Drug info - Curing tobacco

[sunyata]

Swim was growing both Rustica and Nicotiana tobacco last year, indoors and outdoors, with success. Yields were good and could probably have been better if my knowldge and the weather had also been better.
The smoked product, however, was unimpressive, it just tasted like any herb that had been dried.

Swim had ignored the advice from the book Growing the Hallucinogens, that one should dry the leaves quickly in full sun. Instead, he had dried them slowly in dark, dry places, which could take weeks if the weather was bad and air humidity high.

This Saturday Swim had to cut down his last N.Tobaccum, which he had grown under a 600W HPS alongside other plants(believie it or not, it isn't cannabis), to get space for more other plants.
On a hunch. he decided to dry the leaves in the oven, just as a final experiment. He preheated the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and left the leaves in for 10 minutes.
The steam when he opened the oven was heavy and there was lots of it, so the temperature should probably have been lower, or they should have been left in for a shorter time.
But the leaves were not ruined, they had a dark brown colour and had shrinked considerably compared to what slow-dried leaves do. They smelt faintly of tobacco.
He decided to roll one up and, having done so, felt the familiar taste of sigars, not as strong, milder, and easy to inhale. Modern rolling tobacco tastes like shit in comparison to this he has already decided, and can't wait for spring to come so he can sow entire fields of the stuff.

So, Swim was wondering wether anyone else might have some tips on curing tobacco?

[Nagognog2]

Different methods of curing tobacco yield different results/flavors. Most tobacco sold for commercial use (smokers) is a mixture of cures and cuts - depending on the overall presumed end use. These respective methods tend to be closely guarded secrets within the industry. You may be flying by the seat of your pants. Happy experimentation.

On another note, especially if planning larger crops in an outdoor area, I suggest you do some research on the Tobacco Mosaic Virus. You might start here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_mosaic_virus

[sunyata]

Thanks for the advice Nag, I'll look into that.
As for the curing, I guess Swim just has to wait until next harvest and experiment on it himself.
I'll make sure he writes a report.

BTW, sorry I misposted, but I didn't realize we had a subforum for tobacco.