OK, this is how I ‘sun-cure’.
This is Ottoman on the left (in the pvc.pipe-frame) and the hanging string on the far-right, and Bursa & Turkish Early (in the wood frame). They have been doing the sun-cure part-time for about a week. The Black Sea Samsun is still in the shed doing the stack/pile pre-curing.
The Ottoman, Turkish Early & Bursa were picked about 5 weeks after topping. The BS Samsun was picked 6+ weeks after topping the plant – seemed really slow to mature for some reason.
After priming, I do the stack/pile method for 4 to 7 days to pre-cure them. When picked, most of the leaves were still pretty green, some starting to show some yellow.
(I always found it interesting the leaves with yellow tips and edges, and even showing some yellow in the middle of the leaf, will go to mostly green the first couple days in the pile – then they go back to yellowing.) I’ll start stringing the leaves as they get limp, showing good yellow spots or a lighter green color. I keep them in the shade until I have a full string, then hang on the frame and start sunning them.
(edit) BS Samsun seems particularly slow at going from green to yellowing -- so, after a few days of the stack/pile cure, I'm doing an air-cure - hanging them in the shed, out of the sun, until they are showing some good yellowing, then to the rack.
Because they still show too much green, they only get 2 to 4 hours per day in the sun, until the outer edges and tops of the leaves have mostly yellowed or browned. Even then, I’ll have some leaves that will dry green on the edges – just something to cut off and discard later. When not in the sun, they are moved to the shade where they can still get a little breeze or air movement. When mostly all yellow/brown showing, they get all-day sunshine until they are fully cured and completely crispy/crunchy dry, including the midribs. Last year, it took about 5-6 weeks to fully cure.
These frames go into the shed overnight, on rainy or stormy days, and on very windy days – a good wind seems to dry these green quicker than the sun.
I also learned that when the leafy part is dry, and waiting for the midrib to dry, that a strong wind can really beat them up – lost a lot of good leafy parts on a windy day last year.
Because these leaves are strung tightly against each other, I’ve been a little leery about mold. Last year, if they spent more than overnight in the shed, or it was way too humid and I didn’t think they were getting enough sun, I would spritz the tops of the string with Serenade. Don’t really know if it helped or not, but I didn’t have any mold issues.
When fully cured, I’ll keep them hanging until we have a humid or rainy day, and they come back into case. Then I’ll box them up to rest for about a month or two, then into the crockpot kiln for 4-6 weeks, and another month or so of resting in the box before blending/shredding for my cigarettes.
Last years crop of turkish blended well with my virginia, made a decent smoke.
But smoking straight Turkish is just wrong – way too weird tasting and harsh.
This is Ottoman on the left (in the pvc.pipe-frame) and the hanging string on the far-right, and Bursa & Turkish Early (in the wood frame). They have been doing the sun-cure part-time for about a week. The Black Sea Samsun is still in the shed doing the stack/pile pre-curing.
The Ottoman, Turkish Early & Bursa were picked about 5 weeks after topping. The BS Samsun was picked 6+ weeks after topping the plant – seemed really slow to mature for some reason.
After priming, I do the stack/pile method for 4 to 7 days to pre-cure them. When picked, most of the leaves were still pretty green, some starting to show some yellow.
(I always found it interesting the leaves with yellow tips and edges, and even showing some yellow in the middle of the leaf, will go to mostly green the first couple days in the pile – then they go back to yellowing.) I’ll start stringing the leaves as they get limp, showing good yellow spots or a lighter green color. I keep them in the shade until I have a full string, then hang on the frame and start sunning them.
(edit) BS Samsun seems particularly slow at going from green to yellowing -- so, after a few days of the stack/pile cure, I'm doing an air-cure - hanging them in the shed, out of the sun, until they are showing some good yellowing, then to the rack.
Because they still show too much green, they only get 2 to 4 hours per day in the sun, until the outer edges and tops of the leaves have mostly yellowed or browned. Even then, I’ll have some leaves that will dry green on the edges – just something to cut off and discard later. When not in the sun, they are moved to the shade where they can still get a little breeze or air movement. When mostly all yellow/brown showing, they get all-day sunshine until they are fully cured and completely crispy/crunchy dry, including the midribs. Last year, it took about 5-6 weeks to fully cure.
These frames go into the shed overnight, on rainy or stormy days, and on very windy days – a good wind seems to dry these green quicker than the sun.
I also learned that when the leafy part is dry, and waiting for the midrib to dry, that a strong wind can really beat them up – lost a lot of good leafy parts on a windy day last year.
Because these leaves are strung tightly against each other, I’ve been a little leery about mold. Last year, if they spent more than overnight in the shed, or it was way too humid and I didn’t think they were getting enough sun, I would spritz the tops of the string with Serenade. Don’t really know if it helped or not, but I didn’t have any mold issues.
When fully cured, I’ll keep them hanging until we have a humid or rainy day, and they come back into case. Then I’ll box them up to rest for about a month or two, then into the crockpot kiln for 4-6 weeks, and another month or so of resting in the box before blending/shredding for my cigarettes.
Last years crop of turkish blended well with my virginia, made a decent smoke.
But smoking straight Turkish is just wrong – way too weird tasting and harsh.
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