This might be a stupid question, but...

[TallSmoke]

A friend of mine asked me today if I knew of anyone that grew just enough of their own tobacco in their back yard/field/lot, etc. and then primed and processed it for personal consumption (but didn't sell it or offer it commercially, etc.) I told him I had never heard of it before. Have any of you? I imagine it would be a bit difficult to do?

 

[mark]

I'm waiting for my tobacco seeds to arrive,,,I'll plant both burley and virginia plants,,,drying and curing processes are many and varied,,, some involve strict temperature and humidity control , casings and flavorings are available for aromatics,,,ingenuity and creativity are the only limits,,,home made press boxes for pressing flake are easy to make , and toasting is another option,,,it's all new to me,and I'm starting small, but I'm jumping in with both feet,,,I'll need a lot more research before curing and coming up with an acceptable product, but my first crop should give me a minimum of 10 pounds to play with (50 plants ) and I don't expect professional results, but I'm giving it a shot,, ipe:

 

[Kapnismologist]

This very question came up a while back:

This forum has a lot of interesting information from folks doing just that (some cool pictures of home crops and curing garages too):

http://www.howtogrowtobacco.com/forums/index.php

Happy planting!

 

[vaperfavour]

that's interesting!

 

[Anonymous]

I knew some guys from Texas that do this. One of the kids I mentor just planted some with his dad.

 

[Carlos]

A regular on the old Knox board, Bob from Ohio, did several different processes. Growing, curing, pressing. Did some cigars also I think. He was always trying to learn more about the process. Haven't heard from him in some time.

 

[TallSmoke]

Thanks for the replies and links. I may actually check this out myself. It looks very interesting. Being in North Carolina we're in a good spot for growing tobacco.

 

[Al in Canada]

I've tried it once, and will try again, after I worked some of the processing bugs out.
You have basically two problems:1) even if you are a "plain" tobacco smoker, smoking VA. or Burley only, you are not smoking just one tobacco. I think when I lived in Kentucky there were over 100 types of burley being grown there. And there are numerous varieties of Virginia in your "straight" Virginia blend. So you are probably going to want more than one type of tobacco.
2) Then there are the various curing methods that make a difference in the taste of tobacco from the same plant. There is flue curing, sun cures, air and fire cures.

I am not trying to discourage you, just giving you a heads up so you can get a head start on the learning curve.

Here are a few places to start your reading:
building a small scale curing chamber: http://www.coffinails.com/curing_tobacco.html
article on constituent tobaccos and blending: http://www.tobaccoblending.com/tobacco_blending_how_to.htm
sources of plant seeds:
1) http://www.angelfire.com/ab/ltpa/seed555.htm
2) http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?viewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=370190432664
3) http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=130301706760
4)http://www.thetobaccoseed.com/Pipe_Tobacco.html

Good luck and happy smoking,
Al in Canada ipe:

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

I wouldn't dream of growing/curing/blending tobacco. Way too much to learn. I wouldn't count on getting even mediocre results until after the 5th or so season. Not trying to dissuade you, but for me it would cost so much labor and research that I would turn tail and run!

 

[adauria]

I wouldn't dream of growing/curing/blending tobacco. Way too much to learn. I wouldn't count on getting even mediocre results until after the 5th or so season. Not trying to dissuade you, but for me it would cost so much labor and research that I would turn tail and run!

That's how I feel too, and I am also based in NC and have plenty of yard space to grow stuff.

For now I'll stick to veggies (enough to learn just about those!) and gladly accept a sample of anyone else's homegrown experiments!

-Andrew