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by irishguyincc on Wed Jan 05, 2005 12:31 pm

If you are interested in growing tobacco I recommend you check out this site:

http://www.seedman.com/Tobacco.htm

This guy sells tobacco seeds, flavorings and other processing items. The site contains some interesting information. I have bought stuff from him before, including tobacco seeds I used in a project once.

irishguyincc Smoker

Smoker Joined: Nov 08, 2003 Posts: 163

by Tom on Wed Jan 05, 2005 1:33 pm

Irishguy,

That's a very good site. I think it's a great idea to learn how to do this. I won't have to yet, because I still buy a carton's worth of tobacco for about $5-$10. It's definately something good to know. I hear that rabbits don't like tobacco, so maybe I'll grow this around the perimeter of my garden this spring. It should be fun. I wouldn't want to rely on this source of tobacco yet though.

Tom

Smokers Rights Activist Joined: Aug 24, 2003 Posts: 961 Location: The Kingdom of New Jersey

by Pat on Wed Jan 05, 2005 9:59 pm

Hi Pat,

Quote:

Just out of curiousity, are you looking for more of a light taste. or full flavored?

Like most MYO newbies-I was looking to imitate as close as possible my former brand of manufactered cigs, Marlboro Light. I learned very quickly-that the MYO tobacco makes a far better tasting cigarette! As I mentioned earlier-so far the best tobacco I have tried has been the Venguer Light from cigarettetobacco.com

They have received great tobacco reviews from RYO magazine as well.

As far as growing my own tobacco, I did some prelimenary investigations into that-just to see what the options were. If the time comes I have to go that route, rather than pay the tax man abusive "nanny taxes", I will consider it.

Pat

Newbie Joined: Nov 30, 2004 Posts: 31

by patdaly on Thu Jan 06, 2005 3:46 am

Thanks all, I had already done quite a bit of research on the subject.
Tom, I just have a hunch we will be in the same boat in a year or two as the average pack buyer, call me cynical, but I see them raising the tax on bulk tobacco when more and more of us switch. Another reason is specifically to get away from something you mentioned, flue curing of the tobacco. I already have the land, as well as a perfect drying barn, and generally 18 months will get you a premium, mellow smoke.

Also, it is true about the rabbits, another thing for us gardening types is the shake, or powdered resudue at the bottom of the can makes a very effective insecticide. LOL, recycle to the end!

patdaly

Enthusiastic Smoker Joined: Jan 02, 2005 Posts: 207 Location: Streator Illinois

by CalMan on Fri Jan 07, 2005 1:39 pm

I would like to call this �My Adventures in MYO�.
Like many of you, our blossoming Fascist Government caught me up in the Yesmoke crack down last month.
My Yesmoke affair had gone on over 2 years with the best prices I had seen on my favorite smokes, Dunhill. I had become a cigarette snob and would not even consider smoking a Marlboro or a Camel! It was Dunhill�s or nothing for me. I considered the Dunhill a Premium brand and also one that had fewer additives than the average US Domestic brand.
After the Yesmoke melt down I came across this page while looking for information regarding what the hell happened at JFK.
I read all the postings and stumbled into the MYO or RYO area and became very interested in this alternative.
My previous experience in MYO was quite a few years ago and involved a cheap hand stuffing machine and cheap tobacco. What a waste of time! I hated those smokes and figured this was not the way to go. Well, this time after reading the very good information I got here at SmokingLobby.com I ventured out again to become somewhat independent of the Cigarette Cartels.
I started with the 150g(5.29 oz.) of Drum Halfzware Shag and the Premier King Sized tubes. Total cost was about $15 at Cigarettes Cheaper. I used my old Hand Stuffer (Gizeh D-51702, made in Germany) and started out.
The Homemade�s were pretty good actually but the workmanship in my stuffing was very poor. Sometimes the tobacco would not pack all the way back to the filter of the tube or at other times I would jam my machine. But I was not about to give up! I averaged about a 1:4 ratio of decent smokes and was starting to like the taste of the Drum tobacco!
I decided I needed better equipment so went to www.tobaccocity.com and ordered a Supermatic II and a 13oz can of McClintock Full Flavor Tobacco on Dec 29th, 2004. With the Holidays almost over I expect to receive my order in a week or so but when it came via the USPS on Jan 3rd, 2005 I was like a kid opening his first Christmas Morning Present! The Box was very well packed and after getting out the Machine and the Tobacco, I went right to work making my first �Quality Smokes�.
The first few cigarettes came out ok but as I experimented with airing the tobacco out (30 minutes at room temperature) and measuring the amounts needed to make a good smoke I got much better! I was trying to make a Dunhill replacement but found the McClintock Full Flavor with the Premier Light Tubes still a little too strong. I went back to Cigarettes Cheaper and got a small pouch McClintock Light and began to experiment with mixing the Light with the Full Flavor and even using some of the Drum to come up with a close to Dunhill flavor. All the mixes were very good but after reading about the McClintock Virginia blend I went back to CC and got a 6oz. Tin of that.
Perfect with the light tubes!
I still have a few packs of the Dunhill�s around, but after trying MYO with the right equipment and good tobacco, I now prefer the Homemade�s and am not planning on blowing any more time or money searching for an alternate Dunhill supplier.
A few hints in doing this.
1. The end of the MYO cigarette have a bit of tobacco hanging out so I tap the filter end and pull of the bit left before I put it in the Tupperware box for storage. For you kids out there, back in the old days (1960�s) we would pack an unopened pack of smokes before we opened them due to the tobacco being loose at the ends.
2. I follow the instructions on the Supermatic II and do not force it when injecting the tobacco. If it jams�s I clear it out and start over. Very few jam�s now that I have the hang of it.
3. I use an old metal Camel Tin to store my movable smokes in when going out. These were available a few years back when Camel was struggling for Market Share, but I have not seen any available in the short time I have been looking.
4. I sit down at a table and use a paper plate, latex gloves and mix the tobacco up while making my smokes and watching the lies being broadcast to us on Network Television News. The process takes the edge off of me and I tend to swear a lot less than I used to when watching the Nightly News. Be sure to wear the gloves as the nicotine will enter your system through your skin like a transdermal patch and can cause side effects. (nicotine overdose?)
5. I am able to make about 30-40 smokes in less than half an hour and I have noticed that I smoke a lot fewer than I used to (2 packs a day!) probably due to the quality of the tobacco I am using and the amount of nicotine that is in each finished smoke.
6. I now actually use a box that was used in the 1950�s to store finished smokes on the living room coffee table for storage.
I hope this helps some of you that want to get into this and while I still can�t say I am saving a lot of money it is definitely cheaper than the $35 bucks a carton for Marlboros we pay here at the discount store in California and the quality of the cigarette is very good if your using good tobacco.

CalMan

Newbie Joined: Jan 05, 2005 Posts: 18 Location: Sierra Nevada Foothills

by Charles on Fri Jan 07, 2005 2:50 pm

Calman,

Welcome aboard!
I'm also new to the MYO market. I have been doing it around a month or so now and there is no turning back for me!

Charles

Charles

Toker Joined: Nov 30, 2004 Posts: 116 Location: New Jersey

by CalMan on Fri Jan 07, 2005 3:20 pm

Charles wrote:

Calman,

Welcome aboard!
I'm also new to the MYO market. I have been doing it around a month or so now and there is no turning back for me!

Charles

Charles, thanks for the warm welcome aboard!
I hoped my first post would not be that long but I did want to get the word out to those considering MYO that it can be done and if done right, it can be better than buying from the likes of PM.
My next effort is to either start a Co-op to buy bulk tobacco or to find a farmer who wants to sell his good stuff but needs help in distribution. I am not looking to break any law's, just to get us renagade smokers an alternative to what we face now.
Remember, don't believe any facts until the authorities publicly come out and deny them!

CalMan

Newbie Joined: Jan 05, 2005 Posts: 18 Location: Sierra Nevada Foothills

by Charles on Fri Jan 07, 2005 8:53 pm

Calman wrote:

Quote:

My next effort is to either start a Co-op to buy bulk tobacco or to find a farmer who wants to sell his good stuff but needs help in distribution

Charles

Toker Joined: Nov 30, 2004 Posts: 116 Location: New Jersey

by IrishEyzs on Fri Jan 07, 2005 11:28 pm

Hi Everyone!
Found this site looking for info on the YEsmoke mess. Got burned for 8 cartons. I always used Paypal debit card to pay for them so now I wait to see if paypal will give me a chargeback...I'm not holding my breath! It's been almost 4 weeks since I filed for the refund and as of today, their still looking into it. GRRRRRRRRRR

Anyway, I started rolling my own about two years ago when the taxes went sky high in PA with a little red escort machine but to make cigs for my husband and myself was pretty time consuming. Then I found yesmoke and the price difference between making them and buying them was worth not having to make them. Now I'm back to making my own and purchased an Excel Deluxe and am very happy with it! I can make about 4 in the same time that I made one with the little machine. So far my husband likes the Midnight Special tobacco but I like the ZigZag Menthol. I just bought a bag of the Gambler menthol and wow is that menthol!! The Midnight Special Menthol didn't have much menthol taste.
I enjoy reading all the posts and have learned alot about tobacco LOL

Great site!

Bridget

IrishEyzs

Newbie Joined: Dec 21, 2004 Posts: 14

by CalMan on Sat Jan 08, 2005 3:19 pm

[quote="Charles"]Calman wrote:

Quote:

My next effort is to either start a Co-op to buy bulk tobacco or to find a farmer who wants to sell his good stuff but needs help in distribution

It seems you have been reading my mind! I have been thinking that also but did not want to suggest it because I'm new here and wasn't sure about all the laws.

Bill / Tom / Irishguy,

Is Calman's thought a possibility? Can a group, club or organization hire their own farmer to grow, cure and distribute tobacco solely for them without being penalized?

Hello again everyone,
Charles, I am a lot newer than you here, and I have read most of your posts. As far as I am concerned you are one of the "Senior Advisors" here and you seem to have a very good handle on most topics that many of us follow.
I did a brief search yesterday and found a few Co-op's but I think they sell only Internationaly.
Perhaps we should start a new topic on this to spread the idea around the group.
The few things I have found out are this:
The USDA has 117 grades of Tobacco!
I have yet to find their definition of what the grades mean or what grades we would be interested in using.
The Co-op page I visited appeared to sell in lots with one of the smaller lots being over 450 lbs. and the prices are between $2-2.90 a pound.
We would have to pay taxes to the feds if we got a lot of this and probably have it shipped to a low tax state for repackaging and fowarding to distribute it to members of the potential Co-op.
I have no idea if were breaking the law as long as we pay the taxes on this nor do I know if we need a special license to act as a distributer.
Then we have to consider that we are looking for a finished product like what we are buying retail now, so the question comes up that I doubt few farmers have the processing equipment to yield a finished type product. The Co-op page I saw appeared to offer the finished product so that would be the place to start and see what were looking at.
I think to make this work, were going to need 50 people in our Co-op who will buy 10lbs. each for a total of 500lbs. if we can do that and get our price down to $5 bucks or so a lb. then we will save a bunch of $$$$ over paying retail at about $25 a lb.
Another thing to consider is how long 10lbs. is going to last for the average buyer. In my case it would be a 6-8 month supply, but the more members we have, the more we can spread around to make this work.
I think the first thing that needs to be done is to check the law.
It looks to me that the feds are trying to get every angle on this covered so they can collect their taxes or proscute anyone trying to get around their rules.
Anyone here from a Tobacco growing state (NC, SC, VA, KY etc.) should join us on this as I think they would be a better information source than us East or West coast insurgents.
Any thoughts any of you have are worth discussing and perhaps we can better hone this idea with brighter minds than mine

CalMan

Newbie Joined: Jan 05, 2005 Posts: 18 Location: Sierra Nevada Foothills

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