Pressure Canner Cavendish v2.0

[ChinaVoodoo]

My pressure cooker is arriving today, and I'd like to try this method with WLT Bright, WLT Red, and BigBonner Bright.
How many hours would you recommend for starters? Do you measure from the time it starts boiling?
Thanks!

I measure the time from when it reaches pressure. 4 hours. PLEASE make sure you know what you're doing. 4 hours is a long time for a pressure cooker, and if you're letting steam escape, you could easily run dry. You want the heat set to the lowest point you can while still maintaining pressure. I can do so with mine so it doesn't release any steam during the 4 hours.

 

[mwaller]

Looks promising!

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Looks promising!View attachment 22967

It actually does look promising. After opening the jars, the air really does darken it. I have to say though that I'm surprised your jars didn't break. I've always packed the jars as full as possible, and saturated the tobacco with water. Not much room for extra pressure to build up.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

I've done a lot of jars that were only filled 1/4 full of shredded tobacco. I've been experimenting with Red Virginia lately and adding small amounts of maple syrup or honey. So far I like Red Virginia done for 2 hours. 4 seems to burnt-ish.

As for water in the cooker. I put 1 1/2 inch water inside. 2 hours later there was 3/4 inch left. Your mileage my vary depending on high a heat you use.

 

[deluxestogie]

Water in the cooker vs. water in the jar.

In all food canning processes, you leave head space in the jars. Liquid is not compressible, whereas gas (air) is compressible.

If the pot contains too much water, and the jars too little, then the jars will float off the bottom of the container, and tip over.

On the subject of running out of water in the pot, I highly recommend an exploratory run with any new pressure cooker. Add a cup of water, cook at pressure for an hour, then cool it down, open it, and measure how much water is left. With my old canning cooker, quite a bit of water is lost in the process of coming up to pressure, waiting for the internal pressure to force the large ring gasket to seal. At cruising temp, the water loss is regulated by how much the weight or valve hisses.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Good to know about the head space. I've been too conservative. You know what I wanna try though is those vacuum sealed retort bags. Too bad they require a chamber type vacuum sealer. I suppose I could just press the air out and seal it.. Probably good enough.

https://vacupack.com/vacuum-sealer-bags/vacuum-sealer-bags-retort-bags-1

 

[mwaller]

Looks promising!View attachment 22967

I unpacked the Big Bonner Bright Cavendish this morning. A lot of it seems to have turned to mush, and was not easy to separate. I will reserve judgement until I try it, but I suspect 4 hours may have been too much for this leaf!

 

[deluxestogie]

Allow the mush to mostly dry down, before handling it.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I unpacked the Big Bonner Bright Cavendish this morning. A lot of it seems to have turned to mush, and was not easy to separate. I will reserve judgement until I try it, but I suspect 4 hours may have been too much for this leaf!

I don't bother trying to pull the leaves apart. It gets a nice slow burning texture if you let it stick together. I kinda pull it apart for better drying, then when it's nearly the right moisture level, I put it back in the jar so it evens out. Some parts might be crumbly and others soggy. Let that sit for a few hours-however long it takes. Then compress it however, not much, it doesn't take much, but just so you can slice it up.


You don't even have to press it if you've got time. You can also just sit there with a pair of scissors and while it's still super soft, make short work of the whole jar. It dries better when you do that early on.

 

[deluxestogie]

There's always the option to spread it out on a seedling heat mat, to gently dry it.

Bob

 

[mwaller]

Good ideas, guys. I had assumed it would be like my perique, which could be slowly teased apart into individual leaves. I may just squeeze it together and slice while wet, then set it out to dry.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

I shred my tobacco before making Perique or Cavendish. Makes it much easier to pull apart and much easier to dry.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I shred my tobacco before making Perique or Cavendish. Makes it much easier to pull apart and much easier to dry.

I ordered the 1mm shredder so I think I'm gong to start trying that too.

 

[Norrlander]

Hi All
Having read through this thread and the previous one, I'm feeling quite well prepared for making something I will enjoy. I have one question though (and apologies if I missed an answer to it elswhere):
I'm going to start growing this year and would like to know how far I'll need to go with the curing of the leaves before moving on to the Cavendish process.
Thanks a lot for all the great information here!
- Tony -

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Hi All
Having read through this thread and the previous one, I'm feeling quite well prepared for making something I will enjoy. I have one question though (and apologies if I missed an answer to it elswhere):
I'm going to start growing this year and would like to know how far I'll need to go with the curing of the leaves before moving on to the Cavendish process.
Thanks a lot for all the great information here!
- Tony -

It needs to be fully cured, just like anything else you would smoke.
The better the tobacco that you use, the better the results you will have, so although not necessary, the more it's aged, the better the Cavendish.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

And... If you are looking for a sweet tasting Cavendish you need to use a flue cured variety that has been flue cured or sun cured. I made some the other week with cigar leaf to which I had sprayed some maple syrup and water onto before pressure cooking it. Very tasty. Not sweet like a Virginia but more mild than a regular cigar leaf.

 

[Norrlander]

Thanks guys, great information here; learning all the time. I have to say you chaps are very quick with the answers!
So it looks like I'll need an extra greenhouse dedicated to sun curing
Meanwhile, just have to find someone who can supply me with cured leaves so I can start practicing with my pressure cooker...

 

[deluxestogie]

If you are looking for a sweet tasting Cavendish you need to use a flue cured variety that has been flue cured...

I don't believe I've ever thought about that. [Or...I've thought about it many times, decided it was a great idea each time, then promptly forgot about it.] It inspires me to plan on a batch of Lemon Virginia Cavendish that is then pressed for a month or so. (Then I could spread it on a buttered biscuit!)

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I don't believe I've ever thought about that. [Or...I've thought about it many times, decided it was a great idea each time, then promptly forgot about it.] It inspires me to plan on a batch of Lemon Virginia Cavendish that is then pressed for a month or so. (Then I could spread it on a buttered biscuit!)

Bob

You probably could.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I made a 50/50 blend of air-cured Delhi 34 (a bright tobacco), and flue-cured Helena. I pressure cooked them separately for two and a half hours. They balance each other out nicely. I think this will be a base I can either smoke straight, or augment with pinches of other tobaccos like Latakia, perique, cigar scrap, Japan 8, dark fire, etc. to make entirely different blends.