A question for those who grow or have tried to grow their own tobacco.

[mwaller]

13 hours ago, Corylax18 said:

Calling @mwaller!! 

I know there are some members here experimenting with growing and rolling their own Tobacco. I haven't dabbled myself, but from what I know the trouble is truly in the fermentation process. If you have something of a Green Thumb you can grow it, but growing enough to provide the organic mass needed to start and then feed/maintain the natural fermentation process is very difficult. There are ways to "fake" this process somewhat, but in either case there is an art to it that is hard to learn. 

Got your page, Corylax18!

I've dabbled with home growing, and it is a lot of fun.  Tobacco is a vigorous plant, and will grow almost anywhere.  In a temperate climate like the Seattle area, you need to start the seeds indoors about 2 months before you intend to plant seedlings in your garden.  The plants grow quite well indoors, provided they get enough light. I used fluorescent T8 shoplights placed a few inches above the leaves.

Curing the leaf properly is indeed the hardest part.  For most home growers, the volume of leaf is simply not enough to naturally ferment in a pile ("pilon")  In lieu of pile fermentation, most home growers force age their leaf in a tobacco kiln.  This is nothing more than an insulated box with a regulated temperature /  humidity source.  A crock pot filled with water is most common.  To avoid denaturing the primary enzymes that are responsible for "fermentation,"  you want to keep the temperature around 120-125F. In my setup, the crock pot is connected to a temperature-controlled outlet which turns the crock pot on and off to maintain a constant temperature.  This process goes for 4-6 weeks.  

Last year, I grew Corojo 99 that was originally sourced from the Robaina farm.  The plant grew very well, and produced an attractive, elastic leaf that was easy to work with.  The few examples I tried tasted.... awful!   I am letting most of the processed leaf rest in vapor-proof bags in the hope that time will work its magic...

In my opinion, there is no great substitute for pile fermentation.  And, there's no substitute for time.  Commercial growers let their fermented leaf rest well over a year, and there is a reason for it.  Fresh leaf just doesn't taste good!  

This year, I'm growing Criollo 98 from the Prieto farm.  Huge thanks to the anonymous tourist who procured the seed for me!            

 

 

 

[dageshi]

I know they grow & make these weird little mini cigars in belgium for pipes

 

 

Supposedly quite good, they don't seem to do cigars though. Wonder if it's a problem to get good enough leaves for wrappers...

[mwaller]

18 hours ago, El Presidente said:

A question for those who grow or have tried to grow their own tobacco. 

A member sent me a link to the book below and it crossed my mind  that we may be able to do a small scale member project  "from seed to cigar". 

One thread, same seeds/supplier, start date : prizes for best looking plant and then we may go the next track of picking, drying, curing all the way to cigar? or not 

How hard would this be to do?

I think a friendly competition would be a lot of fun!  Due to differences in growing seasons, it would probably have to be split into multiple threads...

I have a lot of Corojo 99 seeds from my last grow, so I could supply... 

[NSXCIGAR]

On 5/4/2018 at 10:53 AM, mwaller said:

The few examples I tried tasted.... awful! 

Yep. Tobacco will grow in many places but the taste is the issue. The soil, climate and weather is the most important aspect of growing tobacco--at least for cigar tobacco. A good strain is necessary but not sufficient. 

[cfc1016]

52 minutes ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Yep. Tobacco will grow in many places but the taste is the issue. The soil, climate and weather is the most important aspect of growing tobacco--at least for cigar tobacco. A good strain is necessary but not sufficient. 

I guess I'll just have to stick with plan A: smoke habanos.

[Luca]

In Cuba to reinvigorate the spoil - don't they put things like vanilla pods, nuts etc? Is that true? Perhaps that can be done if you don't have the best soil?

[Corylax18]

2 hours ago, Luca said:

In Cuba to reinvigorate the spoil - don't they put things like vanilla pods, nuts etc? Is that true? Perhaps that can be done if you don't have the best soil?

They use very little, if any, chemical fertilizer. Ive seen “farm waste” spread and tilled just before planting. Its 90% cow, pig, horse, and chicken manure mixed with some vegetal matter(mostly sugar cane and tobacco plant trimmings) and allowed to decompose in a big pile sitting in the sun. 

They also grow things like corn, beans and millet in the “off season” to help replenish some nutrients in the soil and help remove others. Ive never seen raw, edible foods added, there isnt enough to go around as is. 

[NSXCIGAR]

6 hours ago, Luca said:

In Cuba to reinvigorate the spoil - don't they put things like vanilla pods, nuts etc? Is that true? Perhaps that can be done if you don't have the best soil?

That's just the organic fertilizers they use. The key is really the soil composition which differs from the more volcanic soils of Central America and the natural pH of the soil. Apparently the Cuban soil is less aerated and rockier which stresses the plant in a beneficial way. There should also be minimal rainfall during growing which is less likely in Central America but common during good seasons in Cuba. Both 2016 and 2017 saw total rainfall from Nov-Mar at less than an inch. Manual watering in Cuba is optimal as a controlled drought stresses the plant favorably.

And again, the low nighttime temps of Cuba also stress the plant favorably. Central American growing regions don't drop below the mid 70s at night while Cuba dips to the low 70s and high 60s. And the low wind allows for wrapper leaf to be grown.

So it's truly a confluence of conditions that result in Western Cuba being unlike anywhere else on Earth. 

[Fugu]

15 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Yep. Tobacco will grow in many places but the taste is the issue. The soil, climate and weather is the most important aspect of growing tobacco--at least for cigar tobacco. A good strain is necessary but not sufficient.

I guess he's in good company - there are others who are trying it...

[Jimmy_jack]

Sounds fun

[cigcars]

*Being in Kentucky, and tobacco is one of our prime crops, for me -  THESE are NOT green. I've been tempted with the thought of growing tobacco - but with the results of my budding garden attempts -eh well we won't go into that   If my mom were still here - I or we could give it to HER - and there would be bumper crops of tobacco enough to provide cigars for every cigar smoker in two adjoining states!  She took over my sorry attempts at growing grapes - no success on my end - SHE took control of planting just a few vines....and those grapes took over the entire back yard; the entire fence - our NEIGHBOR'S entire fence - the whole apple tree way out back and...you can figure out the rest. A note* she had soooo many grapes - and she had always been fascinated by Italian culture - she had enough surplus to, just for the hell of it, stomp the grapes (in the tub, of course) the way the Italians did when making wine (not to worry - no consumption occurred from them!) She told me when she did that, "My feet were so soft!" It just made the skin of her feet like a newborn babe's!  But every now and then I do romanticize and fantasize about growing tobacco!

[Wilzc]

Sounds like the weather in Bandung, Indonesia

[OZCUBAN]

On 04/05/2018 at 10:07 AM, El Presidente said:

I am not taking any risks. 

I plan to grow it at kens. 

Totally organic then ???