Crimea and Drying (Farmer Letter)
The effect of the variety grown and the seed used on the quality of tobacco cannot be denied. However, tobacco is such a plant that its quality characteristics mostly depend on the processes applied from planting to sale and the attention and care shown. It is known that a very well developed tobacco in the field can lose its value completely if it is not broken in time or not dried properly. In this respect, the impact of crushing and drying on the quality of tobacco is great.
Tobacco varieties grown in different parts of the world are dried in various ways in the sun, in closed hangars, in hangars heated by hot air pipes or under fire. Turkish tobaccos are dried by sun drying method. In our country, sun drying method is applied in various ways. These methods include grille, wagon and mirror. Sun drying is the best and most economical method for drying Turkish tobaccos.
Turkish tobacco breaks by hand and as it ripens. Symptoms of maturity are understood by the yellowing of the edges starting from the ends of the leaf, and the formation of yellow bubbles called frogs on the leaf face, depending on the characteristics of the varieties. However, these signs of maturity that we describe are not clearly seen in all kinds. In this case, the matter of understanding maturity is left to the knowledge and experience of the manufacturer. In order to understand that the tobacco has matured, we need to go to the field early in the morning and examine the leaves. It would be wrong to try to determine the maturity of tobacco after the sun has risen, even in the cool evening. The optimal breaking time of tobacco should start early in the morning when the night turns into the morning (around 4--5 o'clock) and continue until the sun rises as required and the leaves become loose and gummy and stick to the hand.
Even if the tobacco is broken in the cool of the evening and with a lantern at night, it is better not to do this work. Namely; Like all plants, the leaves of tobacco serve as a liver and stomach for the plant. The leaf mixes the light, CO 2 and nutrients it receives from the roots and the soil and through its pores from sunrise in the morning until sunset in the evening and stores them in the leaf. After the sun goes down, it begins to digest them one by one and puts them into a useful form. If we break tobacco in the middle of the day and in the evening, the nutrients in the leaf have not been digested yet, and when dried, they have a negative effect on the quality. However, as the nutrients in the leaves are thoroughly digested when the night turns into morning, the leaves that are broken in this way become better qualified when they dry.
Tobacco should not be broken either too raw or too late and should be broken at full maturity time. However, depending on the soil and variety, it may sometimes be necessary to break it just before or after the maturity period, which again looks at the knowledge and experience of the producer. Slaughter should not be done until the wetness is removed from the tobacco that has dew and rain on it, and the slaughter should be postponed in the tobaccos that run water after the rain. Since the bottom leaves have no value, they must be scraped off and destroyed. After these procedures are done, breaking should be continued, starting from the bottom and by removing 3-4 leaves from each sapling each time.
Tobaccos that show growth retardation due to the failure of seedlings planted in very dry years or worm cuttings are not of one size, and not all of them come to maturity at the same time. In such cases, attention should be paid to breakage and care should be taken to break the mature leaves of tobacco. Since the qualities of such mixed-crushed tobacco are low and more labor will be required in the merchant warehouse and processing, low prices may be given by the buyers. It is best to sort such tobaccos according to their size before stringing. The leaves that are broken in the field are placed in baskets and molds without deteriorating and brought to the arbor or shade you set up. Here, children, young and old, and all family members set out to string the tobacco. Hands turn black, eyes sometimes look at the leaf, sometimes at the needle, and sometimes at the needle that is in your hand, and then you feel sleepy. In the summer months of Crimea, life passes in the field. These days are the sweetest and most sought after days of sleep. The sections with tobacco fields on summer nights give an air of town and city in the light of lantern and luxury to an unaware traveler.
Following are the points to be considered in the lining of tobacco. In order to use less thread, it should not be arranged more often than necessary, the leaves should not be damaged when stringing tobacco, and the needle should not be inserted where it comes across.
The stacked tobaccos are attached to the lances in the grid method and directly to the mirrors in the wagon method. In the meantime, the most important point is not to bring the newly lined tobacco out of the sun suddenly, to get used to the sun gradually after covering in the shade for a while, to remove it from the nylon greenhouse during the cool hours of the day after the withering process, and to protect the mirrors from dew and rain at night by driving the wagon-style mirrors to the hangar. In some varieties, red color is preferred instead of yellow color. In this case, it is necessary to show the tobacco to the morning dew a few times towards the end of drying for red color. The drying of the tobacco is understood when the middle vein dries completely. Drying tobaccos become completely rusty and lose their water by laying on the ground in the Aegean Region and keeping them in the sun for 1-2 days in a cluster in other production regions. After that, the point to be considered is that the tobacco is transported to the stacking or hanger place on a damp morning, in an annealed state, without breaking and damaging. The places where tobacco is stacked or hung in a cluster should be away from the stables, and the places with wooden floors and without moisture. Otherwise, as the stench in the place where the tobacco is found, damage such as mold and worms may occur as well.
Black belly, black or yellow spots may be seen in tobacco during drying. Black core is the blackening of the core of the leaves, black or yellow spots on the leaves, and the formation of black or yellow spots in patches. Both errors are caused by the leaves being lined with dew or wet, lined up tightly, or entangled in dew or rain after lining up. Again, there is a black belly in serials that are not frequent and with enough withering. Insects named tobacco moth and sweet worm, which damage tobacco leaves in the pile and hanged, cause damage. In order to protect them from damage, the places where tobacco is dried, hangers and stacked should be kept clean, there should be no tobacco crumbs, food and bakery items in such places, the walls of tobacco roofs should be whitewashed, and the stack or hanger roofs should be damp-free to prevent mold.
Dear tobacco producers, pay attention to crushing and drying to obtain good quality tobacco. Break your tobacco by hand and as it matures. You should give up wrong practices such as breaking tobacco in the middle of the day and in the evening, having tobacco chipped for a series, lifting the whole crop in one or two hands. The tobacco works that you cannot do on time or in accordance with the procedure arise not because you cannot control tobacco agriculture, but because you planting more than you can, and you suffer again. In this respect, it is inevitable for you to plant enough tobacco to succeed with your children and to accomplish all your work duly and on time without getting bored or sad.
Let your tobacco be fertile, your drying tobacco dry summer ...