My newest hobby

[SkyHog]

**NOTE: This post has nothing to do with my employer, and should not be linked in any way to my employer, our competitors, or anything else having to do with the tobacco industry. Please do me a favor and don't even mention my employer in this thread or I will probably have to stop responding and updating it.***

I just realized that I hadn't really posted any information about this here.....I know, its taboo, but realize that I am doing this for fun more than anything else, and probably will never even consume the product when its ready, but...

I'm growing tobacco. Its a lot of fun, its like gardening, but with giant plants. And its fairly unique because not many people in the United States have ever really seen how the process works.

So - here's the preface: I am growing two rows of tobacco, one is Golden Burley, and the other is One Sucker Burley. I am doing this organically, with no pesticides or even natural barriers to bug consumption - mostly because I'm lazy, but also because I don't want to spray pesticides on my property.

A few weeks ago, I primed my first harvest. Its amazing how much of the leaf was eaten by bugs and tobacco hookworms, but there's still a lot of leaf left, so it is time to cure it.

Curing tobacco can be done a number of ways, but I chose the easiest way: Air Curing. Basically, you hang the tobacco leaves up toward the top of a non-exposed room and wait for it to wilt and turn golden brown.

I now have a yield of burley from my first priming, and its completely cured. If you have never smelled leaf tobacco, I can describe it this way: Its so fragrant, and its very pleasant...like a sweet batch of raisins.

Anyway...that was rambling, but I'm just trying to describe everything involved....here's some pictures:

1. 4/02/2011: Using one of the greenhouses from WalMart, the seeds have germinated (this is about 1 month after planting)
2. 4/28/2011: After about 8 weeks, the plants are really starting to grow
3. 4/29.2011: About 2.5 months after planting, it was time to transplant into the ground
4. 6/4/2011: About 4 months after planting, they took off fast.
5. 7/9/2011: The first plant has flowered. This signifies time to top the plants to kill off any flowering and bolster the nutrients to the leaves
6. 7/10/2011: Because of excessive insect activity and my failure to properly remove all of the suckers, the plants have stunted, and I do my first harvest about a month earlier than I should have to salvage some leaf.
7. 7/10/2011: The harvest with the remaining plants in the background. You can see that some of the plants are way too small for a harvest....
8. 7/10/2011: Washing the leaves, one by one was an arduous task in the hot and humid North Carolina heat. This necessary task prefaces the beginnings of the curing process. This is a healthy example of a leaf.
9. 7/10/2011: Still washing the leaves, this was one of the stunted leaves. You can see how small it is in comparison to the previous, healthy leaf.

 

[TripleZ]

Very nice. I've always loved the smell of tobacco and the occasional pipe, but for the obvious health reasons, its few and far between. Never had the opportunity to try home grown though.

 

[SkyHog]

Part 2 - Curing the first primings:

Once the leaf has been rinsed, the next step is to hang it as high as possible in a room that is not exposed to the elements (keeps bugs away as the very sweet smell of tobacco starts to form, also allows the leaf to stay dry).

My wife and I used the natural holes that the bugs ate in the leaf to run string through and hang to the ceiling of our basement. This caused some issues because we couldn't keep the string from sagging and it became impossible to separate some of the leaves from each other, which I was afraid would promote rot.

Generally, the curing process should take a few weeks, and as soon as it finishes, its time to prime the next batch of leaves, so things get pretty busy around this time. What I was curious about was whether or not the fact that I had to prime early to reduce stunting would give me more time between harvests...time will tell.

So - the goal is to keep the leaves dry and untouched for the next few weeks until they wilt and turn golden or dark brown (depending on the amount of natural sugars in the leaf).

So why cure? Tobacco smells really good, and the reason for that is because it is very sweet. The two biggest natural chemicals in a tobacco leaf is sugar and nicotine. Depending on how hard the plant's life has been will determine the mixture between sugar and nicotine - too rough a live, and it will be very high in nicotine but very low in sugar. Too easy a life and it will be mostly sugar. The curing process allows the two to reach a natural balance, and smooths out the taste, appearance, and smell of the leaf. It also dries the leaf, which makes it usable in tobacco products.

Pictures:

1. 7/10/2011: My wife running string through the leaf for hanging
2. 7/10/2011: The first batch of leaves hanging from the ceiling
3. 7/10/2011: The second batch of leaves hanging (bigger leaves)
4. 7/10/2011: An overview of the entire first harvest, beginning to cure

 

[SkyHog]

The yield:

After about 3 weeks of curing, the leaves had all turned mostly golden brown, with some dark browns and some black leaves as well. The next step was to take the leaves off the string, and remove the main vein from each of them, leaving what most people would recognize as tobacco leaf. Up until this point, the tobacco didn't really resemble what most people associate with tobacco.

This yield smells very sweet, which means despite the bug problem, these plants are probably severely lacking nicotine, which will make a great flavoring blend to the final product later.

See - the final product is a blend of different plants, and from different positions on the plant. Because there is such a variance in strength and taste between stalk positions, blending is the only way to get a smooth and consistent flavor.

My blending technique is not going to come close to what most people do. I am throwing all the tobacco into a bucket and will hand blend. So, basically the tobacco will be a 50/50 blend of Golden Burley and One Sucker, with no other types of tobacco and no emphasis on stalk position.

In other words, it will probably not be a very good tasting tobacco. But remember, I'm never going to consume it, so it doesn't matter.

Oh - final note - at this point, the tobacco has moved past the "gardening" phase, and is now a federally controlled product. Once the main vein is removed, this is now a taxable product that cannot be sold, bartered, traded, or even given to anyone else without first paying federal taxes on it. Also, from this point forward, I am keeping the bucket of tobacco in an age controlled area where no one under the age of 18 can gain access.

So - pictures of the first yield:
1. The totality of the cured tobacco in the bucket, deveined and ready for blending
2. This is what those big leaves reduced to once cured.

 

[Dart]

Cool stuff, Nick.

I remember being a kid and seeing tobacco fields and sheds around the Ocala Gainsville area. The number was greatly diminished by the late 80's but there were still few. A tobacco field at harvest time is beautiful. Now they are considered antique decorations for gentleman farmers.

I can't touch the stuff - I'm a complete nicotine addict, albeit clean for ten years now.

 

[Bravo3]

I think homegrown/homebrew of most anything is a great project.

A great project, too, if you value self-sufficiency. And if the SHTF in the days to come you'll have a stash of something people would pay dearly for.

 

[SkyHog]

Very nice. I've always loved the smell of tobacco and the occasional pipe, but for the obvious health reasons, its few and far between. Never had the opportunity to try home grown though.

Raw tobacco actually smells a bit different than pipe tobacco, although close. The difference is in the blend, and also pipe and cigar tobacco is usually fire cured, which gives it a slightly smokey smell and flavor.

Air cured tobacco smells cleaner and more "fruity" for lack of a better term.

Cool stuff, Nick.

I remember being a kid and seeing tobacco fields and sheds around the Ocala Gainsville area. The number was greatly diminished by the late 80's but there were still few. A tobacco field at harvest time is beautiful. Now they are considered antique decorations for gentleman farmers.

I can't touch the stuff - I'm a complete nicotine addict, albeit clean for ten years now.

Me too, unfortunately. I am an addict myself, currently using NRT as a way to not smoke. Its not "quitting" so much, as I am still addicted and still feeding my addiction, but I am not ingesting the same carcinogens that are only present in cigarette smoke either.

As to the neatness of the fields? I'd not even seen a tobacco plant until late last year when I was out here for business travel. Now that I live here, I see it a lot more, but for people elsewhere in the country, I'd bet most have never/will never see it.

I think homegrown/homebrew of most anything is a great project.

A great project, too, if you value self-sufficiency. And if the SHTF in the days to come you'll have a stash of something people would pay dearly for.

There ya go. I am prohibited from selling this for a number of reasons, but if we were invaded by another planet tomorrow, I would definitely have a commodity worth something to someone

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

Looks like fun.
btw I hate smoking but looove the smell of pipe tobacco; unburned that is.
PS, thorough and effective disclaimer!

 

[John Baker]

During my stint in the military back in 1962, we had some large war games that included much of the Carolinas. Anyway, I seem to remember us walking through a tobacco field and the plants being very large, much taller than any of us. I had never seen tobacco plants before, so for me, it was kind of interesting.

The thing that really amazed me was when we jumped in at the beginning of the maneuvers. Our drop zone was a peanut field. One of the guys pulled a plant up and the roots were covered with hundreds of peanuts. I had always thought peanuts were something that were picked from trees. Proving once again that city folks don't know squat about farm stuff.

John

 

[Bravo3]

There ya go. I am prohibited from selling this for a number of reasons, but if we were invaded by another planet tomorrow, I would definitely have a commodity worth something to someone

That's your story . . . Now stick to it!

 

[Jack Spectre]

Very nice project. I'm guessing this hobby will continue to grow in popularity due to the high taxes on tobacco products these days.

 

[Bravo3]

Very nice project. I'm guessing this hobby will continue to grow in popularity due to the high taxes on tobacco products these days.

Among other hobbies . . . .

 

[Dean]

Next thing you know the DTF will be paying you a late night visit because your neighbor thinks you have a POT growing operation.

 

[Sac Arrow]

It's interesting that the nicotine doesn't seem to have a detrimental affect on the bugs that eat the leaves. Are tobacco leaves susceptible to being eaten by animals as well?

 

[SkyHog]

It's interesting that the nicotine doesn't seem to have a detrimental affect on the bugs that eat the leaves. Are tobacco leaves susceptible to being eaten by animals as well?

Funny enough, the location I planted was infested with ants, which I didn't realize until it was too late. One of the plants was consumed by ants, and after that, they all disappeared. I figure the nicotine killed the entire nest.

I have found rabbits in my field, which is why I put the fence up around it. They were digging at the ground, but never seemed to eat the leaves. I suspect the leaf is not safe for animal ingestion, but have no evidence either way.


Most of the pests are tobacco specific, which I presume means they are immune to nicotine poisoning (tobacco hornworms for instance).

 

[flyingcheesehead]

As to the neatness of the fields? I'd not even seen a tobacco plant until late last year when I was out here for business travel. Now that I live here, I see it a lot more, but for people elsewhere in the country, I'd bet most have never/will never see it.

Interesting stuff, Nick!

The other place I've seen lots of tobacco is along the AA highway in northeastern Kentucky (it leads from just south of Cincinnati, almost over to West Virginia). They even cure it in old, purpose-built red barns that have only partial walls... Makes for a great photo around sunset in the fall, if you're not traveling 65 mph at the time!

 

[ScottM]

Interesting stuff, Nick!

The other place I've seen lots of tobacco is along the AA highway in northeastern Kentucky (it leads from just south of Cincinnati, almost over to West Virginia). They even cure it in old, purpose-built red barns that have only partial walls... Makes for a great photo around sunset in the fall, if you're not traveling 65 mph at the time!

I have seen tobacco up in your neck of the woods.

Here is a little article from the Madison paper about tobacco growers in your region.

http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=30627

 

[SkyHog]

Interesting stuff, Nick!

The other place I've seen lots of tobacco is along the AA highway in northeastern Kentucky (it leads from just south of Cincinnati, almost over to West Virginia). They even cure it in old, purpose-built red barns that have only partial walls... Makes for a great photo around sunset in the fall, if you're not traveling 65 mph at the time!

Yep - that's a "Flu Cured" barn. They're pretty cool (and bizarre in many ways as well).

 

[Anthony]

Oh - final note - at this point, the tobacco has moved past the "gardening" phase, and is now a federally controlled product. Once the main vein is removed, this is now a taxable product that cannot be sold, bartered, traded, or even given to anyone else without first paying federal taxes on it. Also, from this point forward, I am keeping the bucket of tobacco in an age controlled area where no one under the age of 18 can gain access.

Seriously???

G*d help us from ourselves.

 

[Jack Spectre]

Seriously???

G*d help us from ourselves.

Well, it was a pretty good run while it lasted.

 

[SkyHog]

Seriously???

G*d help us from ourselves.

True story. No worries, its not for public consumption anyway.

I'll have an update tonight

 

[TangoWhiskey]

I missed this post due to OSH. Very cool, Nick! Where do you buy seeds?

Also, in the "I never knew that before" category... tobacco plants have flowers?! That was an amazing picture!