Haroon's grow log 2025

[vktr]

Got it, thanks.

 

[The Haroo ln]

Are these nets to prevent cross pollination or protect against insects?

Yep sure is. I was growing 3 different varieties.

 

[The Haroo ln]

3 weeks of curing for the piloto cubano seco leaves i had a few that moulded so binned them but still left with around 19 leaves, so still happy with that. Just bringing them up to case now to stick into the fermentation fridge. Hopefully they ferment beautifully!

 

[The Haroo ln]

Here is the criollo 98 which is curing nicely as well as the piloto viso and ligero leaves. Those piloto leaves are curing to a lovely dark brown. My camera doesn't do the colours justice! I can see some lovely maduro leaves in there!

 

[The Haroo ln]

Been a while since my last post but, its just been a wait for my leaves to cure. Below is my fermentation fridge with all the piloto from this season on the bottom and most of my criollo 98 on the middle shelf. Been fermenting for around 1 week now. Ignore the 2 homemade cigarillos on the top. I have a new cigarillo mold that a friend made for me and just wanted to try that out. I had no wrapper leaves from last year so I used a criollo 98 leave from this year's grow, hence why its still in the fermentation fridge.

 

[The Haroo ln]

Here is around 1 week in fermentation. The top is all my piloto, second shelf is all my criollo 98 from this years grow and the bottom shelf is most of my corojo 99. I still have 2 racks of corojo air curing for at least another 2-4 weeks. It should give me a chance to finish fermenting the piloto and open up some space for the rest of the corojo.

 

[Knucklehead]

Here is around 1 week in fermentation. The top is all my piloto, second shelf is all my criollo 98 from this years grow and the bottom shelf is most of my corojo 99. I still have 2 racks of corojo air curing for at least another 2-4 weeks. It should give me a chance to finish fermenting the piloto and open up some space for the rest of the corojo.

Good looking leaf and you have some nice cigar varieties there.

 

[The Haroo ln]

Around 2 weeks in for the criollo 98 and approx 1.5 weeks for the corojo 99 inside the towel. The fermentation fridge smells very sweet and fruity with a little ammonia smell in the background. The crazy thing is that when its not raining you can actually smell a sweet baked bread smell in my garden from my shed! The rest of the corojo 99 is still hanging to dry, it seems like its taking forever but then again the weather for the last week and a half has chilled down quite a bit with rain almost every day. After unravelling the towel of corojo 99 it smells like a dark chocolate smell with a slight sweetness. Reminds me of Don pepin/my father cigars. Looking forward to smoking it once its fermented, rested and then rolled!

Side notes: please ignore the brown stains on the sides of the fridge. Thats from when I had the fridge full w8th all the piloto in there too and the condensation caused the tobacco juices to drip. I will clean it out thoroughly once this batch has finished. The little baking racks on the side are there so the tobacco doesn't touch the walls of the fridge.

 

[StoneCarver]

The little baking racks on the side are there so the tobacco doesn't touch the walls of the fridge.

That's a good idea! I'll have to remember that one whilst I'm finishing up the kiln I'm building.

 

[The Haroo ln]

2nd batch of corojo99 fermenting for about 1 and 1/2 weeks. Its looking nice and smelling like chocolate! Pics of my temp controller showing how its setup for the new fermentors, ignore the 96f reading as i had just opened the fridge to air out the tobacco for a few mins and it was a cold morning approx 6°c. Winter is definitely coming here in the UK!