# Growing tobacco for fun and profit



## Rody (Sep 4, 2009)

Growing tobacco has far more uses then just smoking it or trading it off as a barter item. Tobacco can be used as an insecticide and to relieve localized pain. There are now some studies that suggest it will have a use as a medical treatment for some mental disorders.

If you can grow a tomato from a seed you can grow tobacco. The process of drying and curing the tobacco can be more challenging but at the same time it can be quite rewarding. How many smokers out there really want to keep paying higher and higher taxes for their tobacco?

It even possible to get tobacco seeds for free from the US government. I got 7000 in the mail today. Tobacco can be grown in all 50 states but some states may have a limit on how much you can grow. You can not sell your tobacco without permits. In Missouri I can grow a hundred acres if I wanted to, (I don't have a hundred acres so I guess I won't grow that much). 

Long term storage of tobacco: Long term storage is called 'cellaring' your tobacco. Seal it up in mason jars and store it away. Not only will it keep for many years but most of it will also taste much better after time. Most strait tobaccos, strait burley's-strait Virginia's, will greatly improve with age much like wine does. Tobaccos that are heavily flavored start to lose some of their flavors after a couple of years.

You do not have to grow tobacco to cellar it. You can buy big bulk bags of pipe or even cigarette tobacco and stick it away in mason jars. Since most chewing tobaccos are very heavily flavored they do not store well beyond two years. Dry nasal snuff will last for a very long time.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

I just found this thread. 
How did you go about getting seeds? I tilled a new patch of ground last fall in anticipation of planting tobacco in the spring. I haven't started looking at seed yet so I might as well take back from the government some of what they give of mine to GM, Chrysler, BOA, JP Morgan, Fannie, Freddy, and all those other poor, deprived, multi-million dollar companies that are struggling to make ends meet.


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## sailaway (Mar 12, 2009)

I used to grow cannibus for fun, pleasure and profit. That was almost 30 years ago, where has time gone.:dunno:


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

sailaway said:


> I used to grow cannabis for fun, pleasure and profit. That was almost 30 years ago, where has time gone.:dunno:


The same place your mind has from too much of that stuff.  I should know.


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## Rody (Sep 4, 2009)

UncleJoe said:


> I just found this thread.
> How did you go about getting seeds? I tilled a new patch of ground last fall in anticipation of planting tobacco in the spring. I haven't started looking at seed yet so I might as well take back from the government some of what they give of mine to GM, Chrysler, BOA, JP Morgan, Fannie, Freddy, and all those other poor, deprived, multi-million dollar companies that are struggling to make ends meet.


Accession Area Queries

The seeds are available for research and education purposes. I am researching different varieties of tobacco to see which gives better insect protection around my garden. Never mind that I will actually benefit from it in a different way too.  I will report my findings after next years harvest. Should take me a whole ten minutes to write it up.

Tobacco seeds are not the only seeds you can request. They have a massive number of different plant seeds.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

OK. Thank you. I'll look into that as the days get shorter and I spend less time outside.


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## Woody (Nov 11, 2008)

I thought I’d add to this thread instead of starting another.

I just switched from store bought to flue cured leaf. Even with a direct substitute it took a week and a half before I lost the NEED to smoke store bought. The extra crap they put in them is more addicting than just tobacco I can tell ya that!!! 

Anyway. I was using zig zags, bought half a dozen cartons, until I discovered pack your own. You can buy pre-made cigarette ‘tubes’ complete with filter. Mine were on the expensive side at $108 for 10,000 (that’s 50 cartons worth). The packing machine was around $25, I got two to have a backup as well as extra springs that might wear-out/break. A few plastic containers to hold the made smokes and I’m good to go. 

I bought 16# of flue cured Virginia leaf from a local farmer for $10/lb. He said it was 3 years aging, I would never be able to tell but it is a mighty tasty smoke. Less harsh than store bought but has about the same mild tobacco flavor. You get a nice nicotine buzz rather than the metallic FSC store bought taste.

The most time consuming part is stripping the leaves, or de-stemming them and cutting them into strips. Like any home grown project it takes time but there is always time on a cold or rainy day for such projects. In an afternoon (a few hours between lunch and preparing dinner) I stripped and cut enough to fill a gallon sized baggie and I still have at least another carton in the first one I did. I do not have statistics for how much tobacco per pound of leaf or how much per carton yet. From the 3 cartons I have smoked the leaf I have should last well over a year at a carton a week. I’m thinking more like two years but it is too early to tell. So, bottom line. This initial foray cost me $450. At the store bought price of $35/carton/week the initial payback is 13 weeks. For you smokers up north it would be much, much sooner. I estimate the first batch cost me around $5/carton plus my time. Once I start growing my own the cost will be whatever the tubes cost. Best part is I did not pay a cent of tax on any of it.

For the prepping side, I have at home 20,000 cigarettes available. Well, maybe a few less if I screw-up some tubes that is. I can pack them loose (like store bought) or tighter for a longer cigar like smoke. Bottom line is I’m still addicted but NOT PAYING SIN TAX and smoking pure tobacco not a chemical infused mixture.


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## HarleyRider (Mar 1, 2010)

Bravo, Woody! :congrat::congrat::congrat:


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

We've been making our own for about 2 years now. I haven't planted any yet, but we do buy it (from N. Carolina  ) in 1 lb. bags @ $12.00 a bag. Tubes are $2.55 for a box of 200. 1 bag makes about 2.5 cartons so a carton is running us a little under $7.00. Commercially made cigs are now up to $50- $60 per carton around here.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

Rody said:


> Accession Area Queries
> 
> The seeds are available for research and education purposes. I am researching different varieties of tobacco to see which gives better insect protection around my garden. Never mind that I will actually benefit from it in a different way too.  I will report my findings after next years harvest. Should take me a whole ten minutes to write it up.
> 
> Tobacco seeds are not the only seeds you can request. They have a massive number of different plant seeds.


Be careful with tobacco around the garden, it can infect your peppers and tomatoes with something called Tobacco mosaic and kill them. But tobacco is great for de-worming your cows and horses and goats, sheep etc.


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## Woody (Nov 11, 2008)

UncleJoe, is that $12 for cut tobacco and what kind is it? I’d never bought before so I might have to re-negotiate on the next load.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Yes. Shredded and bagged in 1 lb bags. We could get it in 4 lb. bags as well but they aren't sealed as well as the small ones. We keep about 20lbs. on hand all the time.

It's called The Good Stuff and comes from Winterville NC.


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## rwlandrum (Oct 9, 2011)

Can you supply some websites or e-mail addresses for these seeds?
Ricky


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