China Voodoo's Carotte Method

[ChinaVoodoo]

In response to a relatively common concern:

No way she would let me build a kiln in her backyard

View: https://youtu.be/EgWb6ZvqE90?si=CVpByWf7WCoGeOBr
If you want it to ferment, you'll want it to be more moist than what I have in the video.

 

[Plinsc]

Great video!

 

[ericthered]

Very nice! I'll be trying this with some of the leaf that I've harvested this year. Have you cut some off of that finished carotte and tried it?

 

[deluxestogie]

I'm not sure why folks in the 18th century didn't use a plastic bag and fiberglass tape for making carottes. I've also tried the rope-wrapping method, with a long rope tied to a steel pole in my back yard, and leaning my entire body weight into the carotte wrapping. I used this method in an attempt to make Dominican Andullo, which uses green leaf. When I unwrapped it after about a month, it was partly rotted and partly moldy. (And I made a lot of otherwise nice, braided nylon rope icky.)

Dominican Andullo Curing

Dominican Andullo (plug) Andullo is an old Dominican version of a sailor's perique carotte. Dominican tobacco varieties are hung to yellow and wilt for about two weeks, then frog-legged, laid-out and rolled into a tight cylinder, wrapped in canvas, then snugly wound with rope. The carotte is...

fairtradetobacco.com

Bob

[This thread has been added to our Index of Key Forum Threads.]

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Very nice! I'll be trying this with some of the leaf that I've harvested this year. Have you cut some off of that finished carotte and tried it?

I have not. I made it last night.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I would like to add that it could be more moist when doing this. If you add too much water, it will ooze as you add pressure.

 

[ericthered]

I have not. I made it last night.

I didn't mean the one you wrapped up in the video, I meant the one that you showed unwrapped, in the beginning, as an example of a finished carotte.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I didn't mean the one you wrapped up in the video, I meant the one that you showed unwrapped, in the beginning, as an example of a finished carotte.

Oh yeah! I've smoked three of them from that batch, and I have done a number of small ones like the one I made in the video. It is worth it, for sure.

 

[ericthered]

You mentioned in the video that the unwrapped one was from a couple years ago, what would be the minimum amount of time you would keep one of these wrapped up?

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

You mentioned in the video that the unwrapped one was from a couple years ago, what would be the minimum amount of time you would keep one of these wrapped up?

If it was already fermented and simply about making a blend, a day in a warm place would be enough. If it is about aging it, I would wait a month, minimum. But that's why you might make several and just smoke one at a time.

 

[Figuring it out]

I've been looking for info on this for a while, but didn't know what to call it! I was just about to start building your Invertabrate Kiln but rolling carrottes like this make more sense for my setup, if it works. Please let me know if I understand this process right:

1. Color cure the leaves
2. Make sure the leaves are well in case, then wrap as you did in your video
3. Let it sit for at least a month

This page talks through a few more steps and includes several pressings / wrappings.

So my questions are:

1. Could I use this method instead of a kiln altogether?
2. Should the carrottes be stored at a particular temperature?
3. Is there a wood-smoking aspect to this? I've purchased mapacho this way and there was definitely some smoke involved based on the smell and flavor

Thank you so much!
Chris

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I've been looking for info on this for a while, but didn't know what to call it! I was just about to start building your Invertabrate Kiln but rolling carrottes like this make more sense for my setup, if it works. Please let me know if I understand this process right:

1. Color cure the leaves
2. Make sure the leaves are well in case, then wrap as you did in your video
3. Let it sit for at least a month

This page talks through a few more steps and includes several pressings / wrappings.

So my questions are:

1. Could I use this method instead of a kiln altogether?
2. Should the carrottes be stored at a particular temperature?
3. Is there a wood-smoking aspect to this? I've purchased mapacho this way and there was definitely some smoke involved based on the smell and flavor

Thank you so much!
Chris

You understand correctly with your first 1,2,3.

My understanding is that Andullo is wrapped while it's still curing and therefore is similar but not the same. I think there's some expertise involved that we can only guess at. I know about south American wrope tobacco (amerelinho?) they use partially cured leaf as well, and since that tobacco is going to have a lot of moisture, which escapes during curing, the pressure decreases, so they have to retighten the rope.

Your questions:
1. You can do either/and
2. I store mine at room temperature but that's not because I've figured anything out
3. They may be using wood to heat their curing barns. They may call it air cured, but if you really want to get technical, you might call it lightly fire cured. If you like it that way, you can certainly duplicate it. But then again, they might be burning something we/you don't have.

My fire cure is done with a temperature controller managing an intake fan that feeds smoke into a curing box made with lumber and cement board. Temperature should be around - - see next post. The burner is nearly suffocated when the fan is not running.

I still haven't figured out a way to evenly humidify it so I try to avoid loading with overly green tobacco.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Proper fire curing instructions:

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/agr/agr152/agr152.pdf

I let it yellow at a lower temperature because I was getting olive coloured leaves, then raised it up for drying.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Ok. Here's an experimental one made with all of my dirty Greenwood lugs that dried on the plants. I washed them in rain water, took out larger stems and wrapped with Nostrano. You can see its got plenty of moisture. You can imagine what lugs are like. While there was some variety, they were mostly thin and pale. Probably not much to smoke. I'll open it up in a month and we will see if it's gotten better, worse, or stayed the same.

 

[Figuring it out]

Thank you for those posts, @ChinaVoodoo! For you, what is the advantage of fire-curing versus air-curing? The air is pretty dry around here, so hung leaves are drying quickly, would fire-curing be mostly for humid environments where that wouldn't happen?

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Thank you for those posts, @ChinaVoodoo! For you, what is the advantage of fire-curing versus air-curing? The air is pretty dry around here, so hung leaves are drying quickly, would fire-curing be mostly for humid environments where that wouldn't happen?

I do it for the flavour and to save space. I can pile leaves in a cardboard box until almost fully yellow, then have them fully fire cured within a week. Also, I fire cure Greenwood because its supposed to be.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Thank you for those posts, @ChinaVoodoo! For you, what is the advantage of fire-curing versus air-curing? The air is pretty dry around here, so hung leaves are drying quickly, would fire-curing be mostly for humid environments where that wouldn't happen?

As for humidity, I think it complicates things because you're creating a whole new environment for the tobacco.

However, this isn't entirely different from fire curing. The first step to both methods is to have some way(s) of maintaining humidity in Alberta or Idaho.... or making it irrelevant.

Maintaining could be as simple as draping it with a tarp to as complicated as a sealed room with a controlled humidifier. Irrelevance can be achieved by picking it when it's yellow, or piling it until its yellow. No matter the humidity, it can't dry green.

 

[johnny108]

Any chance this video can be mirrored on an alternate site, or a step by step with pictures?

I’m banned from YouTube, and no one else in the house has an account.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Any chance this video can be mirrored on an alternate site, or a step by step with pictures?

I’m banned from YouTube, and no one else in the house has an account.

l will remove the adult filter for a few days. You won't have to log into an account to watch it.

 

[TigerTom]

Any chance this video can be mirrored on an alternate site, or a step by step with pictures?

I’m banned from YouTube, and no one else in the house has an account.

Can you not open a Gmail account? I don't have a specific YouTube account, but when I'm logged into Gmail I can open a separate browser tab, go to YouTube, and watch all of ChinaVoodoo's videos with no problem.