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Processing tobacco at home. How to dry tobacco at home: recommendations

Before being put on sale under the guise of smoking tobacco, tobacco leaves are first subjected to preparatory operations: sorting, wetting, leaching, removing leaf nerves, rolling, etching, tinting.

It is clear that not all of the specified processing methods apply to any given T., the final processing consists of cutting, drying, sifting and packaging.

Sorting- very painstaking and important operation; they entrust it to an experienced worker, an expert in tobacco leaves - a sorter. Teenagers are assigned to help him by feeding, untying and removing bunches of leaves. All wrinkled or damaged leaves are selected. The best leaves are sorted by size, density, color (from yellow to dark brown). Such careful sorting is only carried out the best varieties Tobacco.

Moisturize tobacco leaves in order to give them the elasticity necessary for further processing. In the simplest case, proceed as follows: lay the leaves in bales and water the top layer. For complete and uniform penetration of moisture into the entire mass of leaves, it takes from ½ to 1 day. Another method is to pass bunches of leaves through water and place them in regular piles. In this case, time is also necessary for uniform and complete wetting. Humidification is carried out much faster and on a large scale in special devices.

One of the simplest in design is a tightly closed drum with double walls and two tubes: steam inlet and steam outlet. The drum is loaded with bunches of leaves and steam is passed through the entire mass for several seconds, then the cold water so that the steam condenses in the mass of leaves. In some cases, when, for example, cut T. has dried out, it is watered from a pump, which produces extremely fine splashes.

Leaching(to improve the quality of tobacco) produced with water, weak solutions hydrochloric acid and other substances in special presses. The press consists of a voluminous cylindrical vessel into which tobacco is loaded. Liquids are poured onto the tobacco and compressed using a hand or steam press.

Removing nerves from leaves done after sorting. The instrument is a sharp curved knife or a special incisor with two blades, which is used to immediately make an incision on both sides of the main nerve (only this nerve is removed). Sometimes two blades mounted in a table parallel to each other, at a distance of the thickness of a nerve, are used for this purpose. By passing the sheet over these knives, the nerve is removed. The nerves and petioles are difficult to burn and give tobacco an unpleasant, pungent odor.

Rolling. If in some varieties of tobacco the nerves are left, then the leaves are rolled (rolled) between rotating shafts. At the same time, the petioles and nerves gain the thickness of the leaf and burn more easily. The most essential part of a rolling machine consists of an endless belt that feeds the leaves to the rollers and the rollers that rotate on an axis. Sometimes peeled nerves and petioles are used for processing; To roll them, machines are equipped with a funnel through which the fine material is poured onto rollers, which are used to roll them.

Etching is that Tobacco is processed various substances, giving it a certain taste and smell. In small factories, this operation is carried out by immersing tobacco leaves, tied in small bunches, in the so-called. "sauce", and then allow the latter to drain. Other factories spray the leaves with sauce using a broom and allow the sauce time to penetrate the leaves. This can be speeded up by squeezing them. After the process of curing, or pickling, is completed, as evidenced by the softness and flexibility of the middle nerve of the leaf, the tobacco is transferred to a cutting machine. In large factories, the same presses are used for pickling as for leaching. Very often, with careless work, tobacco begins to ferment after pickling; an ammonia smell develops and the highly volatile aromatic parts introduced during etching evaporate (due to increased temperature). Fermentation is stopped by spraying the tobacco with solutions of acids (acetic, hydrochloric) or salts (table, ammonia).

Many people wonder how to make shag at home. After harvesting shag, it is dried and crushed for further use. The leaves must be fully ripe for cooking. You can tell that a plant is ready for processing by its appearance: the leaves begin to turn yellow, droop towards the ground, and a specific tobacco smell appears.

Drying shag

It’s easy to learn how to properly dry shag. Key principles to be followed:

  • dry only mature leaves;
  • drying is slow, takes on average 20-40 days;
  • after harvesting, the plants “languish” for some time;
  • The humidity in the drying room should not be high.

Arrange the plants in 2 rows in your shed, shed, or attic. The bases of the stems should be laid out. A day later, tie the plants into bunches and hang them in a darkened room. Periodically move the bunches away from each other and use a spray bottle to moisten the cord or beam on which the plant is suspended.

The main goal of drying is to completely get rid of chlorophyll. Therefore, the drying process turns out to be the longest. The leaves slowly lose color and turn yellow. There is no point in letting it dry out to the maximum; the residual moisture content of the plant should be about 35%.

Shag processing

After drying, the shag will need to be processed. Separate the leaves from the stems and place them in a meat grinder or immersion home blender. The meat grinder will require a special grid that allows you to pass through pieces of leaves measuring 1-10 mm. The roots and stems also need to be chopped. They can be chopped with a simple cleaver or ground in a mortar.

All dried plants are sorted out first. Only good bunches of shag suitable for processing are processed. The remaining wet part of the stem is cut out and not processed. The chopped stems and leaves are mixed.

Fermentation of shag

After growing, many people ask the question: is it necessary to ferment shag?

Fermentation allows you to:

  • improve the taste of the tobacco plant;
  • change its aroma;
  • reduce strength;
  • reduce the content of harmful resins included in the composition.

During the fermentation process, you can experiment with the flavors of shag and achieve the desired strength. Fast way:

  1. Mix dried shag with honey. So that the plant is saturated with it.
  2. Close the honey shag in an airtight jar.
  3. Place a saucepan filled with water over low heat. Lower the jar of shag and heat it up.
  4. Open the lid on the jar, release steam, close it, immerse it back in the water.
  5. Keep the jar of shag in heated water for 2 hours, then turn off the heat and leave for another hour.
  6. Remove the shag from the jar and dry it.

If you are a heavy smoker, you may be interested in growing your own tobacco. You can learn more about this from the article on our portal -. But grow good tobacco- that's still half the battle. Even the best quality tobacco leaves can easily be ruined if they are not prepared correctly. How to prepare tobacco so that as a result you get real pleasure when smoking your cigar or pipe? This will be discussed in our article.

How to prepare smoking tobacco: process

Before fresh tobacco leaves turn into flavorful smoking tobacco, they are subjected to pre-treatment. Here big role Processes such as processing, drying, fermentation, heat treatment, cutting and others play a role. Let's take a closer look at each stage.

  1. First, sort out the tobacco leaves, throw away spoiled leaves and trash.
  2. Tie several leaves together and hang them in a well-ventilated, dark room. Drying should continue for at least three weeks. During the drying process, unwanted substances are removed from the tobacco leaves. harmful substances, the taste and aroma of tobacco is formed. Retains when air dried large number nicotine
  3. Tobacco must be fermented. During this process it changes chemical composition tobacco leaves. Fermentation always occurs under pressure: either the own weight of the leaves, or with the help of special devices, for example, under a powerful press. IN industrial production For example, tobacco leaves are stacked high in a dark room. Under the influence of pressure and lack of oxygen, chemical processes begin in the lower layers. Then the lower leaves are taken out and others are put in. At home with small quantities tobacco leaves, the process is greatly simplified. Just carefully place the leaves in a plastic bag, tie it and place it in a dark place. Evidence that the fermentation process was successful will be a change in the color of the leaves - they will turn from green to brownish-yellow.
  4. Heat treatment is carried out using hot air or steam. Carefully cut the tobacco leaves with a knife. Place a sheet of baking paper on a baking sheet. Spread the tobacco in a thin layer and dry at a temperature of about 100 degrees. When the tobacco darkens, it is time to turn off the oven. Be careful not to burn the tobacco. You can store finished tobacco in ceramic or porcelain dishes or in a fabric bag.

It's no secret that filling modern cigarettes is more of a pulp and paper mixture with the addition of combustion activators than real tobacco. Therefore, many amateurs practice growing tobacco on their own and making cigarettes on their own.

In addition to choosing the right variety and following agricultural cultivation techniques, to obtain a high-quality smoking mixture you will need to know how to properly dry self-sown tobacco.

How to properly dry tobacco at home

It is best to dry tobacco leaves in a room with low humidity and poor air circulation. Most often, a regular shed is used for this purpose.

It is advisable to dry tobacco leaves at home by stringing them on a cord to ensure the most uniform access of air to all leaves. The duration of the preliminary stage of drying (simmering) tobacco is several days. Sign proper drying Tobacco leaves are characterized by partial yellowing of the leaf blade, absence of signs of rotting and preservation of the green color in the main part of the leaf area. After this, you can proceed to the so-called fixation stage, during which the tobacco leaves are completely dried.

Note

An important requirement for drying tobacco at home is the absence of strong wind in the area where the frames with tobacco leaves are installed, since strong gusts can damage the leaf plate and render the product unusable.

There are several ways to dry smoking tobacco at home. One of the most common options is to dry the tobacco in the sun. To do this, the leaves are strung on cords secured in special frames and placed in a sunlit place.

How long to dry your tobacco will depend on many factors. First of all, they play a role weather conditions: air temperature and humidity, presence and strength of wind, and so on. In addition, the type of tobacco, the characteristics of the soil on which it was grown, and similar conditions have an impact. In most cases, the period for drying tobacco at home is from 20 to 40 days, depending on the factors listed above.

There are also special rooms where you can dry tobacco. In particular, during steam drying, pipes pass through the room in which the leaves are dried, providing high temperature and low humidity. At the same time, the use similar methods not always suitable. For example, Turkish tobacco can only be dried in the sun.

The next stage is fermentation of the leaves, which consists of the transformation of a number of substances. Contained in tobacco leaves and their acquisition of properties that favorably affect the smell and taste of the resulting smoke.

Regarding the question of whether tobacco leaves can be dried in the oven, clarification will be required. Dry fresh leaves smoking tobacco This method is not recommended, since if moisture evaporates too quickly, the required chemical composition of the sheet will not be provided, which will cause deterioration taste qualities manufactured smoking mixture.

The oven is usually used to ferment tobacco, the final stage of preparing the leaves of this plant for use as a smoking mixture. To do this, the midrib of the leaves, previously dried in the manner described above, is removed, cut into thin strips and placed in glass jars, filling them two-thirds full. The jars are hermetically sealed with lids, placed in the oven and the temperature is set to about 50 degrees for seven days.

The situation regarding whether it is possible to dry tobacco leaves in the microwave is actually similar. The procedure for drying tobacco cannot be carried out using this technique, but if you want to adjust the chemical composition of the leaf and the taste of the smoke, this method can be used. Only in this case the fermentation time is reduced to several minutes. The method of preparing the leaves for fermentation is similar to that used for the oven.

Considering the incredible prices for tobacco products In our country, the population is becoming more and more interested in tobacco growing. Moreover, what attracts people is not so much the opportunity to reduce the costs of their addiction, but rather the receipt of truly high-quality products, and not the saltpeter that is packaged in cigarettes.

Growing tobacco is not that difficult. Some are much more difficult to complete. These include fermenting tobacco at home. By the way, what is this anyway?

It's quite complicated biochemical process, which is performed over two to three weeks under conditions of constant temperature (50 degrees Celsius) and humidity.

Fermentation produces aromatic and quality tobacco even from shag. Of course, the smell will be weak, but still better than the original raw material. In short, fermenting tobacco at home is not only a useful process, but also absolutely necessary.

After collecting, the leaves need to be hung in a drying room, and do not forget about the container with water. The latter serves for leveling. Note that the room must have good ventilation, otherwise the leaves will simply become moldy.

They should dry from three weeks to one and a half months, depending on the variety. Then they need to be sprinkled with water, to which honey has previously been added, from a spray bottle (it is better to use spring water). Honey is added at the rate of a teaspoon to a mug of water.

After tobacco use at home, it enters a new stage. The leaves are placed tightly, closed as securely as possible and kept for 12 hours. Under no circumstances should there be green areas on them, as such raw materials will simply rot! It is better to cut all the greens in advance.

After the leaves become soft, roll them up (or put them in bundles), place them in a glass jar with tightly ground lids and place it in a fermentation cabinet. It is very important to know that the temperature inside it must be strictly 50. The humidity of the leaves throughout the process must be maintained at 50%.

Exactly two weeks later, we increase the humidity to 75%, after which the fermentation of tobacco at home continues for another 7 days. During this week you need to increase the temperature to 70 degrees. After this, you can open the lid and smell the tobacco: if there is a pleasant and rich aroma, then everything worked out great.

The easiest way to ferment tobacco involves using regular oven(electric), the temperature in which can be set within 50 degrees.

Note that if condensation appears in the jar, the leaves must be urgently removed and dried. Water on the walls of the container - sure sign that fermentation is not going well. If you miss this moment, your product will simply rot.

There are different ways tobacco fermentation, but almost all of them are designed for industrial conditions. The technique we described makes it possible to obtain excellent raw materials at home. The costs are minimal.