Proper method to toast Burley?

[ZigZagZeppelin]

Having never toasted any tobacco I'm left to guess, if I do this.

was thinking of: placing 5 or 6 leaves on a huge piece of foil

putting oven on 200 degrees and letting it heat maybe 30 minutes

is this about right?

 

[deluxestogie]

Click on Search, with the search box (the ciggie) empty. This goes to advanced search.
Enter "toasting", then select Search Titles Only.

This will give you a list of threads that primarily address the toasting of tobacco.

Bob

 

[ZigZagZeppelin]

Click on Search, with the search box (the ciggie) empty. This goes to advanced search.
Enter "toasting", then select Search Titles Only.

This will give you a list of threads that primarily address the toasting of tobacco.

Bob

Thanks for the reply, Bob.

I didn't get anything definitive from those threads, a lot of different ideas were there. When I'm ready to toast the Burley I'll make sure to use 190-250 degree Fahrenheit temps, no more then 20 min or so. I did gather from searching that its best to shred it before it goes in the oven. Sauce it afterwards with a chocolate/honey/DW combo.......and retoast it another 20 min if necessary.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Thanks for the reply, Bob.

I didn't get anything definitive from those threads, a lot of different ideas were there. When I'm ready to toast the Burley I'll make sure to use 190-250 degree Fahrenheit temps, no more then 20 min or so. I did gather from searching that its best to shred it before it goes in the oven. Sauce it afterwards with a chocolate/honey/DW combo.......and retoast it another 20 min if necessary.

I think with toasting we need someone who can definitively explain how the professionals do it.
But in the meantime, decipher this chart.

 

[ZigZagZeppelin]

Ya, I saw that chart, CV.

But I have no cylinders to use or burley toasters.

I searched Google also and read what others tried and said. There's something about 190 degrees Fahrenheit, forgot exactly what happens at that temp. Maybe a release of gasses? But 190 Fahrenheit should be a low point, from what I gathered. Too much heat will burn up a small batch.......so I figure 190-250 Fahrenheit for a 13" x 16" baking pan of shred....and not for long in a shredded condition. Maybe sauce it before oven entry though, as in a shredded form its vulnerable to burning up quickly.

Its amazing that a tiny bit of burley can ruin the taste of a good smoke, if its not toasted. I never liked pipes or cigars, just the cigs.

 

[ZigZagZeppelin]

Dr. Bob's Method (below) is another idea, and the wife won't bitch about this one, lol. The gas range is only a year old.

"I toasted another load in the crockpot yesterday. It was shredded burley this time. I put it on HI for 4 hours with a partially open lid. Afterwards I turned the crockpot off, misted the top of the tobacco with about 2 oz. of water sealed the lid and just let it cool a couple of hours. It rehydrated nicely and was much smoother.
I like simple"

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Ya, I saw that chart, CV.

But I have no cylinders to use or burley toasters.

I searched Google also and read what others tried and said. There's something about 190 degrees Fahrenheit, forgot exactly what happens at that temp. Maybe a release of gasses? But 190 Fahrenheit should be a low point, from what I gathered. Too much heat will burn up a small batch.......so I figure 190-250 Fahrenheit for a 13" x 16" baking pan of shred....and not for long in a shredded condition. Maybe sauce it before oven entry though, as in a shredded form its vulnerable to burning up quickly.
.

I think that's why you increase the moisture content significantly, so it doesn't burn up. From CV's chart, industry heats to to at least 284F. You also don't need drums. Just put your tobacco in a container and stir it every once in awhile.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Ya, I saw that chart, CV.

But I have no cylinders to use or burley toasters.

I searched Google also and read what others tried and said. There's something about 190 degrees Fahrenheit, forgot exactly what happens at that temp. Maybe a release of gasses? But 190 Fahrenheit should be a low point, from what I gathered. Too much heat will burn up a small batch.......so I figure 190-250 Fahrenheit for a 13" x 16" baking pan of shred....and not for long in a shredded condition. Maybe sauce it before oven entry though, as in a shredded form its vulnerable to burning up quickly.

Its amazing that a tiny bit of burley can ruin the taste of a good smoke, if its not toasted. I never liked pipes or cigars, just the cigs.

Some chemical processes will happen at lower temperatures, only slower. If that's the case with burley toasting, then 250F should be just fine. But other chemical reactions need a threshold before anything can happen. If that's the case, then 250F is shy of the 284F (140C) that is noted on the chart. I'm suspicious that, although I haven't toasted tobacco, with toasting, it's a threshold. I say that because everything else with tobacco is temperature dependent. If you air cure at 110, it'll be different from 80, no matter how long you cure for. Kilning at 118 is different from 124. Flue curing only at 135F is different from continuing on to 165F. Pressure cooking at 250F for 3 hours yields results totally different from steaming at 212F for even 12 hours.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

These guys are saying 296F.
http://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=KR2005010471

This article is talking in general terms, but it says 300F for 10 minutes.
https://www.google.com/patents/US4827949

 

[ZigZagZeppelin]

These guys are saying 296F.
http://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=KR2005010471

This article is talking in general terms, but it says 300F for 10 minutes.
https://www.google.com/patents/US4827949

Great link, CV!

This kind of thing is what I intended to find. I ended up reading internet forum trial and errors.

thank you,

Will

 

[ZigZagZeppelin]

I think that's why you increase the moisture content significantly, so it doesn't burn up. From CV's chart, industry heats to to at least 284F. You also don't need drums. Just put your tobacco in a container and stir it every once in awhile.

I'll try this today. Just hydrate it really well with distilled water sprays and drop it in a crockpot preheated to high....stir it, after 5 min remove, hydrate again with DW, back in the crockpot another 5-7 min or so.

Remove, sauce shred well with chocolate/honey/black licorice/distilled water spray......let it air dry awhile till moisture level is about 15-16% and store it in glass till I'm ready to use it.

I think this about the best I can do, given what I have at home. It should make that burley smoother tasting.

This crockpot does 300 Fahrenheit max.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Please post the results. I'd like to see and hear how it goes.

 

[ZigZagZeppelin]

Please post the results. I'd like to see and hear how it goes.

The burley is smoothed out maybe TOO much......its still adding throat hit and nic though....I can barely tell theres burley in the cig.

All I had to use was Flavor west "Black Licorice" flavoring (suspended in pg) and Hangsen "Austrailian Chocolate" (also suspended in pg)......Being both flavors add pg to my sauce I went a bit light, 20 drops of each (theres probably 500 drops in 1 oz bottle)......and I used 2 teaspoons of natural honey....Filled the rest of the 8 oz misting bottle up with distilled water.......I can taste licorice slightly, a nice spice......I get no chocolate taste at all. I only deribbed/shredded 4 leaves of YTB.......one layer of sauce at the end....2 trips into the crockpot shredded and misted with plain distilled water......5 min each time in the 300 degree crockpot.

*Walmart has 8 oz misting bottles for 97 cents each. Found them near the vitamin/ mineral area.
*Bought 1 oz flavoring bottles from BullCity.com (they work for eliquid or tobacco sauces, imo)
http://www.bullcityflavors.com/

 

[ZigZagZeppelin]

Today I toasted a larger amount of burley in the crockpot maxxed at 300 degrees Fahrenheit. It was 12 YTB leaves deribbed and destemmed......probably it was 2/3 of an inch thick on the bottom of my crockpot interior. Sprayed DW on the shredded bacca before it went in, it took 22 minutes to get it fairly dry. Had to keep taking the partially closed lid off every few minutes and flip the tobacco around by hand. But it definitely does toast it to more smoothness. Just use your own judgement as to how dry you want it, I got it slightly drier then what I would inject via the PowerMatic One +. Because I sauced it as soon as I spread it back out on the baking tray. Then wait another 45 min to an hour to get it in injectable condition (13 to 15% wet).

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Has anyone ever toasted cigar filler?
I rolled some homegrown Piloto into a few cheroots. The Piloto was kilned at high temperature, like 133F for a month and rested for something like 5 months. I smoked about a quarter of one and I found it bitter and set it down. Today, after relight, it's much better. Wondering if it could be the fact that it was heated and rested. Opinions?

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Disregard question. I picked up another one which was not kept in a humidor, and not previously smoked. It was more dry than the first I smoked. It also tasted better. It must have something to do with moisture level.

 

[Charly]

Moisture level clearly impacts flavors.
I don't like when the cigar is too dry, but it's hard to know if it's just enough or too much humid... and sometimes the difference can be very noticable when smoked.