There was a large fire out back - this would become a popular hangout as it was overcast and chilly outside today, and is also the source of fire used in the fire curing process:
JD and Robert Gray kick off the first stage of the tour, between the fire and one of the barns:
Inside the fire curing barns, large rows of hardwood sawdust/mulch cover most of the ground, with strategically placed holes:
Coals are scooped from the fire and loaded into the buckets on the right side of the pic:
And then placed in the holes in the sawdust rows:
The idea is to keep the wood smoldering, without catching fire. Temps in the barn will reach 130-140 degrees, and the barn will cook for 7-10 days before taking a day off to bring in more wood and doing it again. Sprinklers inside the barns are used to keep the fire from smoldering too hot and turning into a barn fire. The process was likened to that of smoking meat, or for smoking grains as used in some liquors. The process is not exactly the same every time - smoking time and temps are adjusted to accommodate each harvest - the example given was, a "lighter" hardwood mulch/sawdust might be used if the tobacco is more moist than usual, to get temps up faster inside the barn.
