Is Tobacco What It Used To Be?

[cosmicfolklore]

I have read about the Oriental process of sun curing, but it just wouldn't be pleasant to smoke a bunch of condiment all leaf by themself. It's pretty harsh stuff. If I am to go through the labor of doing this, I would want something that I could enjoy. I have gotten to know a couple of people that I can defer to about the process, fellow tobacco snobs, ha ha. They just aren't on forums. I am also on that forum. Lots of good info, some bad info. I at least know enough already to discern the BS. But, I am still trying to absorb as much as possible. I get obsessive when I start new endeavors.

 

[jitterbugdude]

Actually, pure Turkish tobacco is some of the best stuff you can smoke. Tekkekoy, Duzce, Bucak etc.

Flue curing is easy if you know your wet bulb and dry bulb and raise the temp according to schedule. I just find it easier to sun cure. I can do gigantic batches outside without the worry or expense of a flue chamber.

And don't forget about making your own Perique~ once you do you'll realize there is nothing special about St James Perique other than it's just hype.

 

[oldreddog]

I have to say this is an absolutely fascinating thread.
Cosmicfolklore with regard to your Uncle I did not know such a thing was possible.

 

[newbroom]

The changing nature of agriculture suggests that our product does too. I'm beginning to re-think my outlook on cellaring tobacco.

I won't live forever, but I'd like to have some good tobacco while I do.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Yeh, Newbroom, tomatoes didn't used to be so red and round. They were domesticated that way.
Oldreddog, yeh, it wasn't uncommon. Growing up we were always told to wear gloves when topping stalks, and if you get the sap on your hands and touch your face, it can make you very sick for days. But, the older guys were more likely to forget to wear gloves, or not have them handy when they took it upon themself to show us kiddos how to do something or other. Hands were lost by many in the industry, also noses for some reason. There was a guy at our church that gave me the willies to look at him. And, absolutely no playing in the tobacco barns or the stacks. There were stories of grown men found dead just having gotten too much of the dust on them. Long shirts and bandanas over your face in 95F+ weather was just what you do.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

24 hours in a locker filled with ethylene gas has a little bit of influence too...

They can actually hold tomatoes for almost a year now. The problem with tomatoes is that demand and supply don't match up. People want to buy a fresh tomatoes at all times of the years, even right now, there are people looking for tomatoes in the grocery store. But, they ripen all at about the same time. I can grow 500lbs of tomatoes, but besides a cannery, who needs that many at once? And, if I sell to a cannery, I take a huge loss. And, five minutes in a refrigerator kills the flavor of a tomato. Might as well just eat a slice of cold goo.
I only grow tomatoes for personal use now. It was a friggin nightmare to grow them commercially. Now, I just grow greens for several local restaurants and I do the local Farmer's Market. Soy and feed corn are what pays the taxes.

 

[jitterbugdude]

That's what is so nice about tobacco. After harvest you don't have to worry about canning, freezing or preserving it. Time actually improves the flavor.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

...yep, and sweet potatoes. You have to cure those also, and the best ones are always the ones you have left over just as the next season's is getting cured well. Plus, it's a nightshade just like tobacco, and they are laden with nicotine. :: Good stuff.

 

[boilermakerandy]

I had problems transplanting the microscopic seedlings.

I remember touring the RJ Reynolds cigarette plant in Winston-Salem years ago and they had a tobacco seed display. They had a small container about the size of a shot glass filled with tobacco seeds and it said it was enough seed to plant many acres of tobacco. I can't remember the number but it was an amazing amount of land that could be planted with that small volume of seeds. They are tiny.
This is a great thread, thanks for posting it. Very interesting.

 

[wyfbane]

Wow, Cosmic! This thread was very enlightening. Do please keep us updated on your progress growing leaf.

 

[lonestar]

Well practice varied across so many tribes, but I've read several accounts of North American tribes taking huge long drags off the pipe that filled their lungs, and then holding the smoke as long as possible until they couldn't breathe. Something like a frat boy taking a huge bong hit til he chokes... In those cases, and adding the super potent rustica that most tribes smoked, I can see shaking fainting fevers and hallucination as a result, from the coughing and choking if nothing else.

On another note I've read most tribes were eager to trade for "virginia" tobacco, over their own rough home grown stuff.

A friend of mine is a Missionary in Papua New Guinea where the tribes smoke a lot, and all grow their own. They love rolling up his pipe tobacco into cigarettes. I know he grew some tobacco from their seeds and tried to make pipe tobacco, but I don't recall what came of it.

 

[easterntraveler]

I remember reading somthing about tobacco bringing the native Americans closes to "God" or a god. In my opinion with that statement alone shows there was a little more going on with the tobacco then.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

So far as I can find, there was no one consistent way that all peoples of all tribes viewed tobacco. But yeh, it was a sacrament to many. Some saw smoking a pipe as a prayer, and some saw it as gateway of sorts. Yet, with the systematic destruction of many Native cultures, we may never know the full scope of their ideologies, so much is conjecture or based on the reports of Europeans who had an agenda of sorts.

 

[misterlowercase]

Great thread here.
I'm pretty clueless about it all and have very much enjoyed reading this!
:!: