Cosmic Crop 2018

[cosmicfolklore]

So, here we go. I will do my best to show how easy it is to grow your own tobacco, and hopefully encourage a few more of you to try it yourself. The more the merrier. Actually, growing the tobacco is easier than anything else in the garden. The trick is what you do with it afterwards. But, we will get to that when the time comes.

I checked the Farmer's Almanac and decided to start my seeds last week, but since then we have had rainy days and up to 80F weather, which makes me kick myself for not starting the seeds earlier. But, who knows, we still could yet have a cold snap.
I filled a planter with no drain holes with starter soil, planted one row of Virginia Gold #1, one row of Ukrainian Virginia Gold (which mysteriously showed up in my mail from an unknown sender covered in stamps), one row of orinoco, and a row of a Native tobacco sent to me that is like a rustica but smokes a lot smoother, and a row of a cigar leaf. Then I wrapped the planter with plastic wrap and have had them setting under 24 hour lights. I will plant a half acre of Virginias out at the farm, and I will plant the other varietals here closer to the house to keep seed stock separate and to harvest the individual leaves of the burleys as they are ready.
Plus, I will be building a new flue for fire curing and flue curing.
I openly admit to not to be an expert. I welcome discussion and comments as this thread progresses as the one did like this a few years ago.
Here are the little micro babies getting ready to slowly grow into 6-8' leafy monsters.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Also, my wife pulled a cooler full of leafs from a few years ago out of the barn. I had totally forgotten about. It is about five pounds of leaf, and I will do another demonstration of how to roll and tie a twist again... soon.

 

[joeman]

You may not be an expert...but a lot closer to it than the majority of guys here...including me. I don't have the space nor the sunlight for it (house covered with 140' oaks...not enough sun)...but it will be fun to watch the process. I look forward to the updates as your tobacco grows from seedling to crop!

 

[midwestpipesmoker70]

Yes, this will be very interesting. I look forward to the progress. I wouldn't mind trying a little micro crop sometime.

 

[smittyd]

I have absolutely fallen in love with rope tobacco ,so i will eagerly await that demonstration

 

[derekflint]

This is a great thread. Do you need any interns to help with all the work ?

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Ha ha, it's really so easy. Even rolling the twists and ropes is easy. You just want to make sure you always wear gloves, because you can get sick from handling the tobacco.

 

[leatherman]

I am intrigued. Any ideas as to the sort of blends you will craft with this crop?

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Leatherman, last year, I went in with plans, and tried to think out what exactly I will do. And, when I tasted it, I was disappointed. But, then everyone who tasted it was amazed. I have learned to just go with it, instead of trying to make it what it is not.
Most of what I want to grow will be Virginias, and I plan on fermenting it to reds. So far, that is the extent of my plans. What they taste like can vary with which way the breeze is blowing. I also want to try my hand at rolling some cigars.
But, Twists and ropes make the most sense to me. I can get huge pressure with rolling it, and I don't have to invest in special shredders or cutters. I may press a few plugs, but I get less excited about a plug than I do with the idea of those beautiful coin cut flakes.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Well, in this one small planter, there will be literally thousands of tiny seedlings, but I will transfer them to the flats in a few days. I plan on having about 125 bright leafs at the farm, and only a few dozen of the burleys at the house for cigars and maybe blending. Being very picky and selecting only the most beautiful leaves to roll into twists, I (knock on wood) hope to get twenty pounds yield. (But realistically knowing how much time it takes to steam each leaf and ferment I cannot give you a good guess) For the cigars, I am not sure. I have never rolled cigars. But, our pipe club is talking about having a rep come and demonstrating for us.
Seeing Rajangan's flue shed, I am most excited about putting some time into designing my own. I was planning something more ramshackled, but now I am thinking it might be better to make something I can also use as a smoker for meats also, dual purposed.

 

[onestrangeone]

I’ve got a small garden plot, about 1500 sq ft. I wouldn’t mind putting in a row or two of tobacco. Where would I go for seed?

I would probably want to start with Burly and Virginia, maybe.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Seeds are readily available everywhere online. You can even contact your local Farmer's Cooperative. But, you can also use Amazon, Sustainable Seeds, or any of the dozens of places that would come up in a Google search.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Also, Virginia Gold 1 & 2 will be your goto commercial variety Virginias, that can be made into what we think of as yellow to reds to browns by your processing. But, there are some other brightleaf varietals, but it's hit or miss whether you'll like them, especially if you're a finicky Virginia smoker. As far as burleys... there is a whole world of choices, and it just depends on what you want, strong, weak, white, red, dark, ets... Rustica is the strongest, along with a Del Gold hybrid that will bring about a gut churn, ha ha. Just read up on varieties and select something you think will be interesting.

 

[deathmetal]

How to roll your own cigars:
http://www.deathmetal.org/lifestyle/rolling-your-own-cigars/

 

[saltedplug]

I know you're not inexpert, but as you are growing and processing the tobacco, you know so much more than those such as I that only know by reading. Great!

 

[deathmetal]

2024: the tobacco industry has entirely been replaced by Cosmic Crop, Inc. and everyone is smoking ropes. One pipe smoker who was interviewed said, "Aromatics? Is that like an air freshener?"

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Correction on my post above. An acre could hold over 1000 plants according to a buddy that grows. And, having grown 50 plants, with suckering, topping and processing, that’s working my ass off, and would supply the entire forum for a year. So, either I will leave plenty of walking room around the plants, or I will reduce the size. It would take me all day to pick the worms off by hand, since I don’t want to use herbicides. Not to mention rolling that many twists. However, I would love to one day use the North Carolina property for commercial tobacco and process my own reds, but... probably not going to happen.
Plus, each year is an experiment. Also, my daughter recovered all of the lost pictures from the thread from three years ago, and I will post them here tomorrow, for a comparative, then and now thing.

 

[deathmetal]

Is there any kind of critter that can eat the worms? Besides a Mixture 79 golem, of course.

 

[oldtoby]

LOL... Used to get a laugh at the newbies when tobacco cutting time rolled around.
Most thought they were tough enough to get along without gloves. In about an hours time they were off to the edge of the field puking up their breakfast. Amazing how much nicotine can be absorbed through the hands. :D

 

[leatherman]

It is my dream to one day have a small acreage and grow my own food (mostly) and tobacco. Here in Canada, the taxes are ludicrous, not to mention the joy of enjoying something you've grown yourself.