| |
|
|
|
|
Share/Bookmark this Topic:
|
| Message |
Author |
by bob_kemp
on Tue Oct 27, 2009 8:07 am |
|
Hi --
I thought I'd start a new topic here all to do with how to grow your own tobacco at home. If the admin doesn't want me to put this here, move it and tell me please, but I couldn't find anywhere else that GYO tobacco should be put.
I started this thread to help people grow their own tobacco at home and stop paying the outrageous taxes that make it so expensive.
I will start with a very quick overview and go into more details later. Please ask me as many questions as you like and I'll try to answer them. I'll be watching this thread daily and now that my harvest is in and dried, I'm fairly free to respond.
Tobacco is an annual crop that is generally field grown. The seeds are started indoors 6-7 weeks before the last average frost date in most parts of the US, much like tomatoes, and transplants are planted in the field usually 2 feet apart in the row, with rows 3 feet apart. You can grow tobacco successfully in a suburban setting in 4-5 gallon pots.
There are many strains or varieties of tobacco which are grown for specific uses. Some are used in cigarettes, others as cigar or pipe tobacco. There are chew, dip, snus, snuff and specialty tobaccos you can grow.
The plants range from 6 - 8 feet tall and you can expect to harvest 16-18 mature, 2-3 foot long leaves from each plant. A good estimate for the final dry weight is 3 oz per plant. To put this in perspective, a pound of tobacco usually yields about 2-1/2 cartons of cigs. Roughly 6 oz of tobacco per carton. The cost of growing and preparing tobacco for use generally totals about $3 a lbs not including capital costs. This makes the price of a carton of cigarettes at over $50 look even more ridiculous! That's an increase from $3 a lbs to $125 a lbs at commercial prices including the punishment taxes!
Tobacco is harvested either by cutting and hanging the whole stalk or by what is called "priming", pulling the bottom-most leaves as they start to yellow. After the leaves are hung, they change from green to yellow/brown in a process called "color-curing". After this, they are generally dried in hotter, less humid conditions until they are completely dried and are ready for storing and aging/curing.
Curing the dried tobacco can be as easy as boxing it up and waiting about a year, or as complex as building an insulated kiln which is temp/humidity controlled and takes about a month to "ferment" the tobacco until it is smooth to smoke. I'm smoking my own homegrown now after 3 months of air-curing and it is great!
Tobacco does not go stale or bad with age. It improves. The reason that commercial cigs go "stale" is because of the additives they put in them which are organic oils and those will become rancid over time.
Processing tobacco depends on the use required. You can shred it finely for cigs. More roughly for cigars. Very rough cut for chew. You can grind it for dip/snuff/snus. You can flavor it with honey or other sweet stuff, or with whiskey, cherry or almost flavor you like!
That's a basic overview of tobacco plant culture and processing. The next thing I'll try to write about is germinating/starting the seeds indoors. Tobacco seeds are very tiny. 1/10th of a gram is about 1000 seeds. Starting the seeds isn't hard, but some care must be taken to protect the tiny plants.
I hope this is valuable for everyone here interested in growing their own tobacco at home.
Thanks!
Bob Kemp
GYOtobacco@yahoo.com |
|
|
bob_kemp
Puffer
Joined: Sep 22, 2009
Posts: 56
|
| |
Back to top |
|
|
| |
|
by libertarian99
on Tue Oct 27, 2009 5:17 pm |
|
bob_kemp wrote: Curing the dried tobacco can be as easy as boxing it up and waiting about a year, or as complex as building an insulated kiln which is temp/humidity controlled and takes about a month to "ferment" the tobacco until it is smooth to smoke. I'm smoking my own homegrown now after 3 months of air-curing and it is great!
When you say you just box the tobacco up to cure it, do you put anything on the tobacco or in the box with the leaves to make it ferment or age better? I thought tobacco had to be boiled, steamed or fermented in some way in order to get it to a smokable state. |
|
|
libertarian99
Enthusiastic Smoker
Joined: May 01, 2009
Posts: 453
|
| |
Back to top |
| |
|
by bob_kemp
on Tue Oct 27, 2009 5:41 pm |
|
Hi --
I've seen the results of the Jim Johnson book recommendations and recipes and they aren't pretty. libertarian99, it would help me to make specific suggestions if I knew what tobacco variety you grew. I am now smoking my SilkLeaf after 3 months of air-curing and it isn't harsh or grassy tasting any more, it is very sweet. In fact, I turned off my kiln with 30 lbs in it after 10 days because I couldn't see any point in hastening the cure any more. Virginia tobacco will do the same. Burley will take a little longer.
No, you do NOT want to boil or steam tobacco. The only steamed tobacco I've seen in my reading is Cavendish pipe tobacco.
I hadn't gotten to the point where I am ready to talk about all the different or specific curing methods, but it looks like I am now!
Just about the only tobacco types which are sun-cured are oriental varieties, like the Turkish vars. I'm not too sure why those are done that way yet. But it isn't important now because it isn't likely you grew Turkish.
The whole point of curing tobacco is to cause the enzymes in the leaf to consume and release the nitrogen compounds that cause harshness and grassy taste. This is done at about 65-70% humidity and around 70F minimum. 120F is ideal and simulates composting temps in a pile of leaves.
For cigarettes, there are three major ways of curing - air-curing, flue-curing and kiln-curing.
Air-curing begins with a leaf that has already completely color cured, that is to say that the leaf has already changed from green to yellow/brown and the leaf part has been completely dried crispy and the mid-rib (vein) of the leaf is dry. This will generally take a month or so hung in the air at 50% humidity or more and 70-90F. Some moving air is beneficial at this stage to avoid molding.
Air-curing is just that -- you expose it to the air and wait. More complicated environmental controls keep the air at 70% RH and 70F (the 70/70 rule). The objective is to keep the leaf at 20% moisture content (called "case" moisture) which allows the enzymes in the leaf to convert the harsh-tasting nitrogen compounds into ammonia and other substances to make the leaf "sweet" burning. This is the point of all curing methods. Air-curing can take a year or more to complete to 90%. After that it gets only incrementally better. After 3 months, most Virginia type tobaccos are quite acceptable to smoke. After 6 months, burley tobaccos are good.
Flue-curing is a forced cure which takes about 6 days and starts with a green leaf. In the first two days, the humidity is kept high and the temperature at around 105F. This completes when the leaf changes from green to yellow/brown. The next 2 days the humidity is lowered and temperature raised to about 120F. The flue-cure is completed at a much lower humidity and 160F to dry the leaf completely (this is what creates the worst carcinogens in cigs and home-growers shouldn't even do this - my opinion).
In kiln-curing you start with a completely dried leaf like air-curing, the leaf is kept in an insulated box with humidity at 65% and temperature at 120F (nominal) for about 1 month. This converts nearly all the nitrogen in the leaf and produces a nice smoke in 30 days.
There's the basics of curing for cigarettes. For cigars, pipe, chew, dip (moist snuff), snuff, &etc. there are other methods, such as fire-cured, "sweating", &etc.
Bob
GYOtobacco@yahoo.com |
|
|
bob_kemp
Puffer
Joined: Sep 22, 2009
Posts: 56
|
| |
Back to top |
| |
|
by libertarian99
on Tue Oct 27, 2009 7:01 pm |
|
bob_kemp wrote: Air-curing begins with a leaf that has already completely color cured, that is to say that the leaf has already changed from green to yellow/brown and the leaf part has been completely dried crispy and the mid-rib (vein) of the leaf is dry. This will generally take a month or so hung in the air at 50% humidity or more and 70-90F. Some moving air is beneficial at this stage to avoid molding.
Air-curing is just that -- you expose it to the air and wait. More complicated environmental controls keep the air at 70% RH and 70F (the 70/70 rule). The objective is to keep the leaf at 20% moisture content (called "case" moisture) which allows the enzymes in the leaf to convert the harsh-tasting nitrogen compounds into ammonia and other substances to make the leaf "sweet" burning. This is the point of all curing methods. Air-curing can take a year or more to complete to 90%. After that it gets only incrementally better. After 3 months, most Virginia type tobaccos are quite acceptable to smoke. After 6 months, burley tobaccos are good.
Are you saying that I can just let the leaves hang there over the humidifier for a year, keeping the temp in the 70-75F range, and at the end of the year, they will be smokable?
Don't ask what variety they are, because I got a blend and I don't know the exact types of leaves that I've got hanging up. This was my first year, so I let Seedman do the picking and just got the beginner's packet. I think they are burleys, bright leaf Virginia, orinoco and red leafs, according to the sales copy on the Web site. |
|
|
libertarian99
Enthusiastic Smoker
Joined: May 01, 2009
Posts: 453
|
| |
Back to top |
| |
|
by bob_kemp
on Tue Oct 27, 2009 7:21 pm |
|
libertarian99.
Are the leaves yellow/brown yet? No green? Are they completely dried? I mean, is the mid-rib of each leaf completely dry and shrunk? If they are completely dried, you should be able to put them in a box and taste them once a month. You will be able to tell when they are smokable.
Once they are crispy dried and not green, you don't need a humidifier. Ambient air conditions will do fine. Either leave them hanging somewhere there is no dust or animal hair, or pack them in a cardboard box (sniff it first to make sure there are no odors, some cardboard will stink!) and they will age fine.
It shouldn't take a year before it's ready to smoke after the green is all gone and they are dried crispy in ambient air. After 3 months and you'll taste the difference. Be sure to be sensitive to the "case" conditions in the leaf. "Case" is 20% moisture content. The leaf will be just pliable and not shatter when handled. Too little moisture and it will be harsh. Too much and it won't burn right and could mold. Tobacco growers become very aware of the moisture content of the leaf.
Bob |
|
|
bob_kemp
Puffer
Joined: Sep 22, 2009
Posts: 56
|
| |
Back to top |
| |
|
by libertarian99
on Tue Oct 27, 2009 7:43 pm |
|
bob_kemp wrote: If they are completely dried, you should be able to put them in a box and taste them once a month. You will be able to tell when they are smokable.
 |
Last edited by libertarian99 on Tue Oct 27, 2009 8:22 pm; edited 2 times in total |
|
libertarian99
Enthusiastic Smoker
Joined: May 01, 2009
Posts: 453
|
| |
Back to top |
| |
|
by bob_kemp
on Tue Oct 27, 2009 7:59 pm |
|
Hi --
I don't quite know how to answer your questions.
I haven't reached the point to talk about when to harvest. When the leaves are ripe. The stock answer is that 3-4 weeks after the plant blooms (and most are topped), you can harvest the leaves. If you harvest too early, the leaves are thin textured and will not make good smoke. When the leaves are heavy textured, particularly the middle leaves (not the smaller, thin bottom leaves) and they have started to yellow, and have a crinkly kinda bubble-wrap feel to them, they will make good smoke.
You will be able to tell better after your first harvest.
Bob |
|
|
bob_kemp
Puffer
Joined: Sep 22, 2009
Posts: 56
|
| |
Back to top |
| |
|
by libertarian99
on Wed Oct 28, 2009 5:07 am |
|
Thanks for the information you've given me so far. Are you writing a book? That would probably help grow your business.
Carry on with your discussion in the sequence you had planned out. Sorry if I mixed you up. |
|
|
libertarian99
Enthusiastic Smoker
Joined: May 01, 2009
Posts: 453
|
| |
Back to top |
| |
|
by bob_kemp
on Wed Oct 28, 2009 5:24 am |
|
Hi --
libertarian99, not at all! This is exactly what I am trying to do, help first time growers of tobacco. Stimulate discussions, get answers. It's just difficult in a forum venue to have the kind of back and forth needed to solve your current issues since you are advanced in the growing/harvest already and I haven't covered the basics yet.
Maybe you could post a picture of your hanging leaves so I can see where they stand. I also need to know something about your ambient RH nad temps because using a humidifier for your color cure stage only sounds reasonable to do if your ambient humidities are under 40% most of the time. Then they could dry green. That's Bad.
A picture of the leaves on your plants would help me decide if they are approaching the ripe stage or are already there. Also, some idea of the timeline would help, because harvest should be about 5-1/2 months after the sowing of the seeds, and you said you sowed them in April? They ought to be about done by now. Some should be starting to bloom or in full bloom unless topped.
Bob |
|
|
bob_kemp
Puffer
Joined: Sep 22, 2009
Posts: 56
|
| |
Back to top |
| |
|
by libertarian99
on Wed Oct 28, 2009 8:48 pm |
|
bob_kemp wrote: Maybe you could post a picture of your hanging leaves so I can see where they stand.
I only had a few plants reach the bud stage, and I'm not sure why. I went ahead and picked some of the leaves off the others anyway, since they were sticky and/or mottled yellow. I read somewhere that too much nitrogen can inhibit budding.
Anyway, you would get a good laugh out of the strange contraption I've rigged up to hang the leaves on. It's made up of a clothesline with wire hangers and clothespins. I have cats, so I have to take extra precautions to make sure the leaves can never fall to the floor, even if an earthquake strikes. bob_kemp wrote: I also need to know something about your ambient RH nad temps ecause using a humidifier for your color cure stage only sounds reasonable to do if your ambient humidities are under 40% most of the time. Then they could dry green. That's Bad.
One thing you could talk about is shredding. If I'm just going to air-cure the leaves, how can I shred them? I was planning on boiling the leaves, then pressing them into bricks, then shredding them, but you've scared me away from doing that. Do you have any other suggestions?
What exactly will happen if I boil the leaves, anyway? Why should I not use that method? I have just about everything I need to go that route, including wooden boxes and clamps to press the leaves. Do you have a horror story about it? |
|
|
libertarian99
Enthusiastic Smoker
Joined: May 01, 2009
Posts: 453
|
| |
Back to top |
| |
|
|
All times are GMT - 5 Hours
|
|
