Growing Tobbacco

I would really like to try growing tobacco from seed to the finished smoked product. Youtube has tons of info, but it is hard to filter through it all.

Any of ya'll grow and smoke your own? Any resources and a point in the right direction would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance. Chancey

I know when dad used to grow it, it was started in a bed. They would put the seeds in coke for some reason that i don't recall. the smell of the tobacco barn when they were working it in the fall is one of the best smells there are.

How do you age it? What species makes good cigars?

I never knew the particulars, just knew I'd get fed good when voluntold to help with cutting and hanging.
Buyouts killed a way of life here.

20+ years ago I worked tobacco some. Hard work but fun. Cut and housed in late Aug-early Sept. Pulled down in Dec to separate, bale, and sell. You could either be on the first rafter and hand up a lot of stakes. 30' up and only handling one with none to pass up, or some where in between. "Hand up the burley!" "Housing the burley!" "Pass up the tobacca!" Team work at its finest. Could get nicotine poisoning if handling while wet from dew/working a lot with it. Sick and dizzy for a day or so. If you smoke there is some sweat and spit dried into that tobacco. Yes the area between St Joe and KC grew a lot ,and some of the best in the world 15+ years ago, and now none.

I grew Nicotiana Rustica this year along with Nicotiana Tabacum(Perique Louisiana type). The trick is to learn how to cure it, whether you are going to air cure, fire cure, smoke, etc. After it cures then you can do whatever you want, some people will ferment it to make the tobacco a lot better.

I am not an expert and am still learning but the rustica is lights out stuff. Like one puff or pull from a pipe of properly processed stuff is all you need. I urge you to do it, its awesome and I have learned so much from year 1, next year should be really good!

I used to chew leaf tobacco, I always wondered what the process was to get it to the final package. I knew it was cut and then dried in a barn but from there I’m clueless

Haha funny story.
I got some tobacco seeds and we planted some in the kitchen boss's garden and the green house. It grew real good,big bushy leaves so I figured no more buying tobacco for this guy. Well I borrowed the wife's dehydrater and set to drying it which it dried real good. Put it in a bag and crushed it up nicely. Picked up a pack of zip zags and twisted one up. I couldn't be any happier until I sparked it up. That's when all (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) broke loose. I coughed,sputtered and heaved while at the same time I turned green. I'm sure my hacking was heard around the world. Being a slow learner I figured I should try another puff. Same result but this brought me to my hand and knees this time. Holy jumpin was that terrible. I think smoking a tire would of been the same or better.

TurkeyTime , I have no clue how many loads of buildex i have hauled out of New market. Hauled many loads of it from Marquette KS too. Buildex plant in Ottawa shut down about the same time I started OTR. 1981. I miss seeing all the tobacco. I used to go to Weston and buy me a cigar just to watch the old man in the barn roll it. I never thought to ask how it was processed. Cigarettes' didnt hit a dollar a pack till about 1990. I was still buying cartons for 10 bucks on the indian reservation on I40 at the AZ NM border. Was about the time I gave up marlboro cause was just to pricey.

Right of way along 371 was all marijuana. Was doing some hauling on that high school job at Platte County high School a few months ago. I see they got the marijuana mostly eradicated too.

I raised burley tobacco till the tobacco program went out 2003 KY was king of cigarette tobacco NC was the largest producer of tobacco but burley was mainly used in cigarette, I don't miss it at all if you are going to use what we called long green we would say it will put hair on your lungs.

Danny Clifton, There was tons of wild marijuana along the RR tracks from Parkville to St Joe. Police used to set up to catch people trying to harvest it. They had a big eradication campaign for that as well.

I grow Virginia tobacco never had to buy any for five years, smoked all my own and im a heavy smoker

Burley is raised from seed in a seed bed. Start the seed bed in very early spring. When the plants are 8 to 10 inches tall they are pulled and transplanted (set) into well worked ground. This is usually in May in my part of the world. Then you just keep it weeded and growing all summer, and when it starts to bloom you (top) or cut the bloom off the top. About 1 foot from the very top. Allow it to grow like this for 4 to 6 weeks and the leaves will turn yellow. Cut all suckers out and then cut and spike the plants. Put the stalks of tobacco on sticks and hang in the barn where it can get plenty of air. Time will cure it after a couple of months depending how hot the weather is. When the leave stems are dried up it is time to (strip) the leaves from the stalks and put it into bales. At this point this is when we put it on the market to be sold. I have no idea what you would do from this point if you wanted to use it yourself. I would suggest that you have your insurance paid up.

I randomly ordered some Virginia tobacco seeds on a whim a couple years ago. Started them inside and transplanted them outdoors in early June. It grows like a dang weed apparently. Left blossoms on some, cut others off. Definitely a huge difference in plant size when you cut blossom off. Frost started to hit by before the leaves turned brown. Some I stripped the leaves, strung them on wire to dry and some I cut the whole stalk and dried it that way. Left them over the winter in my farm shop heated to 55 degrees. All of the leaves dried down still being green. Wasn't harsh to smoke it, but wasn't great either. I plan to try again but I need to figure out a better way to cure it. Definitely fun to grow.

I helped my brother in southern WI raise tobacco for over a dozen years. heated seed beds, transplant, planting, hoeing, tassling, and all the harvest, hanging, stripping and baling. Ours was tobacco for snuff however and in the north so my experience may not work for your situation at all.

Bryce

Thank you for the responses fellas. Seems like curing it correctly is what makes or breaks good tobacco. I'm gonna do my first batch this spring with Virginia tobacco. Probably start it in the shop like I do maters and peppers and put it the ground around april 15th. The drying part is gonna be hard here I think, because it is hot as all get out here usually until October. I'm afraid it may be too hot and not enough humidity to dry correctly to smoke, but I'm gonna give it a go.