Meet me out back, LOL.I'm just going to pipe in here... no one has ever asked me to smoke marijuana... ever.
Current State of Deeming Regulations?
- Thread starter PoplarWight
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So, what I'm getting out of this is that perhaps picking up this habit/"hobby" in my 20s in the present day was not the smartest move.
There are more of us than you'd think, but I'll be curious to see what'll happen once the retired guys buying 14oz tubs every two weeks are gone. Can't exactly go out and drop >$20k on cellaring enough current-price tobacco to last me another 50 years. It's kind of a taboo to go out wanting to expand this industry, and I don't think many cig smokers are going to want to "convert".
There are more of us than you'd think, but I'll be curious to see what'll happen once the retired guys buying 14oz tubs every two weeks are gone. Can't exactly go out and drop >$20k on cellaring enough current-price tobacco to last me another 50 years. It's kind of a taboo to go out wanting to expand this industry, and I don't think many cig smokers are going to want to "convert".
Lane Ltd. Ready Rubbed and all of the Cult blends except for Blood Red Moon have fallen to deeming. There may be others that I don't know of. While I don't smoke Captain Black Grape, I've noticed on their website and some ads and catalogs that it is not listed. The other Captain Black blends are available in the new 7 ounce can, but I've only seen the Grape in the old 14 ounce can.
At this point, I am not so sure there is a final date for anything. The word"deeming" covers too much potential ground to be meaningful. There are at the very least three portals open to squeeze a pipe tobacco blend through, or at least try. A company with a problematic blend might try to navigate the obstacle course, whereas another company with a more or less similar issue might decide to fold.
A year or so ago, the FDA said pipe tobacco was not an enforcement priority. In my experience, though not with the FDA, when a Federal Agency says something like that, I would interpret it as them saying it will be easier to ask forgiveness later than permission now. Whether a company takes that attitude or not is a business decision.
I've had it on very good, and unquotable, authority that a lot of what's hitting the market is SOS in a new tin with a new name, or SOS with a little change to the topping. It effectively avoids potential issues.
SOS in this usage is "same old stuff", not to be confused with "shit on a shingle" which is a staple of camping cuisine, and a lot of what gets tinned and smoked.
I remember a few years ago when I was digging around in the regs and noticed pretty much what Comsic said. As long as you are just rebranding ,but not changing the tobacco components, and amounts. You could keep recycling. So when you have a huge catalog of blends like C&D, you can rebrand and side step deeming.
I am 27 years old and got into this hobby from purchasing heirloom tobacco seeds to grow with the random inspiration to try and cure/ferment it. Followed by watching Muttonchop... It's hard to tell whether it's growing because I've never seen a single person in my generation, in person,or online (prior to actively searching for it), smoking a pipe. I had only tried a few cigars before taking up this hobby.
My love of fermentation and vegetable garden plunged me head deep already. It's nuanced, intriguing, historical, I've homebrewed beer for years so I guess it was inevitable as lots of home brewers enjoy cigars, not sure why I landed on pipes since I am part Cuban. I enjoy the rebellious nature of pipe tobacco and doing things the government is trying to squander (I don't know enough about gun laws but Japan does pretty well, with Ukraine as a prime example on the opposing end). Smoking a pipe does not affect anyone besides those who smoke it, it given the strict implementation of no-smoking laws. From the day I picked up this hobby I was wondering who is behind anti-tobacco movements, because nobody does anything for free.
Lastly, I can't say I like smoking pesticides. Hopefully in about 3-5 years I'll have a "rolling" supply of homegrown organic tobacco. I'd love to start a farm here in Florida.
My love of fermentation and vegetable garden plunged me head deep already. It's nuanced, intriguing, historical, I've homebrewed beer for years so I guess it was inevitable as lots of home brewers enjoy cigars, not sure why I landed on pipes since I am part Cuban. I enjoy the rebellious nature of pipe tobacco and doing things the government is trying to squander (I don't know enough about gun laws but Japan does pretty well, with Ukraine as a prime example on the opposing end). Smoking a pipe does not affect anyone besides those who smoke it, it given the strict implementation of no-smoking laws. From the day I picked up this hobby I was wondering who is behind anti-tobacco movements, because nobody does anything for free.
Lastly, I can't say I like smoking pesticides. Hopefully in about 3-5 years I'll have a "rolling" supply of homegrown organic tobacco. I'd love to start a farm here in Florida.
Sorry if I overstated it. I have the "smoking tobacco" varietal growing very well for the first time, since summer is here I have just sown a number of weeks ago and still am depending on what it is/transplating starters.
I am germinating a number of others now because it's growing so well. It will be a very long time before I personally smoke any of it. Online I can find info from home growers that say it can be smoked within a few months after harvest, theoretically I could smoke it this year. But I'm going to do my best to let it age. I will likely have to give in to my temptations and try some younger, cured and fermented tobaccos.
If I can successfully get other tobaccos to grow as well as "smoking tobacco", like the Native wild tobaccos, I will arbitrarily make blends no matter how bad they taste. That's the type of person I am. Homegrown, organic, if it tastes like garbage I'll still smoke it and I'll damn enjoy it. Maybe after a break so I don't remember what well blended tobaccos are like...
There's a chance I experiment with just sugar spray. Other than that, I can't see myself doing any casings. Besides spraying the tobacco with pesticides, I imagine the casings like vanilla are not organic in most tobaccos, because the vanilla I buy is unbelievably expensive, I buy it in bulk to save money. I expect to air cure some of it, maybe I will sun cure the wilds because the sun here is scorching. I just have to be on my toes for that typical Florida summer mid afternoon monsoon.
That's not a bad thing for me. I much prefer to know dosage ahead of ingestion, as it's a regular thing for me, once or twice a day.
Is prohibition of making personal use alcohol a state thing, local or federal? Yes, I know I could friggin google the federal stuff, but want to know of state regs, too.
Some states allow distillation, not very many, but a few do. However, it is still a highly regulated Federal felony in all states. So, distilling spirits is actually illegal everywhere in the US.
However, buying and selling stills is not a crime. You can have one, but the moment you use it, a target is on your back.
Absolutely, for people who need it for medical reasons, this is a plus. But, for those pot smokers who want the buds... they will hate it.
Ah, I see; thanks.
So, having a copper distillery would look great in a large enough house, and be legal. A work of art! The modern stuff, all stainless and glass wouldn't be so hot.
The only real reason that they were even copper in the first place, was that a redneck with a propane torch could work copper into a still in his barn. Stainless is actually far superior a material. Yehhhh, people will make arguments for copper, but they are usually people who have no clue how nasty copper oxide is. Copper oxide was used as a poison in ancient Greece. Dip your arrows into some verdigris, and you are guaranteed a death score on the battle field.
Love reading this stuff and I'm right there with you. I've been a gardener/agriculturalist/horticulturalist for 20 years now and after a few years fooling around with some tobacco, I'm now focusing this year on growing a Burley, Virginia, and oriental. I plan on air, flue, and sun curing them, respectively, and toying around with processing and blending.
There is a relatively new farm in Florida growing Corojo 99 and it's been making its way into cigars. Haven't tried any yet, but it's definitely a labor of love. My 9 to 5er is in the agriculture industry and I see farmers abandoning tobacco for more profitable crops regularly. This year was the first in a while we saw appreciable fields of Burley in North Tennessee.
Best of luck and would love to see pics of your grow as it unfolds!
I do things for the enjoyment of the thing itself. To me there is no reason to grow the tobacco, the very growing of it is the reward. The act itself is the purpose and end goal. There’s nothing like seeing the seeds germinate… pesky seed especially. Seeing the plant grow up. Etc.
If I can feed myself (and if I were ever to pursue a career in farming I hope I could!) I wouldn’t mind how much I made. I’m a simple person anyway. I just love foodstuff. I really have no interests elsewhere. Foodstuff includes tobacco, beer, kombucha, mold fermentations, among your standard things.
I know nothing about scales though so I’d imagine switching crops incorporates factors related to things I don’t worry about small scale, like labor and machines. I’d be working the fields with the labor, that’s all I know.
Very interested in anything you manage. Not a whole lot of open air info. All of this stuff seems to be trade secrets.
Third wave coffee is booming. We went from drinking motor oil to single origin varied process Ethiopians that taste like blueberry tarts overnight.
If this happens to tobacco I’d rather be on the ground floor. I am too poor unfortunately and anti-social to ever pull something like a new Florida tobacco farm off.
there are some smoking tobacco germs in first pic, and just today I got my first Huichol germ… microscopic and stubborn. Extremely fragile I imagine. Native to Mexico and super potent.
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