The easiest way to ferment tobacco at home

Are you into tobacco? And are you a tobacco enthusiast? Do you want the best flavour of it and so you want to ferment tobacco yourself? Then definitely this article is for you. Here we will discuss how to ferment tobacco at home. Rest assured, we will represent the easiest way for you.

I ferment fronto leaf tobacco in a modern electric oven. I hope you have one at your home. And, if no, even then it is not so difficult to arrange an electric oven. But before buying one read this article and understand what features it should have.

It has the function of setting the temperature from + 50 ° С. Here I put it on the lowest temperature. The fermentation process lasts only 5 to 7 days. At the same time, energy consumption is minimal, since the heaters in the stove are switched on only a few times for a short time per day in order to maintain the set temperature.

I ferment tobacco only pre-cut. At the same time, it is easier to control its moisture content. It is much more difficult to do this with a solid sheet.

The procedure of fermenting tobacco at home

So point by point:

1. What equipment do we need? The stove itself or any other space where you can maintain the temperature in the range from + 50 ° C to + 60 ° C (for example, any box with a thermostat and a heater). Two – three liter glass jars with hermetically sealed screw caps. That’s all.
2. Completely dry (crumbling when crumbling) tobacco leaves are slightly moistened with a spray bottle on both sides. And we put it in piles for one day. We cover the stacks with polyethylene on top.
3. The next day we disassemble the stacks and remove the midrib from each leaf. In this case, the moisture content of the leaf blade is controlled as follows:
4. a) The sheet should not be too damp or break when bent.
5. b) The surface of the sheet must be dry, but at the same time it must have the appearance and elasticity of a thin cloth.
6. c) If you are not sure that the moisture content of the leaf is suitable for fermentation, then it is better that it be drier than raw.
7. d) Too wet leaves dry a little, putting them in a heap and stirring occasionally. We moisten the dry ones and keep them in piles under the polyethylene further.

Why did I write in such detail about the moisture content of the leaf? Because the success of the fermentation largely depends on this. You can see how a leaf of tobacco prepared for fermentation looks like in my album on Yandex-photos link

4) Cut the tobacco into thin strips of 1 – 2 millimeters. Or the thickness to which you are accustomed to smoking it. I do this using a noodle cutter (you can buy it in online stores). It allows you to cut a large amount of tobacco leaf in a minimum of time.

5) We put the cut tobacco in glass jars, filling them by 2/3, so that later the tobacco in them can be easily mixed with simple shaking. And we tighten them tightly with threaded caps.

6) We put the cans in stacks in the oven and turn it on at a temperature of 50 ° C for five to seven days.

7) Pour the fermented tobacco from the cans onto a flat surface for a little drying. When it reaches the humidity familiar to you for smoking, we put it in any airtight container for storage.

That’s the whole fermentation.

A few important points:

During fermentation, there should be no condensation on the walls of the cans. If there is condensation, then this is the most important sign that you put the tobacco for fermentation too wet (take it out of the cans and dry it)

On the second or third day of fermentation, the tobacco begins to smell like honey or other fruity aromas – this is a sure sign that the fermentation is going well.

The tobacco leaf used for fermentation should be free from residual chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is a green pigment that causes the leaves of all plants to turn green.

Green tobacco leaves do not ferment but rot.

If, nevertheless, there are areas with greenery on the leaves, they must be cut out before fermentation. To avoid such areas, the leaf of tobacco immediately after breaking must be properly exhausted in a dark, warm room. And only after languishing, it is hung to dry. Correctly cured tobacco loses its green color completely.

Why is my fermentation method good?

– The fact that you do not need to make complex fermentation cabinets with humidity controllers and ventilation.

– The fact that you can ferment small amounts of tobacco right in the apartment.

– The fact that it is the easiest for beginner tobacco growers.

Best regards to you.