Yes I do !darwindesign wrote: ↑Fri Nov 13, 2020 1:38 pmDo you have any thoughts on moisture content of the tobacco prior to extraction?

Yes I do !darwindesign wrote: ↑Fri Nov 13, 2020 1:38 pmDo you have any thoughts on moisture content of the tobacco prior to extraction?
Once you are confident they have gotten to below 70% RH put them in a ziplock and freeze them so you can stop worrying about it. There is a gov study out there somewhere that outlines time tables but basically if your using your house freezer go 72hrs. If you have a deep freeze at -10 this goes down to something like nine hours plus the time to get down to temp. This will kill 100% of the larva.
I've had cigars get lost in the mail and dry out. After slow rehydrating and giving them as much as a years rest they never came back to what they were. They always tasted like a cheaper imitation. I also had a friend who imported hundreds of boxes of his own custom cigar for resale. They got trapped in customs for an extended period of time and nothing he did could bring them to a state to where he was willing to even give them away. These were Indonesian puros which one would think should be forgiving as they are not exactly subtle in flavor.From what I've read, some of the flavor components of a cigar are volatile and may evaporate off with the water if allowed to dry out. Which is one of the reasons why some claim that once your cigars dry out they are ruined.
The humidity of the leaves of paid attention to at all stages of the process. The raw leaves are not stored wet as that would mold and increase chances of larva hatching. The leaves are too delicate to be rolled without wetting however so there is no way around this. As soon as they are rolled there first stop is an extended stay in a drying room with controlled humidity. That being said I think they often shipped upwards of 75RH as they are MUCH less prone to damage when they are this wet.The interesting thing though is that people rolling cigars are pretty liberal with water use to make the leaves pliable, so they have to be dried out, but I suppose the drying is in a controlled manner to prevent splitting of the cigar.
Yes, I learned that trick the hard way. I noticed some hatched beetles in my "Tupperdor." I think from an Organic Pennsylvania Broadleaf. Fortunately it was winter. I was able to put the whole Tupperware bin in an unheated garage for a few days during a cold spell. No way it would've fit in my freezer. From now on I will always freeze everything before it goes in the Tupperdor.Once you are confident they have gotten to below 70% RH put them in a ziplock and freeze them so you can stop worrying about it.
I wondered about that. I've read some people mentioning that part of the problem of rehydrating is the time involved for the moisture to reach the center without creating an imbalance. It made me think that perhaps enough time wasn't allowed to rehydrate, but it sounds like even after a year they didn't have the same quality.After slow rehydrating and giving them as much as a years rest they never came back to what they were.
That would be a revealing test.Once I get around to picking up some more jars i'll do a side by side with one dried out and one not and report back. Seems like an interesting test to me.
I don't think putting a tupperdor in a cold spot like that might be the best idea. The less air, the faster the freeze, which should minimize moisture shift in the leaves themselves. Also the larve is surprisingly resistant even in cold temperatures. A quick freeze will kill any beatles and a significant amount of larve but getting from 'some' to 'all' takes time. All the risk of damage (which i've never experienced) is in the freeze/thaw cycle so it's best make sure you got them the first time.CAAB wrote: ↑Sun Nov 15, 2020 3:56 amYes, I learned that trick the hard way. I noticed some hatched beetles in my "Tupperdor." I think from an Organic Pennsylvania Broadleaf. Fortunately it was winter. I was able to put the whole Tupperware bin in an unheated garage for a few days during a cold spell.
The problem most people have is they push it too fast and split the wrapper (assuming it didn''t split when it dried out). Stored at a constant humidity a cigar should normalize completely within a week in my experience. There is a high likelihood of this kicking off some level of fermentation which produces ammonia. The extended rest is to give time for this process, if it happens, to finish. In reality after a month it is probably the best of whatever it's going to be. I have yet to rescue one that worth the trouble.I've read some people mentioning that part of the problem of rehydrating is the time involved for the moisture to reach the center without creating an imbalance.
I can't say I know what your talking about with pipe tobaccos not being given special consideration. I'm fairly limited in my knowledge of them but they most definitely have humidity levels they should be stored at and i've not known any pipe smoker that didn't keep their loose tobacco in sealed jars. Perhaps it just seems that way as with hardier leaves and not needing to worry about physical damage you don't have to take the same measures that you do with cigars. From what I understand it is standard practice for pipe smokers to add distilled water to their jars when they can feel the tobacco is drying out. The "drying" process prior to packing a pipe is fairly short and I don't think this produces a moisture level all that different inside the leaves as what you started with. If you pack a bowl and let it sit overnight before lighting it generally tastes quite different than a quick dry on a plate.I think when pipe tobaccos aren't given special consideration in terms of humidity it's because they typically have casing that possibly binds to the more sensitive flavor components.
Right ! and I recall your comments were basically exactly that, you thought I was being much too OCD about it !!Kinnikinnick wrote: ↑Wed Nov 18, 2020 11:02 amBack in the day, Peter and I discussed this topic a bit.
Really ???Kinnikinnick wrote: ↑Wed Nov 18, 2020 11:02 amI’ve macerated +/- 75 different tobaccos (tinned, bulk, and/or whole leaf), (...) They’ve all turned out fine