Improving bulk tobacco

You've got raw untreated tobacco, this is why most of us buy blends and leave it to the blenders to process the tobacco and make it into something that's an enjoyable smoke. Why don't you order online from one of the many internet sites that will deliver it to your door?

Hi qms2,
Welcome to the forums. Not sure where you live but we have MANY site sponsors that can fulfill bulk tobacco orders for you.
I don't have much input to improve the home grown that you have, but bulk tobacco is cheap enough to buy a few ounces of a couple different blends to find out what you like.

Brave. I think I would have passed, my skills aren't up to par enough to try treating it on my own. I too suggest online ordering. If you aren't living in Washington State (14 more days..) you can find a wealth of affordable bulk tobaccos available online.

I'll take a stab at this. With the raw leaf (do you know what kind it is? Or at least describe what it looks like?) you could chop it up, slice it, etc. a lot of different ways to skin a cat.
At this point you're stuck with a bunch of raw leaf so you may as well experiment instead of just having it hanging around.
If you read about the processes that all these blends can go through to become a finished product you could try and duplicate it. For instance, rolling them into hard, thick rolls. Then letting them cure outside inside of a container that can breath yet still retains some heat. You could chop it all up and press it. Chances are the vanilla extract you used (not even sure if that would be an appropriate avenue for casing/topping) but would need to spend a lot if time contained and mingling with the tobacco itself. You can't just pour some on, wait a day and the. Try to smoke it.
Just some ideas. I'd take a stab at it myself, I have a cigar press which is perfect for compacting a blend for a lengthy time. Make me some flakes!

I think you have to accept that this is a fun experiment and not a way to supply a pleasing pipe. The

tobacco farmers and blenders have a whole regime of curing, aging, processing, and otherwise treating

the tobacco that you won't replicate at home. But there's nothing wrong with trying it out. It will take

some of the sting out of paying for the commercial product (if not for the taxes).