Proper sun curing

[Knucklehead]

As an aside, I'm sun curing inside bud bags. It seems to be easier for me to move the leaf around while crispy without damaging it. I'm laying the bag on it's side on the cement and turning it once a day. I started out laying it on moist soil in a plant container but the ground side of the leaf was always very moist when I turned the bag so I went to the cement. I'm positioning the bag with the side of the stack of leaves exposed to the sun. It's curing from the edges to the center.

 

[istanbulin]

There're a lot of questions so I want to try to answer all in a post.

First of all, I did sun cure some of my tobacco this year in by covering them with transparent plastic coat. I wilted them for a day in shade and ut them directly to the sun (under a plastic coat). Temperature in the plastic "tent" was about 40-45 C (highest) RH was higher than 80%, both temperature and RH was not controlable. In Istanbul I couldn't get yellow colored leaves due to high humidity in drying stage, the color was very light brown. But I carried some of my green leaves to İzmir with me and I got golden yellow colored leaves because RH was lower in drying stage (with the same procedure). I didn't get even a single green leaf this year with sun curing (both in İstanbul and in İzmir). So the initial color of the leaf is very dependent to your climate (RH etc.). This also affects the taste of the tobacco, for example the Balıkesir leaves I sun-cured in Istanbul was more brownish and I didn't liked its taste but the leaves sun-cured in İzmir was bright yellow and the taste was really different which I liked much. Both of them were sun-cured but at different locations. So sun-cured is sun-cured but this never means that they'll taste same.

It's normal to get brown edges in sun-cured leaves, because as you know curing starts from the edges to the middle of the leaf. Plastic covering are really useful to avoid from green dried leaves.

Here's a tobacco curing (sun-curing) greenhouse drawing.

 

[deluxestogie]

Istanbulin,
How many days were required within the plastic tent to complete the cure?

Bob

 

[istanbulin]

Istanbulin,
How many days were required within the plastic tent to complete the cure?

Bob

It depends on the stalk position of the leaf. Uç (outz) leaves are completely cured in nearly 8-10 days while lower leaves (lugs, sandy) may cure up to 20 days (drying stage included). BTW, when the leaves in the "greenhouse" is like the photo below (70-80 % yellow), this means that it's time to open the "doors" (which are located at the two sides of the tent) of the greenhouse to let air flow and lower the RH while the weather is still sunny and hot (drying stage).

 

[skychaser]

I have been using my greenhouse to color cure this year with great success on several varieties. I hung drop clothes inside to shade the tobacco during the first days and keep the direct sun off it. It is easy to get it to 90-95 degrees in there with 80% humidity and control it by simply opening or closing the doors a little. In 4-5 days I am getting completely yellowed leaves. I can then move them into full sun inside the greenhouse or take them out to finish drying in my other shed or in the sun. I have gotten Harrow Velvet and Golden Burley to go from light green to a lovely buckskin brown, and Bolivian Criollo Black to a cocoa brown, in only 10 days. I put some Kentucky Burley in 5 days ago that is now the brightest yellow you ever saw, so I hung it out in the sun this morning to see how bright of a color I can set in. I am emptying out the whole greenhouse today and will refill it with new leaf for anther round.

The whole trick to all this is getting the right balance of temps and humidity that works in the area you live in. I would flash dry it green in no time if I hung it outside here right off.

istanbulin, Good to hear from you.

I air cured my Balikesir late in the season last year. It dried slow and ended up a dark brown. I am not the crazy about it's taste either. Next time I will cure it in the greenhouse. I did Izmir in there last year and it came out a lovely golden yellow and tastes great.

So what can you tell me about the Bucak you sent me? It's ready to pick now.

 

[skychaser]

Also, did you grow any of the "Lebanese Izmir" I sent you? Where you able to identify exactly what strain of Izmir it really is?

 

[istanbulin]

...istanbulin, Good to hear from you.

I air cured my Balikesir late in the season last year. It dried slow and ended up a dark brown. I am not the crazy about it's taste either. Next time I will cure it in the greenhouse. I did Izmir in there last year and it came out a lovely golden yellow and tastes great.

So what can you tell me about the Bucak you sent me? It's ready to pick now.

That sun-cured (yellow) Balıkesir has a sweet taste with a satisfying nicotine content, similar to a bright leaf taste but milder.

I didn't grow Bucak this year, last year's were air cured but I think if it's sun-cured into a yellow color it may taste better. As you know it's derived from a bright leaf variety.

 

[Jonesy]

Goodness where do you gentlemen get all these lovely turkish strains!!!!!

 

[Jonesy]

Now here in Texas I can plant around mid to late march. Late June July and August were hittin 100s. Seems to me I'd have to ventilate a green house to color but the that would stand to reason that my hidity would drop. Any suggestions gentlemen?

i want to grow several strains but turkish will prob be my main goal. I want to do it right or it seems like it'll be for nothing.

 

[skychaser]

As you know it's derived from a bright leaf variety.

To tell the truth, I know next to nothing about it. Except that it grew very well and produced a lot of leaf. I'll do some searches and see if its already been discussed in other posts.

 

[skychaser]

Late June July and August were hittin 100s. Seems to me I'd have to ventilate a green house to color but the that would stand to reason that my hidity would drop. Any suggestions gentlemen?.

A shed in the shade with a dirt floor might be best in those conditions. You can wet down the floor to add humidity and the evaporation will cause a little cooling too. You want to keep the temp under 100. Color curing is best done at 90-95 degrees with 80% humidity. Once the green is gone you can let the temps rise and the humidity fall to dry it completely.

I use the greenhouse to gain heat. It warms up rapidly when the sun comes up and hits the 90's in a couple hours. Then I open the doors a little and open them more as the day goes on. I'm usually around here most of the time to fiddle with it if needed through out the day which helps a lot. I wet down the gravel floor to keep the humidity up if needed and also can fill some of my watering benches. If I pack it half full or more with fresh leaf, the mass of leaves and all the water in them keeps the humidity pretty high even with the doors partially open all day. Sometimes I need to open the doors to get rip of a little water. I've been playing around with using the greenhouse to cure for a couple years now. You kind of get a feel for it after a while. At least I don's sun scald or flash cure it green anymore.

I moved all this last batch of leaf out this afternoon to another shed to finish drying. Tomorrow I will start loading it up again with fresh leaf. The first thing I am picking will be a whole lot of Prilep. Then I will pick some Yenidje. Summer is rapidly running out here and I want to try some proper sun cured.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

I did not know that nitrogen had an effect on the nicotine level of tobacco. Is it just on Turkish types, or does it apply to all tobaccos? Please
explain how this works.
Rick

According to the book " Physiology and Biochemistry of Tobacco Plants" by T.C. Tso: p.345.." One air cured tobacco (Burley 37) and one flue cured tobacco (Hicks) were produced with different rates of Nitrogen fertilization. The Nicotine content in smoke was higher whenever a high rate of Nitrogen fertilization was used" No reference to Turkish. Nicotine content and fertilization is a quite complex subject. For instance, plants grown with out a lot of water will have a higher nicotine content then plants that are irrigated regularly

 

[Hasse SWE]

According to the book " Physiology and Biochemistry of Tobacco Plants" by T.C. Tso: p.345.." One air cured tobacco (Burley 37) and one flue cured tobacco (Hicks) were produced with different rates of Nitrogen fertilization. The Nicotine content in smoke was higher whenever a high rate of Nitrogen fertilization was used" No reference to Turkish. Nicotine content and fertilization is a quite complex subject. For instance, plants grown with out a lot of water will have a higher nicotine content then plants that are irrigated regularly

Thanks really good to know

 

[Knucklehead]

I'm having better luck with my sun curing. The problem I reported earlier with my green leaf drying too fast was due to improper wilting. As Emre suggested, I'm now allowing the leaf to fully wilt in the shade before moving it into the sun. As long as the greenest leaf in the bunch is fully wilted, which is taking 2-3 days in my conditions, I've had no further problems. The leaf will go from green to yellow to brown in full sun.

 

[NRustica]

I'm going to have to remember that.

 

[Knucklehead]

I stumbled onto another rookie mistake I was making sun curing. After full wilting, some leaves are greener than others due to ripeness, stalk position, different plants, etc. and when making the stack to go outside, I would alternate colors. Green to yellow then green then yellow. I think this is backing up. They seem to do better if you group like colors together, greens with green and yellow with yellow. They can all be in the same stack, it just does better if the colors are separated rather than alternated.

 

[jekylnz]

I did not know that nitrogen had an effect on the nicotine level of tobacco. Is it just on Turkish types, or does it apply to all tobaccos? Please
explain how this works.
Rick

I noticed this last year with the water when I grew the same type in two different places..one with alot of water was definitely weaker nicotine level than the other grown in dryer conditions

I would like to give sun curing ago this year ..hopefully you guys testing the way for us will save us making the same mistakes.lol

 

[DGBAMA]

I stumbled onto another rookie mistake I was making sun curing. After full wilting, some leaves are greener than others due to ripeness, stalk position, different plants, etc. and when making the stack to go outside, I would alternate colors. Green to yellow then green then yellow. I think this is backing up. They seem to do better if you group like colors together, greens with green and yellow with yellow. They can all be in the same stack, it just does better if the colors are separated rather than alternated.

In pile curing the center leaves create their own better yellowing environment.....hence restacking piles if iunderstand correctly. Maybe use that idea of like colors together build your "pile" from center outward with greenest in the middle. Just a thought..

 

[Knucklehead]

In pile curing the center leaves create their own better yellowing environment.....hence restacking piles if iunderstand correctly. Maybe use that idea of like colors together build your "pile" from center outward with greenest in the middle. Just a thought..

The middle gets pretty wet during the day so each morning I restack with the middle out, outside in. The edges get crispy dry out in the sun, so I have to wait for the case to come up during the night before I can really handle them.

These varieties are capital letters FRAGILE. The more I fool with them, the more amazed I am that Don's imported Izmir arrives in such good shape. Mine gets tattered and torn moving it from the yard to the porch and restacking. I also don't know how Bob keeps his in such good shape that he can wrap a cigar with it. I have some air cured Samsun Maden that's not anywhere near as fragile as the sun cured. Oh, but the smell. It's like a female's perfume on your pillow. Wow.

 

[deluxestogie]

My Oriental leaf is strung on ~3' segments of 17 ga. aluminum wire. I unhook each string from where it's hanging in the shed, carry them by the ends of the wires out to the clothes line, and hook them on. Reverse at the end of the day.

Bob