Curing of tobacco
Encyclopedia
After tobacco has been harvested, it is necessary to cure it before consumption.
Uncured tobacco was often eaten, used in enemas, or drunk as extracted juice
. Tobacco contains naturally occurring nicotine which is highly lethal. One drop of pure nicotine can be fatal if consumed.
Curing tobacco has always been a process necessary to prepare the leaf for consumption. In recent time traditional curing barns in the U.S. are falling into disuse, as the trend toward using prefabricated metal curing boxes. Temporary curing boxes are often found on location at tobacco farms.
Non-aged or low quality tobacco is often flavored with these naturally occurring compounds. Tobacco flavoring is a significant source of revenue for the international multi-million dollar flavor and fragrance industry.
The aging process continues for a period of months and often extends into the post-curing harvest process.
After tobacco is cured, it is moved from the curing barn into a storage area for processing. If whole plants were cut, the leaves are removed from the tobacco stalks in a process called stripping. For both cut and pulled tobacco, the leaves are then sorted into different grades. In colonial times, the tobacco was then "prized" into hogsheads for transportation. In bright tobacco regions, prizing was replaced by stacking wrapped "hands" into loose piles to be sold at auction. Today, most cured tobacco is baled before sales are made under pre-sold contracts.
s (kiln houses), where they will be cured. Curing methods vary with the type of tobacco grown, and tobacco barn design varies accordingly.
tobaccos are air cured.
s, also traditionally called oasts). These barns have flues which run from externally fed fire boxes, heat-curing the tobacco without exposing it to smoke, slowly raising the temperature over the course of the curing. The process will generally take about a week. This method produces cigarette tobacco that is high in sugar and has medium to high levels of nicotine. The Smith Tobacco Barn
is an example of traditional, flue-cured tobacco barn.
, Greece
, Romania
and Mediterranean countries to produce oriental tobacco. Sun-cured tobacco is low in sugar and nicotine and is used in cigarettes.
History
Juice
Juice is the liquid that is naturally contained in fruit or vegetable tissue.Juice is prepared by mechanically squeezing or macerating fruit or vegetable flesh without the application of heat or solvents. For example, orange juice is the liquid extract of the fruit of the orange tree...
. Tobacco contains naturally occurring nicotine which is highly lethal. One drop of pure nicotine can be fatal if consumed.
Curing tobacco has always been a process necessary to prepare the leaf for consumption. In recent time traditional curing barns in the U.S. are falling into disuse, as the trend toward using prefabricated metal curing boxes. Temporary curing boxes are often found on location at tobacco farms.
Processes
The aging process continues for a period of months and often extends into the post-curing harvest process.
After tobacco is cured, it is moved from the curing barn into a storage area for processing. If whole plants were cut, the leaves are removed from the tobacco stalks in a process called stripping. For both cut and pulled tobacco, the leaves are then sorted into different grades. In colonial times, the tobacco was then "prized" into hogsheads for transportation. In bright tobacco regions, prizing was replaced by stacking wrapped "hands" into loose piles to be sold at auction. Today, most cured tobacco is baled before sales are made under pre-sold contracts.
Methods
Cut plants or pulled leaves are immediately transferred to tobacco barnTobacco barn
The tobacco barn, a type of functionally classified barn found in the United States, was once an essential ingredient in the process of air-curing tobacco. In the 21st century they are fast disappearing from the American landscape in places where they were once ubiquitous. The barns have declined...
s (kiln houses), where they will be cured. Curing methods vary with the type of tobacco grown, and tobacco barn design varies accordingly.
Air
Air-cured tobacco is hung in well-ventilated barns and allowed to dry over a period of four to eight weeks. Air-cured tobacco is low in sugar, which gives the tobacco smoke a light, sweet flavor, and a high nicotine content. Cigar and burleyBurley (tobacco)
Burley tobacco is a light air-cured tobacco used primarily for cigarette production. In the United States it is produced in an eight-state belt with approximately 70% produced in Kentucky. Tennessee produces approximately 20%, with smaller amounts produced in Indiana, North Carolina, Missouri,...
tobaccos are air cured.
Fire
Fire-cured tobacco is hung in large barns where fires of hardwoods are kept on continuous or intermittent low smoulder and takes between three days and ten weeks, depending on the process and the tobacco. Fire curing produces a tobacco low in sugar and high in nicotine. Pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco, and snuff are fire cured.Flue
Flue-cured tobacco was originally strung onto tobacco sticks, which were hung from tier-poles in curing barns (Aus: kilnKiln
A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, or oven, in which a controlled temperature regime is produced. Uses include the hardening, burning or drying of materials...
s, also traditionally called oasts). These barns have flues which run from externally fed fire boxes, heat-curing the tobacco without exposing it to smoke, slowly raising the temperature over the course of the curing. The process will generally take about a week. This method produces cigarette tobacco that is high in sugar and has medium to high levels of nicotine. The Smith Tobacco Barn
Smith Tobacco Barn
Smith Tobacco Barn is flue-cured tobacco barn in Dillon County, South Carolina. It is on the east side of a dirt road, south of South Carolina State Highway 17-34, north of South Carolina State Highway 17-155, and about east of the intersection of South Carolina State Highway 17-22 and South...
is an example of traditional, flue-cured tobacco barn.
Sun
Sun-cured tobacco dries uncovered in the sun. This method is used in TurkeyTurkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
and Mediterranean countries to produce oriental tobacco. Sun-cured tobacco is low in sugar and nicotine and is used in cigarettes.