I had the day off yesterday and started working up some whole leaf tobacco that I recently bought. Shredded up a small amount of bright leaf Virginia and loaded up a bowl of it to taste. It was kind of brash (first word that came to mind) and bitey, as Virginias can be. I'd heard of stoving and decided to give it a try. I sprayed the shredded tobacco very lightly with deionized water and let it sit for about an hour, turning it by hand to distribute the moisture and let it soak in. Put about 2 ounces of shredded bright leaf in a one pint Mason jar and closed the lid tight. Placed the jar on a cookie sheet and put it in the oven at 200°F for two hours. Took it out and checked it... no discernible change. So I left it in another hour with the same results. The I left it in for two more hours and smoked some. It was a little better, but not a dramatic change, so I put it back in the oven and let it go overnight. Turned off the oven this morning and let the jar cool slowly. After work, I opened the jar and the tobacco was noticeably darker and smelled of stewed fruit and/or tomatoes. Not necessarily a pleasant smell, but not bad either. I smoked a bowl of it and it was much more appealing than it was before. It was sweeter and more mellow. I think I'm going to start doing this with all my "raw" whole leaf bright Virginia from now on.