Almost all the leaves are now in the kiln. I originally had the vacuum bags closed simply by rolling the open ends and securing them with clothespins. I left plenty of extra length to the bags (about 25 cm) so I could roll them up tightly. I've been checking about once a week how well the bags are holding moisture, and quite a few times the leaves have dried down to very low case.
Because of this, I decided to heat-seal all the bags, leaving a little air inside each one. Hopefully there's enough air/oxygen/whatever in there for the aging process to continue. I will open the bags after a week to check how things are going inside.
The smells coming out of those bags when I open them are amazing. Now that I have grown more varieties, it's really interesting to notice how different their aromas are.
I was a bit surprised when I last checked the leaves I found a small patch of mold on one of the leaves. I removed that leaf and raised the kiln temperature by one degree to make sure it doesn't drop below 50°C, even for a short time. It's possible that the temperature isn't completely even throughout the kiln, despite the fans circulating the air, and that some spots have been a little cooler than others. The leaves are also in pretty high case.
Only CT Shade and Dominican Olor ligero are still in color curing, but they should be ready in a few days.
After color curing, I've been drying the leaves to make sure the midribs are completely dry. Then I bring them back to high case so I can flatten them a bit and pack them into vacuum bags. My Corojo 99 leaves grew so thick that getting them into high case takes three days in a plastic container with lots of moisture. The leaves are like veneer.
I got a call from the local energy company saying they need to replace a meter in my boiler room (which is currently pretty much filled with my curing tent). I'm desperately trying to schedule the visit far enough into the future that I'll have finished all color curing and drying, and taken down the tent before the technician arrives. That would save me from having a conversation with some suspicious-sounding explanation of what exactly I'm curing inside a plastic tent in my boiler room.
