thinking this would give best uniformity in the finished leaf.

 

[bonehead]

i have a meadowcreek ts 250 smoker that i will try to make some firecured on. do you think i should use water in the smoker or do it dry? i will probably wait until it is cooler outside to be able to keep the temprature down. it is getting to be almost cool enough to be able to smoke cheese at a low enough temprature on some nights so you don't melt it. i guess cool weather isnt all bad. i like smoked sharp chedder and real dry cured and semidry cured honey cured baccon and it has to be cool outside to maintain the low temprature required to produce it. i can't wait to make smoked deer and pork smoked kilbasa.