Process entries

• Oak ageingWine · StartOak ageing is holding wine in oak barrels, which does three things at once: it adds compounds from the wood, it allows slow oxygen exchange, and it concentrates the wine slightly through evaporation.
• DecantingWine · StartDecanting is pouring wine out of its bottle into another vessel, for one of two quite different reasons: to leave sediment behind, or to expose the wine to air. Only the first is ever strictly necessary.
• FermentationWine · StartIn wine, fermentation is the conversion of grape sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide by yeast. It is what makes juice into wine, and most of what a winemaker decides is a decision about how to run it.
• Cutting a cigarCigars · StartA cigar is cut to open its closed head. The aim is to remove enough of the cap to draw freely without cutting past the shoulder, which is where the wrapper stops being held down.
• RestingCigars · StartResting is leaving a cigar in stable humidity before smoking it, most often after it has been shipped. Two weeks to a month is the usual convention, and the reason is moisture equalisation rather than ageing.
• Seasoning a humidorCigars · StartSeasoning is bringing a new humidor's Spanish cedar lining up to its working humidity before any cigars go in. Untreated, kiln-dried wood pulls moisture out of cigars faster than the humidification device can put it back.
• FermentationCigars · StartFermentation is the controlled heating of stacked tobacco after curing, which removes ammonia and other compounds and determines much of a leaf's final character.