Curing Your Own Tobacco

Growing tobacco is a sensible alternative to buying tobacco. Pound for pound it is much cheaper to grow tobacco instead of buying it. It is also enjoyable and something that can be done easily in the United Kingdom. After growing tobacco it is necessary to do the next, very important, step to producing tobacco to be enjoyed in a cigarette: curing tobacco.

Curing tobacco is important because it allows for the needed chemical reactions to take place that turn the tobacco leaves into their smoke-worthy form. For starters the tobacco leaves need to be hung and dried. The leaves should be cut at the base and hung from a pole. They should be hung in an area that is out of the way, dry, humid, and allows for air flow. Humidity is important and the amount of humidity required for curing tobacco is provided in all areas of the United Kingdom.

Spacing the leaves properly is very vital when curing tobacco. The leaves should be spaced so that they are not touching. Remember, the leaves still have moisture content. Tobacco leaves that touch each other encourage the formation of mould. Mould formation can damage tobacco, rendering it unable to be processed into rolling tobacco to be smoked. It is a good idea to do period checks of the tobacco leaves to ensure no mould has been formed and that they are not touching.

During the process of curing tobacco a noticeable colour change will occur. The leaves will begin green. Next they will turn to yellow and later they will turn to a golden brown. It is when they have turned to golden brown that they are ready to be smoked. This process should take place over the course of approximately four to five weeks. If the tobacco begins to change colour quicker than four to five weeks this means that the curing of the tobacco has occurred too quickly due to a high humidity level. Simply move the leaves to an area that is cooler than where it is currently stored and spray with slight amount of water.

Once the colour has changed the tobacco leaves can be gathered up in bunches of about a dozen and tied and hung. This will allow for curing tobacco in greater amounts with less space.

One of the great things about curing tobacco is that curing continues indefinitely. This means that after the four to five weeks that the tobacco has cured it is ready to be smoked but no harm will come to the tobacco that is not smoked. The longer the tobacco is left to cure the better the tobacco will be. Tobacco that has been given years to cure will be of a different quality than tobacco that has only been given months to cure.

Curing tobacco takes no effort. Some simple preparation is necessary and space needed but other than that, tobacco needs nothing more than the tick of a clock to produce a fine quality smoke. Also, curing can be tweaked to produce different blends and flavours of tobacco. For example, curing tobacco in the sun or allowing tobacco to cure over the smoke of a particular type of wood produces a variety of results. Sun curing and smoke curing are different methods for curing tobacco and take different preparations as opposed to the "normal" process of curing tobacco. Regardless of how the tobacco is cured, it can be done with ease by anyone in any part of the United Kingdom.