r/GrowingTobacco

I’m trying to ferment some cigar leaves and the process is making my leaves very thin and transparent. My current process: Mist and bundle about ten leaves tightly in rubber bands and wrap them in a moist towel. Wrap a heating pad around that and run at 125f for 8 hours. What you’re seeing is about 4 sessions of that.

Has anyone encountered this issue? I’m wondering if the humidity is too high. It’s probably somewhere around 90-95%

Thanks

I’ll post the actual cigars right after I post this. I don’t know why I’m not able to post photos with a video on Reddit. This was my first ever cigar, and the mold really helped make it half decent.

It’s Virginia Gold. Planted outside on 7/2. It’s hot out here in the desert and this week will be up to 110°. They’ll be okay though because they’ve already endured temperatures up to 118°. I’m
Hoping they’ll flower soon so I could harvest some of the leaves.

Virginia Golds planted april 1st.

Hi, I have topped my plants about 15 days ago. They look super green bottom to top still. Should i go ahead and color cure them?

Pic : havana 142 going crazy large this year. Awesome growing season we have around here.

Update from a first-year grower in CT. My grandfather and I have been growing tobacco all summer and the Cuban Criollo 98 is just about done.

Been hanging them in the basement with a fan and dehumidifier running. Just checked the readings and I think I've got a problem — humidity has dropped as low as 45%, currently sitting at 64%, and temp is around 80°F. Photo attached.

Went and touched the leaves and they feel really dry and crispy. Definitely not the soft leather feel I've read about.

A few questions:

1. Should I shut the dehumidifier off? Feels like I've dried them out too fast running it this whole time.

2. Is there any way to save the ones that already got crispy? Or are they done for? I was thinking about stacking them in a sealed tote with a damp towel inside to try and rehydrate them — anyone tried that?

3. I'm about to harvest the Connecticut Shade next and the leaves came out really small. Planning to use those as filler and binder instead of wrapper. A lot of them have holes from bugs chewing on them all summer — not many clean ones. Are the ones with holes worth saving, or should I just toss anything that isn't clean?

Any advice appreciated. Learning as we go here.

Hello, first time grower here, my tobacco has finished air drying after 7 days towel curing. Some of the leaves have these large brown spots that developed near the end of towel curing, and they look different from other leaf issues I have seen posted. When the leaves still had moisture the spots had a stronger sweeter fermented tobacco smell compared to the leaves that wre fully yellow. A couple of the leaves had white fuzzy mold on the a couple of the brown spots and wre discarded, but the rest have fully dried without any signs of mold.

Wondering if anyone has any insight into what caused it and if it is harmful or harmless? Thanks in advance

I didn’t have time to get them in towels after I harvested. also need some identification help, I asked AI what it thinks but if the experts could check please let me know. It’s been outside 2 days

left to right top to bottom
CT Broadleaf: 1, 8, 10
VA 116: 7, 9
VA Gold: 3, 6
MD 609: 2, 4
Hyang Cho: 5
Stag Horn: none obvious

I want to dry it as quickly as possible, without wasting time,
I have a dehumidifier, which keeps the room between 40 and 50%, which is probably too low, because the leaves crack and dry too quickly (green),
What is the ideal percentage for drying tobacco quickly?

All and all was an excellent and fun season. The Bosikappal is my all time favourite of the last 6 years. It's an amazing looking plant that has a surprisingly good yield. It cured super well and smells amazing already. Stag Horn is amazing, grows huge, excellent yield and easy to cure. It makes my list of possible regrows. Orinoco was the black sheep this year. It was slow to start, slow to grow and has a very low yield for the time it takes to grow. It cured ok but wasn't easy. I ended up with quite a few smaller, uncured leaves that I tossed. It has a great story but I wouldn't grow it again, the yield is not worth the time and effort put into growing it. I'll be leaving all the tobacco in bins for a few weeks and bag it to age down the road. It will sit 12-18 months keeping my rotation stash well stocked with yearly additions since 2021. Next up, I'll be doing GC-1, Little yellow and more Bosikappal next year.

Finally all wrapped up growing and my hands are hanging… but I’ve noticed a number of small black bumps on the undersides of the leaves, any idea what they might be?… poop or bug eggs, they’re on there pretty good I’m hoping they’re easier to pick off once they’re done curing.

Experimenting with different ways to cure my tobacco - this one went from green to brown in like 24 hours, and immediately super crispy and dry. Colour looks fine to me, but I've also never had it happen in less than a week lol.

According to gauge RH was 75% ish, around 30C, but this one was on bottom where I'm assuming it was both hotter and dryer.

Hello,

This is my first time fermenting home-grown tobacco, and I've run into a problem. After my first restack of the leave stack, some leaves are showing mold at the stem.

My process so far:

Leaves air-dried for about 5 weeks (very dry weather during that time)

Leaves looked dry near the stem too

To rehydrate I placed them in a plastic tub, misted with water, covered with a lid and let rest for one day

Then stacked the hydrated leaves (around 15) very tight into a stack

After 5 days, did my first check. while restacking I found mold on the stems of several leaves (look up photo)

Questions:

Could the stems have still held moisture even though the stems looked brittle, before I rehydrated the leaves?

Was the rehydration too heavy or uneven.

Was the stack too small or to tight?

Should I restack more often next time?

Would really appreciate advice

Thanks you very much!

Hi, first time grower here. Not sure if i should harvest my plants yet or if i should wait a little longer. The strain is Badischer Geudertheimer, it's an old variety from Germany. I will probably try to roll some cigars with it. Thanks!

I have an unused closet in my house and thought that would be great to hang leaves in as it has a vent and I can controller humidity with a 80mm usb fan. Made 2 racks oit of old coat hangers and will be harvesting the rest of my plants in the coming week to dry. Give me your thoughts and opinions. Please and thanks. The leaves in the back on fishing line are temporary btw.