Ky Tobacco Harvest No. 2

Harvesting Tobacco Leaves
Tobacco is harvested in one of two ways. The oldest known method in use is simply cutting off the stalk at the ground... more

by Paul Lindner

Title

Ky Tobacco Harvest No. 2

Artist

Paul Lindner

Medium

Photograph

Description

Harvesting Tobacco Leaves
Tobacco is harvested in one of two ways. The oldest known method in use is simply cutting off the stalk at the ground using a curved knife.

The other way to harvest tobacco leaves originated in the nineteenth century. They started to harvest the tobacco plant by pulling individual leaves off the stalk as they ripened, tobacco leaves ripen from the ground upward, so tobacco plant may be pulled several different times before the tobacco plant is entirely harvested. This is also known as "Cropping" or "Priming". These are terms used for pulling leaves off tobacco. The first crop at the very bottom of the stalks are called "sand lugs" as they are often against the ground and are coated with dirt splashed up when it rains.


Curing Tobacco Leaves
Tobacco farmers refer to the drying of the leaf as curing. There are 3 main ways of curing tobacco. Curing methods vary with the type of tobacco grown. The tobacco barn design varies accordingly.

Air-cured Tobacco Leaves
Air-cured tobacco is carried out by hanging the tobacco in a well-ventilated barns, where the tobacco is allowed to dry over a period of four to eight weeks. Air-cured tobacco is generally low in sugar content, which gives the tobacco smoke a light, smooth, semi- sweet flavor. These tobacco leaves usually have a high nicotine content.

Flue-cured Tobacco Leaves
Flue-cured tobacco started by stringing the tobacco into tobacco sticks, which were hung from tier-poles in curing barn's "kilns". All flue-cured barns have flues which run from external fed fire boxes, which heat-cures the tobacco without exposing it to smoke, slowly raising the temperature over the course of the curing process. The procedure will generally take about a week. Flue-cured tobacco generally produces cigarette tobacco. Cigarette tobacco usually has a high content of sugar, with medium to high levels of nicotine.

Sun-cured Tobacco Leaves
Most to all sun-cured tobacco comes from countries that produce oriental leaves, such as Turkey, Greece, and the Republic of Macedonia. The sun-cured tobacco process works just how it sounds. The tobacco is placed in the sun uncovered, and is dried out naturally. Generally, oriental tobacco is low in sugar and nicotine and is very popular for cigarettes.

Uploaded

October 11th, 2021