Tobacco Curing Barn @museum.de

The curing barn where we are now is an original structure, though it was dismantled on its previous site and rebuilt here in the museum grounds.

But in the early days, farmers used the lofts of their farmhouses to dry the tobacco leaves along with annexes that served as curing sheds.

With the constant increase in the amount of land given over to tobacco-growing, separate curing barns were erected as free-standing structures. At that stage, they were no longer located on the farms, but on the edge of the village, near the tobacco fields.

The model of a curing barn on display here isn’t a reconstruction – it’s essentially a blueprint. It was used as a teaching aid for apprentice carpenters during their training at the vocational school in Lahr. The typical ridge turret on the roof of the curing shed, and the vents on the sides, were used to ensure controlled ventilation in the barn. It was a way of regulating the humidity during the curing process.

For cigar production, the tobacco farmers grew a dark variety called Geudertheimer tobacco. IMG_7937.JPG

After the Second World War, smoking habits changed. Cigarette production increased, as did the preference for lighter tobacco. Virgin tobacco became popular. This is a light variety suitable for both cigarette production and for use in shisha pipes. This shift also brought a change in the curing process, which was accelerated by using hot air and now only took a few days. At first, curing barns were built to enable this type of flue curing, as you can see from the model. These days, metal containers with built-in ovens are used.

Please take the stairs up to the loft of the curing barn.