CASHLESS SOCIETY

”Fermenting (A.K.A. sweating) Tobacco Leaves
This is the process by which ammonia is released from the leaf to make it more sociable. It can be done by heaping the tobacco into large piles called pylons that raise the temperature and humidity, or by use of a kiln with a heater and humidifier. Under the raised temperature and humidity, enzymes in the leaf cause it to ferment. It is not necessary to spray a fermenting solution on the leaf as some suggest – the enzymes will do it naturally. Sometimes this is also referred to as curing. This system of maturing tobacco leaves came from the days when tobacco was shipped by sail. The ship would sit in port for a few weeks, with very humid temperatures and bails stacked tight together. When the tobacco reached it’s destination, it was found to smell and taste sweeter. There are two methods of fermenting, stacking and kiln fermenting.”

https://www.leafonly.com/tobacco-harvesting-curing-fermenting.php

James, I grew up in the middle of the tobacco culture and have never heard of this, learn something new everyday. Growing and processing tea leaves for drinking is like this.
In Ag shop in high school learned how to gas tobacco beds with formaldehyde and grow the seeds to sets. Actually worked one summer about at eight years old helping my friend turn the mule and cart at the end of the row. Later as a volunteer fireman saw many a bulk barn burn because a stick of tobacco would fall down on the kerosene burners. My Daddy spoke of staying up all night feeding the wood burning heaters with a pint of whiskey in the back pocket. It was all about the proper heating to cure the tobacco hanging in the barns.
Never primed because always worked in the country store my folks owned, sold the RCs and moon-pies that the growers bought for them (the primers and those hanging) for mid morning snack cause they started real early.
What a wonderful time in life, the smell of tobacco in the morning.