Grow Your Own Tobacco?

[scotrob]

There has been a bit of debate on the forums recently about future prohibition of tobacco and cellaring to get around this....an alternative of course might be to grow your own and I was wondering if anyone has done this with any degree of success. I believe it is perfectly legal in most countries to grow it for your own consumption, and I know that here in the UK there are a few places that will also cure the leaves for you if you are unable to do it yourself

 

[lordnoble]

I've been interested in this as well, but more from a insect repellant perspective since I haven't the foggiest idea of how to cure tobacco. Perhaps we will see an industry where people buy cured tobacco leaves and blend themselves... Bath tub hooch anyone?
-Jason

 

[dervis]

We used to plant 20 or so acres of it, process it out in bundles. Lot of work, but made good money for a while.

 

[cynyr]

Raising tobacco to sell is a he77uva a lot of work in the hot sun. I'll lie down and starve before I ever work in tobacco again.
And aside from my personal bias, a few minutes thought will convince you that the idea is a nonstarter. It's all Burley round here. A few Virginia strains might grow, but they would be different that they are in their native soil. Forget about Perique, and Latakia would be a long shot. Plus, all of those require different curing procedures.
But, I'm a cynic, and I want to beat the damgummit as much as the next guy. A determined fellow could find a way to make it happen.

 

[reichenbach]

To those who have grown tobacco, have you also grown tree fruit? I am involved in pomeology, viticulture (not trees, I know) and stone fruit. Could tobacco cultivation be much different? To the uninitiated, that apples, grapes and peaches, plums and cherries, respectively. I'm in the Hudson Valley in New York and I know they grown tobacco i Conn. Basically, is it much more work if you already farm?

 

[buster]

Order some seeds and plant a row or two. Seeds are not expensive. If you have the space and already are working the ground might as well give it a shot. I plan to try it next spring if I can make a few more raised beds. I think the curing and maybe flavoring would be the tricky bit?
Check this forum for more info.
http://www.howtogrowtobacco.com/

 

[romanza10]

I'm actually in the process of trying to grow some tobacco as an experiment. Here is a pic of the sprouts below.

From every thing I've read, it's a real B%$#@ to get started growing. They are not really grown much more than this. But once it takes off, it's like growing tomatoes. Because tobacco and tomatoes are both in the same family of plant, the deadly night shade, if I remember correctly. The quote below is from wikipedia.

Solanaceae is a family of flowering plants that includes a number of important agricultural crops. Many species are toxic plants. The name of the family comes from the Latin Solanum "the nightshade plant", but the further etymology of that word is unclear. Most likely, the name comes from the perceived resemblance that some of the flowers bear to the sun and its rays, and in fact a species of Solanum (Solanum nigrum) is known as the "sunberry". Alternatively, the name has been suggested to originate from the Latin verb solari, meaning "to soothe". This presumably refers to soothing pharmacological properties of some of the psychoactive species of the family.
The family is also informally known as the nightshade or potato family. The family includes Datura, Mandragora (mandrake), Atropa belladonna (deadly nightshade), Lycium barbarum (wolfberry), Physalis philadelphica (tomatillo) , Physalis peruviana (Cape gooseberry flower), Capsicum (chili pepper, bell pepper), Solanum (potato, tomato, eggplant), Nicotiana (tobacco), and Petunia. With the exception of tobacco (Nicotianoideae) and petunia (Petunioideae), most of the economically important genera are contained in the subfamily Solanoideae.
Many members of the Solanaceae family are used by humans, and are important sources of food, spice and medicine. However, Solanaceae species are often rich in alkaloids whose toxicity to humans and animals ranges from mildly irritating to fatal in small quantities.

The only concern that my father has, as he is not worried about growing it, but exactly what to do with all the leave once we harvest them. The best that we can do, based upon what we know, is that air curring them is the best we will probably get to do with them. Even though, some of the books I've read said something about storing the tobacco in a jar with spices, and vanilla beans, it's a far cry from what McClelland and Mac Barren do with the leaves they have.
But at the end of the day, between not having something to smoke, and smoking a straight air cured VA. I'll take the air cured VA over nothing. Which, if some of you were wondering, any one can grow tobacco for personal consumption. The federal Gubment some time in '03 or '06 dropped tobacco subsidy's for farmers. Now the only time you can get into trouble, is if you try to sell you home grown tobacco. Other than that, you can give it to your friends, and smoke it on your front porch.

 

[stephendownie]

For what it's worth I've been growing my own Virginia strain tobacco for about five years. Every year I learn a bit more and I've actually tasted some of my own leaf that was like a cross between Best Brown and Blackwoods flake. I'll qualify that by saying that was a near-ideal growing season and I haven't seen the same quality since. I'm also a lot further North, a lot cooler, and have a much shorter growing season than a lot of folks here. Another nice thing about growing tobacco is that you get literally thousands of seeds per plant if you let it go to seed. In one season you will have enough seed stock to begin your own plantation!

 

[romeowood]

And aside from my personal bias, a few minutes thought will convince you that the idea is a nonstarter. It's all Burley round here. A few Virginia strains might grow, but they would be different that they are in their native soil. Forget about Perique, and Latakia would be a long shot. Plus, all of those require different curing procedures.

Yes, but if a community of home growers develops all over the country, there could be a thriving trade network...

 

[lordnoble]

My thoughts exactly, romeo. Time to make a smoke house for some latakia! LOL!
-Jason

 

[scotrob]

@ lordnoble
i believe Latakia was discovered by accident when some tobacco growers in Syria had to store their picked tobacco leaves in the rafters of a building which they warmed with a wood fire for heating.....the tobacco cured slowly in the wood smoke and when they remembered the tobacco up there and tried smoking it they were pleasantly surprised
who knows- maybe there are many undiscovered methods for tobacco curing out there which will lead to something new and exciting?

 

[cynyr]

Well, as I said, I tend to look on the dark side. Seeing the efforts of romanza10 and stephendownie makes me hopeful that it can be done!

 

[juni]

I find it really interesting and would love to try it. Sadly our growing season is only a few months.

 

[waznyf]

Would be awesome if it could be done easily. It requires warmer climates though correct?

So those of us in colder states would need to make artificial growing environments (somewhat like medical

marijuana setups).

 

[juni]

...and have suspicious neighbours call the po-po on us.

 

[stephendownie]

Well I'm in Vancouver Canada and while it is warmer than a lot of other places in Canada there sure aren't any palm trees. Mine do just fine.

 

[romanza10]

juni said:...and have suspicious neighbours call the po-po on us.

If you have ever seen tobacco plants, they don't look anything like the said plant you are making a reference to. Tobacco is a perfectly legal plant to grow, you just can't sell what you have grown.
Here is a random picture off of the internet of what tobacco plants look like.

 

[spartan]

Gorgeous!
Maybe I need to contact you guys and trade you an unopened tin of your choice for a sample of your home grown stuff! looks delicious. Can you smoke the flowers too? :rofl:
Can't wait to be in a position to be able to do something like this. I'll have to put it off until I finally settle down into adulthood and buy a house. With a spacious "garden" area for sure. muahahaha!

 

[ohin3]

I'm pretty sure Juni was referring to the artificial growing environment making your neighbors suspicious.

 

[spartan]

I can see it now....
"OMG HE'S GOT LIKE 1000 COCA PLANTS GROWNING IN THERE!"
The door gets smashed in, 12 DEA agents rush into the house and pin you down on your couch while they handcuff you and read you your rights...
5 hours later they figure out what the plants really are... apologize, and fix your door. ::