Maryland varieties, much like burley varieties, generally need little rest after kilning. The dark varieties require more love and understanding.
Bob
Tobaccofieldsforever 2022 Grow Log
- Thread starter Tobaccofieldsforever
- Start date
Bob
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
I was very happy with the Krumovgrad I grew this year. The plant ended up being quite tall (none of my orientals were topped) with many of them approaching 7 ft. In height. The leaf spacing leaves something to be desired. It is quite “leggy”, especially in comparison to Prilep. It makes up for this in leaf size and yield. My Krumovgrad yield was considerably higher than my Prilep yield with the same number of plants (actually had less Krumovgrad due to losing one early on.) it is a lovely, sweet, rich smoke that I will certainly be growing again!!
1 month kilned Krumovgrad.
1 month kilned Krumovgrad.
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
Was wondering why my orientals turn out a darker brown/auburn color when the stuff from WLT can be very blonde/gold? I sun cured mine but maybe the sun in Greece (I think?) is more intense causing more of a flue cured outcome?? Any ideas…?
Level of maturity/ripeness can influence color.
FAQ about Turkish tobaccos
istanbulin, I understand that you are providing the dimensions for traditional, row-planted tobacco. In intensive/biodynamic gardening, the assumption is that the soil between the rows is only minimally available to roots, due to soil compaction. I grow nothing in traditional row planting, but...
I have had batches of golden and batches of deeper brown. My guess is that primed leaf is fully color-cured in the sun more rapidly than portions of the stalk-cured leaf. Most Oriental tobacco grown in Turkey, Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, etc. is primed and strung for sun-curing. They have to satisfy a market expectation of leaf size and leaf color. The Oriental tobacco varieties that I have grown are harvested and cured in a manner selected for my convenience. Some of mine comes out golden, some not so golden. How much time does my "sun-cured" leaf spend in the shed, avoiding rain? I suspect that good sun exposure during the initial part of that 2-3 week period of color-curing has more impact (i.e. lighter final color) than an equal sun exposure later during color-curing. But I'm not sure of that.
Another factor is the ambient humidity during the color-curing process. The higher the ambient humidity, the darker the leaf ultimately color-cures.
Do they taste different? Probably. But every year of every variety tastes different anyway. And I'm happy with that.
Bob
Another factor is the ambient humidity during the color-curing process. The higher the ambient humidity, the darker the leaf ultimately color-cures.
Do they taste different? Probably. But every year of every variety tastes different anyway. And I'm happy with that.
Bob
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
Yes, I am very familiar with that post and chart and have referred to it often. I tried to harvest and cure asap without being too early but now that I look at that chart again the cured leaves look a lot like mine. It is just a testament to the quality of leaf don is able to obtain. The orientals are outstanding and beautifully colored.Level of maturity/ripeness can influence color.
FAQ about Turkish tobaccos
istanbulin, I understand that you are providing the dimensions for traditional, row-planted tobacco. In intensive/biodynamic gardening, the assumption is that the soil between the rows is only minimally available to roots, due to soil compaction. I grow nothing in traditional row planting, but...fairtradetobacco.com
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
Yes, I generally encounter high humidity and wet conditions(sometimes they get hit with a storm I didn’t anticipate or are soaked by the morning dew much more than I would like) and the sunny conditions here are not anything to brag about. I am happy with the tobacco but was just curious about that color difference I observed.
Is your leaf kilned? Mine gets darker during kilning.
Alpine
Moderator
Mine too.
pier
pier
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
Yes, all the leaf i kilned got considerably darker it seemed. It’s good tobacco so I’m not concerned…just curious.
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
I am VERY impressed with how my hybrid (bright x burley f3) turned out this year. I just smoked it straight in a cigarette to test it and liked it so much I had to finish the whole thing! Perfectly balanced and tasty ( this is what I was going for when making the cross but really had little hope it would turn out that way!!) I wish I knew more about the burley I used. It is a green stem variety that I purchased from a small business near my home. They were nice looking transplants labeled “burley”. This place has always put the variety (shirey,Virginia gold, etc…) on the label every other time so this must be how the seed was sold to them. It was very difficult to cure. It kept wanting to flash dry green, even when stalk curing. I eventually had to cure what I had left of it in a tote and spritz it with water every so often. Anyway, great stuff!!
