Hello from San Diego! @DrewG

[DrewG]

My name is Drew and I started growing tobacco for cigars on a whim and now I’m deep down the rabbit hole. It’s been fascinating and has given me much respect for the craftsmanship that goes into premium cigars.
I have Havana, broadleaf and criollo varieties that I’ve stalk cut and are color curing in my shed. I built a kiln out of a cheap cooler with a seedling heating mat and an Inkbird temp controller holding things at 120F. I have some test leaves at high case in ziplocs, to preserve humidity, in the kiln. Seems to be working just as expected.
However, I have searched the FAQ, posts and even gotten Bob’s book and I can’t seem to find consensus on the cues people use to determine when fermentation is “complete.” Smell? Feel? Color? A combination of these? Simply just time (4-8 weeks seems typical)? What does “complete” look like for you? I’d like to know what I’m looking for and not just rely on time.
Thanks everyone. Looking forward to being part of the community.
Drew

 

[The Haroo ln]

Hi, welcome!

Fermentation times for homemade kilns held between 120f -130f is usually 4-6 weeks although some growers leave some tobaccos for 8 weeks. I believe its more a matter of personal taste and opinion. I kilned my first ever grow of habano 2000 last year for 4 weeks. I then let it air out for 2-3 weeks and then decided to kiln it again for another week. After letting it air out for 2 months after that, I tried to burn a few leaves from different primings and they refused to stay lit. So I made another cheap kiln out of a larder fridge using a crockpot for both heat and humidity on a temp controller I killed for 1 more week. Then let the leaves air out for another 1 month and then cut a few down to try in my pipe. Lo and behold it burns fine and taste brilliant!! It's nice to smoke a cigar strain in a pipe. So again to reiterate its a matter of personal opinion and taste. You'll know when they are a ready.

1 last piece of advice to you would be, don't rush. Just set the temp to approx 122f-128f and keep the humidity at around 70-80% and let the tobacco fairy's work their magic.

 

[deluxestogie]

Welcome to the forum. Kiln temp should be above 122°F, to avoid vegetative mold growth. I usually set my kiln temp controller to stay between 123°F to 128°F. I think about 6 weeks of constant kilning gets the job done. But in order to avoid worrying about brief periods when the Crockpot runs dry, I settled on 8 weeks and no worry.

Your question regarding end point can simply be answered by: none. Kilning gets a lot of aging done quickly. But it's never done aging. Resting for weeks after kilning always alters the product. Resting for months and years after kilning always alters the product. My sense is that by about 10 years, I am unlikely to detect further aging (or I can no longer remember what it used to be like).

Bob

 

[DrewG]

Thanks guys. Sounds like six weeks in the kiln is the recommendation. I’ll give that a shot and report on what I notice in the tobacco at that point with understanding that it will continue to age after kilning.
Drew

 

[Knucklehead]

Welcome. Thank you for joining us.

 

[Alpine]

Welcome to FTT

pier

 

[jclif43]

Welcome!