When do leaves start to smell good?

[BarG]

A bowl of salt? How does that work? I've never heard of that before.

the salt will absorb excess moisture and if it becomes liquified you have too high humidity. The main concern is to prevent mold I would imagine so the salt just lets you know if your in jeopardy of the possibility of mold due to excess moisture and your leaves may be to high case.

 

[deluxestogie]

Within a closed container (say, a kiln), a mixture of rock salt and water will maintain the relative humidity within the container at 75%, until the rock salt completely dries out. So it acts like a humidity buffer. You can use this to calibrate a hygrometer.

At 125ºF, mold can not grow.

Bob

 

[BarG]

So a temperature gauge is a must.

 

[mwaller]

I'm guessing you'd need a pretty large bowl of rock salt to counter the humidifying effects of the crock pot. Have you tried this?

 

[BarG]

no, you don't. a small bowl. it is just a measure, you can gauge your leaves to check case. As bob mentioned keep temp at 120-125 to prevent mold. it is fun to try and make it happen. If you make a mistake there is no loss. just do better next time. Your tobacco will still be good , just not perfect. heh heh

 

[deluxestogie]

I ran a small Crockpot kiln for a couple of years using both a remote hygrometer and an 8 oz. cup of rock salt. The RH pretty much remained at 75%. The remote hygrometer finally gave out from the kiln temps, and I didn't replace it. Once I recognized that mold just won't grow at 125ºF, I gave up on the salt as well.

Currently, I just run my kiln at 120-125º, replenish the Crockpot water when it runs out, and watch the calendar.

With my kiln (the endoskeletal kiln) running in my enclosed back porch, I am always treated to the wonderful aroma of warm tobacco. Also, my curing shed smells like weeds when I first start housing green leaf, but once some of it has begun to color, the aroma grows more and more inviting.

Bob

 

[mwaller]

Thanks, guys. Sounds like I will be good with just a crock pot and a temperature controller.

 

[Smokin Harley]

You should probably ask Bob. I just get mine until they smell good, then let them sit in a deep drawer in my tobacco room for a few months, or roll some and sit them in one of my cedar humidors for 6 months before I ever touch them. Then again, I'm partial to cedar. And I have plenty of tobacco built up now. The only thing I'm missing now is some WLT leaves I like. We're gone in July, so I'll probably put in an order in August.

hey Dave, im not growing this year since we moved...in fact ,I just got back from a log days drive and meanwhile we got our internet hooked up.. i packed my 2016 crop into clear gasketed tubs to move, I packed it just after a long rainy week (back in March) so I wouldn't shatter them. they scrunched and packed quite tight . I cracked a tub open just to get a whiff and they are much sweeter smelling .

 

[mwaller]

Picked up the housing for my kiln yesterday. I dare say it looks "elegant!"

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Picked up the housing for my kiln yesterday. I dare say it looks "elegant!"
View attachment 20890

Sure does. I just had the thought that the glass door would help with the temptation to open it and look at the tobacco.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

+1 on that glass door.

 

[greenmonster714]

Nice. Isn't that a wine cooler?

 

[mwaller]

Yep - 50 bottle wine cooler. Found it free on Craigslist.

 

[Smokin Harley]

Picked up the housing for my kiln yesterday. I dare say it looks "elegant!"
View attachment 20890

makes a better humidor...just sayin

 

[mwaller]

makes a better humidor...just sayin

Probably true... but, I don't think any of my tupperware containers are large enough to fit a crock pot