TN 86. Good information from the University of Tennessee. http://greeneville.tennessee.edu/research/tn86.html
TN 86
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skychaser
Well-Known Member
A little history on the development of TN 86 & TN 90
http://fairtradetobacco.com/showthread.php?1951-TN-90
http://fairtradetobacco.com/showthread.php?1951-TN-90
That was a great post sky. Do you prefer one over the other for smoking?
skychaser
Well-Known Member
They taste the same to me, but I have a pretty unsophisticated tongue. I'm probably the worst person to ask to describe how a particular tobacco tastes. lol
As far as growing goes, they are about the same. TN90 preforms well in a wide range of climates and conditions has a slight edge over TN86 in overall production for me. Larry has told me he likes TN86 over TN90 because it seems to do a little better where he lives. Either is a good choice to grow and both are very easy to cure. But they both have rather long times to flower compared to other many tobaccos, which makes good seed production a bit of a challenge here in the northern tier.
TN90 is one of my staples and I grow it every year. I'm growing both again this year but have switched to the newer LC varieties. (thank you Larry) I'll be replacing all my old TN90 & TN86 seed stock with TN90LC and TN86LC.
As far as growing goes, they are about the same. TN90 preforms well in a wide range of climates and conditions has a slight edge over TN86 in overall production for me. Larry has told me he likes TN86 over TN90 because it seems to do a little better where he lives. Either is a good choice to grow and both are very easy to cure. But they both have rather long times to flower compared to other many tobaccos, which makes good seed production a bit of a challenge here in the northern tier.
TN90 is one of my staples and I grow it every year. I'm growing both again this year but have switched to the newer LC varieties. (thank you Larry) I'll be replacing all my old TN90 & TN86 seed stock with TN90LC and TN86LC.
What does the LC stand for or mean?
skychaser
Well-Known Member
It stands for Low Conversion. A certain percentage of Nicotine will convert to Nornicotine during the curing and drying process. How much varies by the variety. Nornicotine can chemically convert to N.Nitrosonornicotine in the leaf while curing and aging, and more conversion also takes place in the burning process. Nitrosonornicotine is a nitrosamine and a group 1 carcinogen. Not something we want in our smoke. If you can reduce the amount of Nornicotine in tobacco, you also reduce the nitrosamine content.
Nicotine, nornicotine, anabasine and anatabine are four major alkaloids produced in tobacco. Many tobaccos have already been bred to contain little or no nornicotine. Research has show that the ability of the nicotine to convert to nornicotine has to do with a specific gene or set of genes in the tobacco plant. By selecting plants with genes which produce nicotine that doesn't easily convert to nornicotine, the nornicotine available which could potentially convert to nitrosamine is further reduced. The end result is a tobacco that is potentially far less harmful to the consumer.
To qualify as a low converter, less than 3% of the nicotine in the leaf is converted to nornicotine. Larry told me that all the Burleys grown today for the commercial tobacco companies are LC varieties. And most of the dark tobaccos grown these days are LC's. I expect we will see more and more LC types as time goes on. And I am all for it.
Sky
Nicotine, nornicotine, anabasine and anatabine are four major alkaloids produced in tobacco. Many tobaccos have already been bred to contain little or no nornicotine. Research has show that the ability of the nicotine to convert to nornicotine has to do with a specific gene or set of genes in the tobacco plant. By selecting plants with genes which produce nicotine that doesn't easily convert to nornicotine, the nornicotine available which could potentially convert to nitrosamine is further reduced. The end result is a tobacco that is potentially far less harmful to the consumer.
To qualify as a low converter, less than 3% of the nicotine in the leaf is converted to nornicotine. Larry told me that all the Burleys grown today for the commercial tobacco companies are LC varieties. And most of the dark tobaccos grown these days are LC's. I expect we will see more and more LC types as time goes on. And I am all for it.
Sky
darren1979
First Time Grower
Im with you on that, anything that lessons a risk is all good.
Boboro
Well-Known Member
Does it afect the taste or the way it burns?
BarG
Founding Member
Thanks Sky. Thats the first time I have read that in laymans terms so I could understand about nornicotene!
i've heard the lc has less flavor, but i dont know, i'm also in the camp that thinks burley tastes like burley.
also you might try to find out more ways to use tobacco to let your lungs clear themselves if you are thinking of this issue. inhaling temporarily paralyzes the cilia in the bronchus/trachea inhibiting them from moving crap up for you to cough out. so in addition to dna issues there are mechanical issues where mucous is still excreted in response to irritation but is not being expelled. hence the productive cough in the morning, copd, chf blah blah blah
also you might try to find out more ways to use tobacco to let your lungs clear themselves if you are thinking of this issue. inhaling temporarily paralyzes the cilia in the bronchus/trachea inhibiting them from moving crap up for you to cough out. so in addition to dna issues there are mechanical issues where mucous is still excreted in response to irritation but is not being expelled. hence the productive cough in the morning, copd, chf blah blah blah
Gmac
Well-Known Member
No, I have some NC 7 LC & KY 210 LC That's a year old & It's stout. I run it through the kiln for a month on 125 degrees using Amax's method and it's great.
Gmac
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Rickey60
Well-Known Member
It seems that all the LC types are burleys, and there any Flue Cure (bright leaf) types that are LC?
As the "nicotine conversion" occurs mainly during the air-curing process there's probably no need to introduce new flue-cured varieties with a LC feature. Level of TSNAs generally stay under the limits when tobacco is cured properly in modern flue-curing systems.
Rickey60
Well-Known Member
Thanks, I did not know that. So by flue curing and not air drying you keep the conversion at a low level. If I air dried my flue cure types I would get much higher levels? Is that right?
Well, that's a tough one. I don't remember reading any papers about evaluation of TSNA in air-cured brightleaf varieties so it may depend on the the brightleaf variety you choose to air-cure.
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