Tobacco

Im growing a few different strains of tobacco for the first time this year. I started the germination process and have them set up in my indoor nursery during the evening and in my greenhouse during the day. I know the growing of the plants is going to be the easy part, since the curing and fermentation is time consuming and Im going to have to construct a small kiln. Im excited to see this through, since I enjoy some tobacco leaf in my joints. I'm growing some virgina gold, Aztec wild, and a couple others.
Anyone else try growing and curing their own tobacco?

HEY NOW! My Tobacco growing brethren! Thanks for the links.
Its good to see Tobacco prices (and perhaps, a touch of 'that virus of *unspecified origin*' ..has brought you to 'the Dark Side' too
My first year growing as well.

I have one Cuban/Havana cigar plant, one Red Cherry and one Black Mammoth (BM, is supposed to be a very light, great smoke).
All are about two months old now.
I have them in 12-15 liter (roughly) pots. Interested to see how potting them effects size (etc).
Fed them a standard spec fertiliser. But, also added some Mighty Mite Seaweed (kelp) solution, BioBizz Grow and BioBizz Fish mix. These last three for good soil activity and the usual beneficials.

So far (in the South of the uk), the Cuban and the Black Mammoth have had no issues ..save some minor slug/pest attacks.
The great thing, any little flying pests that try to attack them ..get overwhelmed (and die) from the nicotine. They are left hanging (dead) from the leaves in droves!
After only growing other 'weeds' ..THIS is a GLORIOUS turn of events for my growing history!
Makes me wonder, if its a good companion growing plant (might clear some of the pests during a grow).

The Red Cherry, is growing the worst.
It is drooping all over the place (not just when there is intense sun) and shows signs its got a virus from some pest biting it.
Whatever, it looks the worst for wear.

I decided to therefore give them (all) a mild hit of the systemic acetamiprid insecticide (using the product Bug Clear Ultra Concentrate).
To see if that would deter the slugs etc.
Later ...the irony of spraying a neonicotinoid on a *Tobacco* plant hit me
Thankfully, it was a very mild dosage anyway.

Getting some slug pellets. And, have already wrapped some Copper electrical insulation tape around the plant pots (much cheaper than buying the copper tape marketed specifically for this). Apparently, this deters the slugs.
All plants are staked, to help them grow.


Black Mammoth:








Cuban cigar plant








Red Cherry ..even the statue feels sorry for it!




Some browning on one of the lower leafs. Methinks, some nefarious beast has infected my baby.


*Note: Groovy size 12 'garden sandals' added for scale*



Seen on all Tobacco plants: Fly genocide! What a loverly sight

Could that be something that splashed up on the leaf?

Dammit! Now I'm looking at tobacco seeds online. I don't need more plants to grow. I quit smoking cigarettes years ago. Well I do indulge in the occasional single cigarette sometimes if someone comes over that smokes. But I think it would be cool to try and roll my own cigars which I still enjoy from time to time.

Anyone know anything about this seed site?

xtsho said:

Dammit! Now I'm looking at tobacco seeds online. I don't need more plants to grow. I quit smoking cigarettes years ago. Well I do indulge in the occasional single cigarette sometimes if someone comes over that smokes. But I think it would be cool to try and roll my own cigars which I still enjoy from time to time.

Anyone know anything about this seed site?

The Tobacco Seed Company - Tobacco seed retailers.

International & domestic retailers of tobacco seeds since 1999, with over 50 of the finest tobacco seed varieties for you to grow your own tobacco at home.

tobaccoseed.company

Click to expand...

Don't know about them but these I've got various other seeds from before and they have tobacco selection(s).

https://www.jlhudsonseeds.net/SeedlistN.htm

xtsho said:

Dammit! Now I'm looking at tobacco seeds online. I don't need more plants to grow. I quit smoking cigarettes years ago. Well I do indulge in the occasional single cigarette sometimes if someone comes over that smokes. But I think it would be cool to try and roll my own cigars which I still enjoy from time to time.

Anyone know anything about this seed site?

The Tobacco Seed Company - Tobacco seed retailers.

International & domestic retailers of tobacco seeds since 1999, with over 50 of the finest tobacco seed varieties for you to grow your own tobacco at home.

tobaccoseed.company

Click to expand...

I'm not familiar with the site, but I'm familiar with some of the tobaccos.

Maryland Catterton is a good for cigars. It's smooth with a light flue cure. Havana Leaf is another good plant.
Virginia Redleaf with a light Cavendish cure has a deep flavor, blend with Brightleaf for cigarettes.

I just found my semi-wild tobacco coming back, there's probably more in the hay field.

Y’all should check out this site. I use them for all my exotic seeds.

Puff_Dragon said:

Some browning on one of the lower leafs. Methinks, some nefarious beast has infected my baby.

Click to expand...

That one definitely should be culled or moved far away. The lower leaf is collapsing and turning off color, they are susceptible to soil pathogens.
Cut the bottom leaves, put a tomato cage around them to keep the leaves from touching the ground, the leaves don't like nute splash either, low phytotoxicity levels.

Hail storms suck too, and there are several enormous caterpillars, several minor ones that can eat nicotine or tomatoes by the barrel around here.
Some BTk works for them, but it looks like a rabbit attack from all the missing leaves and poo.

DCcan said:

That one definitely should be culled or moved far away. The lower leaf is collapsing and turning off color, they are susceptible to soil pathogens.
Cut the bottom leaves, put a tomato cage around them to keep the leaves from touching the ground, the leaves don't like nute splash either, low phytotoxicity levels.

Hail storms suck too, and there are several enormous caterpillars, several minor ones that can eat nicotine or tomatoes by the barrel around here.
Some BTk works for them, but it looks like a rabbit attack from all the missing leaves and poo.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips! (*and thanks everyone for the links*)
I'll cull that leaf off then (what ever the cause of the browning). Soil pathogen, nute splash ..are possible
I was going to let the Cuban and Black Mammoth plants grow flowers (for seeds).
But, I'm topping the red cherry (its the weakest and I can then see what topping does

fyi -
I cheated (didn't grow from seed). Instead, I bought plug plants from a UK tobacco site:
www.uktobaccoplants.co.uk

Voodu said:

Im growing a few different strains of tobacco for the first time this year. I started the germination process and have them set up in my indoor nursery during the evening and in my greenhouse during the day. I know the growing of the plants is going to be the easy part, since the curing and fermentation is time consuming and Im going to have to construct a small kiln. Im excited to see this through, since I enjoy some tobacco leaf in my joints. I'm growing some virgina gold, Aztec wild, and a couple others.
Anyone else try growing and curing their own tobacco?

Click to expand...

fyi - I've been googling curing and fermenting techniques.
Interesting to note, but maybe just urban myths:
kiln drying; might originate where barns (storing air drying tobacco leafs) caught fire. The recovered, dried leaves, smoked better than standard sun dried leafs. Kiln drying then evolved

Fermenting;
stories say it derived from when cured tobacco leaf was pressed into barrels and shipped across sea (in moist ship holds). After shipping, people found it smoked better (as it had fermented while shipping). After learning this, more advanced techniques then grew in the grower countries.

I also found myself relating Tobacco fermenting to the Cobbing process (seen elsewhere on this site).
After more searching online:
Some people are quick fermenting their cured tobacco by;
Filling a small wooden box (no lid) with cured and shredded tobacco leaf (must be slightly moistened).
Then, a piece of wood (that fits the inner dimensions of the box) is placed onto the tobacco/box.
Using a g-clamp/press, tightly compact the tobacco in the box (apparently, this compression speeds up the process).

I've watched a video with people saying only 24 hrs is needed, under compression. I won't vouch for that, but the technique seemed interesting.
Down the line, I might investigate my own hybrid of this, cobbing and standard tobacco fermenting techniques.

ps:
Water fermenting, with the tobacco leafs vac sealed in a bag and then placed underwater in a hot water bath ..was another interesting technique
I noticed people trying. Reminded me a little of Water Curing techniques mentioned elsewhere on this site

Peace.

Blending and cure chart. For our education

Well I started to hang/air dry some leaves from the plants.
One bunch is almost dried. With another bunch just starting to dry.

fyi -If you put a rubber band (or hair tie) around the string (where it is attached to the leaf). Then this will keep the string attached to the leaves as they shrink from drying (no leafs will fall out the string as they dry

After looking at tobacco cutters/shredders; while the 'true' tobacco shedders seemed good ..they were expensive (especially for a novice grower).
There were cheap and nasty Chinese ones too (£12 on eBay).
However, I settled on buying a £20 Paste machine! The 'fine' pasta shredder slot, does a pretty good approximation of the true tobacco shredders.
You can find these paste making machines on eBay+Amazon (they are crank operated). Go for an all steel one (with steel cutting blades).

Peace.


Drying Pics:

One day hanging/drying





Nearly dried bunch (approx. 9 days)

Puff_Dragon said:

Well I started to hang/air dry some leaves from the plants.
One bunch is almost dried. With another bunch just starting to dry.

fyi -If you put a rubber band (or hair tie) around the string (where it is attached to the leaf). Then this will keep the string attached to the leaves as they shrink from drying (no leafs will fall out the string as they dry

After looking at tobacco cutters/shredders; while the 'true' tobacco shedders seemed good ..they were expensive (especially for a novice grower).
There were cheap and nasty Chinese ones too (£12 on eBay).
However, I settled on buying a £20 Paste machine! The 'fine' pasta shredder slot, does a pretty good approximation of the true tobacco shredders.
You can find these paste making machines on eBay+Amazon (they are crank operated). Go for an all steel one (with steel cutting blades).

Peace.


Drying Pics:

One day hanging/drying
View attachment 4940734

View attachment 4940735


Nearly dried bunch (approx. 9 days)
View attachment 4940736

Click to expand...

Nice, looking good mate.

Everytime I've grown tobacco, I ruin it in my attempts to dry and cure.

Hoping to learn something by watching this thread.

Puff_Dragon said:

After looking at tobacco cutters/shredders; while the 'true' tobacco shedders seemed good ..they were expensive (especially for a novice grower).
There were cheap and nasty Chinese ones too (£12 on eBay).

Click to expand...

This is what I have, same model. It was in the attic for the last hundred years, works great

Puff_Dragon said:

Well I started to hang/air dry some leaves from the plants.
One bunch is almost dried. With another bunch just starting to dry.

fyi -If you put a rubber band (or hair tie) around the string (where it is attached to the leaf). Then this will keep the string attached to the leaves as they shrink from drying (no leafs will fall out the string as they dry

After looking at tobacco cutters/shredders; while the 'true' tobacco shedders seemed good ..they were expensive (especially for a novice grower).
There were cheap and nasty Chinese ones too (£12 on eBay).
However, I settled on buying a £20 Paste machine! The 'fine' pasta shredder slot, does a pretty good approximation of the true tobacco shredders.
You can find these paste making machines on eBay+Amazon (they are crank operated). Go for an all steel one (with steel cutting blades).

Peace.


Drying Pics:

One day hanging/drying
View attachment 4940734

View attachment 4940735


Nearly dried bunch (approx. 9 days)
View attachment 4940736

Click to expand...

That's interesting using a pasta machine. I don't see why it wouldn't work. I have a couple myself. My Marcato has a motor I can attach as well. Those dedicated tobacco shredders are basically the same thing and you pay a premium because they're tobacco specific.

Looks like you aren't the first one to think of using a pasta machine to shred tobacco.

DCcan said:

This is what I have, same model. It was in the attic for the last hundred years, works great

Click to expand...

That looks awesome. They certainly knew how to build 'tough' back then. That thing could be working happily hundreds of years from now
Out of interest, looking at it; is it a single guillotine blade? (cutting downwards). If so, it might be a cutter more designed for block tobacco cutting ..as opposed to dried leaf.

xtsho said:

That's interesting using a pasta machine. I don't see why it wouldn't work. I have a couple myself. My Marcato has a motor I can attach as well. Those dedicated tobacco shredders are basically the same thing and you pay a premium because they're tobacco specific.

Looks like you aren't the first one to think of using a pasta machine to shred tobacco.

Click to expand...

That video is surprisingly satisfying to watch
His machine even has the same crank handle (yellow/orange), probably from the same factory with different brand stamps (a Chinese classic!)
I had read (in forums) mention of using a pasta machine. So I can't claim it
After watching that video, I think it will be fun to shred!

Amazing what a plank of wood, a hole ..and some coconut oil (to stop you planing off the wood can get you. Why does that line sound like a 'said the priest to the nun' joke?

Anyway, shredding Cambodian style!