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KC

On 2/5/2014 8:55 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 05 Feb 2014 13:24:45 -0500, KC wrote:

On 2/5/2014 1:16 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 05 Feb 2014 11:25:10 -0500, KC wrote:

We are ordering a kit with 250 seeds, seems if we set a place in the
yard aside we could probably grow enough on ten plants to keep her going
all year... Haven't had a garden in a long time since the deer and
raccoons killed our last one a day before harvest. Seems they might not
be so interested in eating Tobacco so we'll see. Maybe I will have a
report in the fall...

I am waiting to see how that works for you. My ex's family all had a
tobacco quota (Anne Arundle County) and grew whatever they were
allowed to sell but it was very labor intensive according to them.,
The raccoons won't eat your tobacco but there are plenty of bugs and
worms that will. You have to manually deal with that because you don't
want to smoke poison.
There is also a drying process that impacts how good your smoke is.
I am not sure if any of those people are still alive but it would be
an interesting conversation if I could hook you up.
After a while my eyes glazed over but I am not a farmer.

Yeah, it looks like the hardest part might be the bugs and the rotting
(curing) of the finished product. Then you have to process the leaves
and grind them... There are lots of tricks out there but the cut is very
important to the roll and burn.

That is a big part of the trick. You need to air dry this without it
rotting or growing mold on it.
There are big barns (not red) all over southern Maryland that are only
there to dry tobacco,
The trick is you spear it and hang it upside down in a well ventilated
but very dry place.

Yeah, I am familiar with the process, my whole town was nothing but
tobacco when I was a kid worked it at age 14... Gotta dry it slow and
warm in the beginning, got to make it rot out the sugars and harsh
oils... Really rotting it to an extent, or letting it get close. That's
why those red barns have the slats on the side so they can control the
humidity during the cure. If you dry it too fast, it will taste
harsh.... etc...