Perique

[FmGrowit]

Nice set up. Were the barrels tight or did you have to swell them? As long as you pack enough in each to get the black juice up to the top, you shouldn't have any problem. What are you using to keep the leaf under the juice? I don't think any exposed leaf will sour the whole barrel the way making pickles will, but any leaf not submerged will get moldy.

 

[BigBonner]

The barrels are fresh dumped and already sewlled . WHAT A SMELL !! Nice . I poped off the top two rings and the lid came out easy . i didn't want to cut the lids out and let saw dust down in the barrel .

The tobacco is from 2010 crop . It still has the mid rib intact . It is in high case , I have no juices coming out . I may not have it wet enough .I may have to add water after the barrel is filled with tobacco
I have unfilled and air out the leaves once when it was half full .

I am planning on making one barrel with this years crop . Im going to cut and hang some . When the leaf is brown and the veins ar still half green I will press it then .

Any recomendations ?
Should I unfill the barrel and add more water ?

Larry

 

[FmGrowit]

I've seen and read about perique being made both of the ways you're doing it. The trick to stop mold growth in the barrel is to have enough juice...it sounds like you don't. The video of the Martin farm showed the hands being sprayed with a garden hose. The first thing I thought when I saw them doing it was "that's a hell of a lot of water". The hands were wet and they just shook out the excess water and put the hands in the barrel.

After a few weeks, they took the pressure off the lid and all of the juice was absorbed back into the leaf. They took the hands out and aerated them and put them back in the barrel and pressed it again. I'm pretty sure they did this 3 or 4 times in the first couple of months then let the barrels sit until next harvest.

 

[BigBonner]

That just what I thought . I need more water .

In the st james video they are washing , or soaking the tobacco in the back ground .

I have read perique is made several different ways with the mid rib and with out it .I also read that you would place the hands tied part out . If the tobacco didn't have the mid rib then they would have no direction .Wet tobacco will pack tight .

I may un fill the barrel and soak the leaves more, that will take half a day to do .

 

[BigBonner]

Does anyone know if the Perique needs a constant temperature ?
Mine is outside in my tobacco barn . It gets freezing cold in there . I noticed that when it gets warm the barrels will have water come to the top of the barrel . When it gets cold the water will drop down in the barrel .I also knoticed that if the weather is warm the tobacco will ferment more . More air bubles will come to the top .
St James may keep their barrels at a constant temperature ?

 

[BigBonner]

Here is a interesting site with some info on Perique along with all other tobacco grown . It is from older days of growing tobacco . I noticed that the plants are short in height . I always heard that tobacco was short back in the early growing days , but now has been bred to be bigger and produce more pounds per acre.

http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/tobacco/tobacco.html

 

[indianjoe]

Interesting site Bigbonner,
ya think they wanted to sell any V-C fertilizer?? lol
The stemless perique pressured and unfolded each day over a ten day period ?

 

[BigBonner]

I saw that about selling V-C Fertilizer I think its from the 50's . I posted it mostly for the tobacco pictures and literature .

Unfolding everyday ? I cheated some . I opened the barrel and aired it out about every 3 to 5 days . Mine is sitting in the barrel now resting . I may take it out once a month for fresh air.

It takes me 5 Hours to pull all the tobacco from the barrel and air the leaves out .

I used totally cured whole leaf instead of destemming it . I have read soo many pieces about the perique process . One said whole leaf , one said destemed and tied in bundles with cotton string , and the one about rolling the leaves up then pressing .

 

[Knucklehead]

D&R Tobaccos now carries four blends with Perique:
A.P. Rimboche -- A flavorful blend of the finest flue-cured Gold Leaf tobaccos and a rare Acadian Perique
A.B. Rimboche -- A tangy blend of the finest flue-cured Gold Leaf tobaccos, a unique dark-fired tobacco that has been processed by the Perique method, and a touch of Latakia for spice and passion
S.J. Rimboche -- A flavorful blend of the finest flue-cured Gold Leaf tobaccos and a rare Saint James Perique
Picayune --A full bodied blend of exceptional dark air-cured and the finest flue-cured Gold Leaf tobaccos. Combined with a rare and flavorful Perique and Samsun Oriental tobacco

It sounds like they are now using three or four different leaves for the process. Doesn't D&R pretty much own the Perique business down there now?

 

[Boboro]

Back when I was tryin to find a way to shred bacca I built this press. I could make pucks you couldnt' cut with a knife. A4" coupling and pipe glued together with hose clamps around them steel tread plates to fit in side and one to fit on the bottom. You have to wrap them in platic wrap. 4" pipe to push out the puck when pressed it hes a split in it to spred so you can get it out.