Growing Your Own Tobacco (updated)
Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 4:12 am
I'm trying something a little different this year: growing my own tobacco. I don't know why it never occurred to me before, having grown tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, herbs, etc., but yeah, it just totally never crossed my mind before.
Well, it's 100 percent legal to grow your own tobacco, here in the US. Just so long as you're not selling it, you can grow as much as you want for "personal use", absolutely no limit whatsoever. Once you decide to start selling it, naturally the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) wants to get involved.
Tobacco will grow just about anywhere, from Cuba to Canada, and all points in between. Interestingly, some of the worst soil and growing conditions will produce some of the best tobacco.
Home growing tobacco should have a lot of appeal for anyone who's the least bit concerned about what's actually in his tobacco. You can keep it simple with straight air dried Virginia, or you can mix-it-up to your heart's content: blending different varieties of tobaccos, spices, extracts and other flavorings, smoke-curing, soaking in various liquors and liqueurs, steaming, pressing, etc.
The possibilities are pretty much endless. And who knows, your spouse might even surprise you by taking an interest in what you're whipping up in the kitchen these days. I know my Girlfriend's curiosity has been piqued by our discussions so far.
Then I got to thinking there might be some other pipe/tobacco enthusiasts out there with a moderately green thumb who might be interested in doing the same. So I thought I would post some links, in no particular order, that might be helpful for said green-thumb-enthusiasts.
Producing Tobacco Transplants in Ontario (Site has a database of hundreds of publications related to crop production, including tobacco production.)
The Science Behind Tobacco: Growing Tobacco
Crop Profile for Tobacco in West Virginia
Organic Tobacco Production
Tobacco Forums (for home tobacco growers)
Tobacco (at Wikipedia -- includes lots of great tobacco growing and processing information)
As far as getting started, about all you need is access to a little plot of land -- or some 5-gallon buckets, if you wanna go that route -- sunlight, water and seeds, available below and elsewhere:
Ebay search for "tobacco seeds"
Newton Tobacco Seed
Seedman.com (Site features lots of helpful information and links.)
Victoryseeds.com (includes heirloom tobacco seeds, info etc.)
Tobacco Seeds from Plantation House (seeds, info, etc.)
The cool thing about tobacco is: tobacco plants produce seeds out the whazoo if you let them, so once you get started, you'll probably never have to purchase seeds again, just so long as you collect a few seeds along the way.
Cooler, still, is the fact that, by collecting and planting your own seeds, your tobacco plants will acclimate themselves and build up a better tolerance to your own, local growing conditions after just a few generations of seed-harvesting and replanting.
Well anyway, that should be enough to get a pipe/tobacco enthusiast started on the road to growing his own.
This year, I personally am growing Kentucky Burley, Virginia Gold, Havana, Small Stalk Black Mammoth, and Scherazi on various plots of land. I've worked out deals with some friends to split the tobacco with them if they let me plant a row in their backyards.
So far, I'm just in the sprouting and bed-preparation phase, but I'll keep y'all posted, if anyone's interested.
Cheers.
Well, it's 100 percent legal to grow your own tobacco, here in the US. Just so long as you're not selling it, you can grow as much as you want for "personal use", absolutely no limit whatsoever. Once you decide to start selling it, naturally the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) wants to get involved.
Tobacco will grow just about anywhere, from Cuba to Canada, and all points in between. Interestingly, some of the worst soil and growing conditions will produce some of the best tobacco.
Home growing tobacco should have a lot of appeal for anyone who's the least bit concerned about what's actually in his tobacco. You can keep it simple with straight air dried Virginia, or you can mix-it-up to your heart's content: blending different varieties of tobaccos, spices, extracts and other flavorings, smoke-curing, soaking in various liquors and liqueurs, steaming, pressing, etc.
The possibilities are pretty much endless. And who knows, your spouse might even surprise you by taking an interest in what you're whipping up in the kitchen these days. I know my Girlfriend's curiosity has been piqued by our discussions so far.
Then I got to thinking there might be some other pipe/tobacco enthusiasts out there with a moderately green thumb who might be interested in doing the same. So I thought I would post some links, in no particular order, that might be helpful for said green-thumb-enthusiasts.
Producing Tobacco Transplants in Ontario (Site has a database of hundreds of publications related to crop production, including tobacco production.)
The Science Behind Tobacco: Growing Tobacco
Crop Profile for Tobacco in West Virginia
Organic Tobacco Production
Tobacco Forums (for home tobacco growers)
Tobacco (at Wikipedia -- includes lots of great tobacco growing and processing information)
As far as getting started, about all you need is access to a little plot of land -- or some 5-gallon buckets, if you wanna go that route -- sunlight, water and seeds, available below and elsewhere:
Ebay search for "tobacco seeds"
Newton Tobacco Seed
Seedman.com (Site features lots of helpful information and links.)
Victoryseeds.com (includes heirloom tobacco seeds, info etc.)
Tobacco Seeds from Plantation House (seeds, info, etc.)
The cool thing about tobacco is: tobacco plants produce seeds out the whazoo if you let them, so once you get started, you'll probably never have to purchase seeds again, just so long as you collect a few seeds along the way.
Cooler, still, is the fact that, by collecting and planting your own seeds, your tobacco plants will acclimate themselves and build up a better tolerance to your own, local growing conditions after just a few generations of seed-harvesting and replanting.
Well anyway, that should be enough to get a pipe/tobacco enthusiast started on the road to growing his own.
This year, I personally am growing Kentucky Burley, Virginia Gold, Havana, Small Stalk Black Mammoth, and Scherazi on various plots of land. I've worked out deals with some friends to split the tobacco with them if they let me plant a row in their backyards.
So far, I'm just in the sprouting and bed-preparation phase, but I'll keep y'all posted, if anyone's interested.
Cheers.