Anyone out there growing tobacco? I decided this year to grow my own - in pots, on my terrace. Didn’t grow much but with the yield I have I am inspired to grow more next year. Most of what I have is curing right now. I bought Black Mammoth short stalk specifically for snuff along with some other varieties to see what happens. I was away for most of the summer so couldn’t feed the plant’s and as a result one or two ended up with a nutrient deficiency but other than that all looks well. The plants have not been sprayed with anything, just fed with normal plant food once a week and I am hoping to get at least a little snuff from what I have. If it turns out to be any good and I have a surplus, I would be happy to share with anyone who might be interested - so feel free to let me know if you want any. Knowing nothing about growing and curing tobacco I have gone by the book; that said, I found out pretty quickly that there are a lot of books, most of which are filled with a lot of useless jibba-jabba. Finally I found a pamphlet by the old British pioneer tobacco growers association, from the 1940’s which is only a few pages long and very succinct. It gives 5 or six ways of curing tobacco for the home grower and I can only recommend it. Anyway - if anyone out there has any growing/curing experiences to share I would be happy to hear about them. Best… Ubert

I have not tried growing my own, but I’m very interested in it. How did the Snuff turn out?

I had planted some Rustica directly in soil .they started late and I have two very small plants. I may try next year starting early indoors. Gardening is a time consuming activity ,I have a hard enough time keeping up with cutting the lawn. As for making snuff it so easy to push check out. You may want to join or at lease lurk at http://www.howtogrowtobacco.com/

Here’s a thread from 2009 where we discussed this. http://snuffhouse.org/discussion/2778/growing-your-own/p1 I got 14 plants this season. My problem right now is I barely have enough room to hang them all.

I recently bought a package of rustica seeds, but will have to wait until winter is over before I plant them. I like the Toque rustica enough to grow some of my own, here in the high country. It was advertised as Navajo Mapacho seed, but since I know nothing about growing tobacco it will be a surprise, whatever I end up with, I will dry, cure and grind it and see if it is on par w/ Roderick’s great product. I’m not expecting it to be great, but it could be just that. I will post my results in about 8 months from now.

Guys, thanks for your replies. I have been a bit absent lately but here’s the main problem I have had this year: I had to spend a lot of time away from my plants… they looked ok but I had to harvest late and in Western Europe that can be tricky depending on where you are geographically. So - it has been a wet Autumn and the plants are not curing properly…mol

@mrmanos how was your tobacco crop? I am going to grow some rustica this year… Growing tobacco and curing tobacco is actually not that hard, I got some good results in the end.

Time to saw this years crop. Jaap Bes.

@snuffmiller absolutely - I will be setting some rustica over the coming days. What are you growing this year? Would you be willing to part with some seeds or even trade a few for some snuff? I have just rehydrated some of last year’s crop and made a few twists which now sit in a jar with a vanilla pod - will probably try some in a pipe in Autumn.

I have Small Stalk Black Mammoth, Virginia Gold, and Rustica seeds here and will be starting them in 3-4 weeks. After another 15cm of snow yesterday I’m not sure if summer will ever come for me to be able to plant them! I’m thinking 4 black mammoth, 4 virginia, and 6-8 rustica should be good for a first try.

@crullers - Will you be growing in pots or in the ground?

I plan to grow the black mammoth, virginia, and 6 rustica in an existing garden plot I have on my property. I might put a couple of rustica in pots just to see how they compare to the ones grown in the garden. Also, I have a friend with an aquaponic setup who seemed interested in seeing how a rustica would do there.

Sounds good - I grew in large pots last year and the short stalk Black Mammoth I had actually got pretty tall, but then again the pots were very deep. If you are growing on the ground and giving them plenty of space you’ll no doubt end up with so good size plants. The only trouble I had with some of the stuff I grew in the ground was the slugs and snails but a gardener friend of mine said I should put copper strips around the plants to keep 'em away. The other thing I noticed was that feeding the plants really paid off - perhaps naively I was not expecting to see much of a difference but I have since read that tobacco plants really deplete the soil so feeding is a necessity. would be interested to hear how your rustica grows - where are you based?

I’m an hour east of Detroit on the Canadian side of the border. My county is still the largest producer of black tobacco in Canada although you’d never know it. 20 or so years ago there were several tobacco fields around my small town. Last summer I only saw 2 nearby. The garden I am growing in had tomatoes and bell peppers grown in it last year so I am already prepared to be liberal with the fertilizer and plant food. Thanks for the copper tip - I hadn’t heard that one yet.

I’m in Luxembourg and although we are not known for tobacco, neighbouring France has some decent tobacco - so I am not worried about the climate. Just need to pay attention to harvest timing coz I missed it last year so the stuff took ages to cure and I ended up losing a lot of it to mold.

I see that Luxembourg has an oceanic climate, same as England and I know of a fellow there that has had pretty good success growing tobacco. I read that harvest timing is very important. What I plan to do is keep an eye on the nearby fields (if any are left) and take mine off around the same time. Luckily I’m able to use this as a guide in my first year. Tobacco is pretty hardy stuff though so I’m not too worried about missing it by a week or two. I’ll be interested to see how you make out with it over there!

Cheers, I will post the progress and maybe some pics this season. Some Virginia tobacco just landed in the post today so I will probably get that set later today.

@Ubert: We grow three species; Nicotiana tabaccum (possibly descendents of the Amersfoorter Bestgoed), Nicotiana rustica and Nicotiana allata. The last one only to be used as ornamental. I’ll be happy to sent you some seeds from the comming harvest. Jaap Bes.

@snuffmiller that would be great, give me a shout whenever you are ready. What’s the story with the ornamental variety? Is it simply not for human consumption - that is to say, lethal, or does it just look pretty? Sorry if I am a bit naïve here.

@Ubert: It has larger flowers and small leaves. So just look pretty. Jaap Bes.

@snuffmiller but it is still consumable right?

I’ve always wondered, @snuffmiller, how common the use of N. rustica was in historic snuffs. I know it’s common enough in Indian snuffs (or so rumor has it) and artisanal snuffs, like you, SWS, and Abraxas.

@Ubert: Possibly, but as I said the leaves are (very) small economically not interesting, maybe as a hobby usable. @horus 92: I do not use N. rustica. My historical handbook says: N. rustica var. cordata. This varity is mainly used as smoking tobacco and mixed with other types of tobacco. They also distinguish N. rustica var. ovata. This varity gives a very small yield, but very fine good smelling leaves. The N. rustica grown in Hungary was mainly used as spun tobacco for the production of smoking tobacco. In found no recipes for snuff with N. rustica. There is however mentioning of N. paniculata, which could resemble N. rustica, which I found in a couple of recipes for snuff. Jaap Bes.

@ubert: I just am starting my Hopi Rustica seeds in the window sill. I live in northern Colorado and there is still snow on the ground, fast melting after 6 months of freezing, ice, and about 100 inches of snow. I will put them in the ground in about 3 weeks, or when it stops freezing at night. This is my 1st time growing tobacco, so it will be good luck if I get some decent results.

Oh, mrmanos, tobacco is tender. I would wait till mid- to late-May at the earliest so the ground has a chance to warm up.

@mrmanos Start them now in pots and when they are about 6 inches high put them outside but only when there is absolutely no chance of frost at all. Good luck dude

@mrmanos oh yeah, and watch out for the slugs and snails - maybe put down some copper wires or beer traps (not like the one I’ve just been in though

Well it’s good to see people are growing their own. My elevation is 10,000 feet. They dont get too big outside. But we do a lot of indoor gardening. I put a couple rustica plants next to my lettuce in the basement. The seeds were from a few years ago when I smoked tobacco. They sprouted very well. I’ve grown tobacco off and on for years but only for novelty and a couple plants at a time, however, have never actually gotten any that was that good to smoke… despite being very healthy plants. Bad curing maybe? I can’t say that I have studied much on the subject. But my grandmother grew tobacco… and said there wasn’t much too it. What I have read though says otherwise. The reason I am here is that I was hoping to find info on turning this years tobacco into a snuff if possible… If not then its gonna be used as a pesticide. Looking forward to seeing how everyone’s plants come out. If anyone knows a good source for snuff making information that would be great.

Oops, I just found the snuff making 101 thread… Turns out it was the first thing that came up in the internet search.

@coreymillia please do not use your tobacco as a pesticide. It kills bees who are the most prolific pollinators on the planet. Thanks much.

My rustica plants all grew well this summer despite a plague of grasshoppers, who ate holes in many leaves. One day, as a hailstorm was beginning, I pulled up a few plants in desperation, hoping they wouldn’t be destroyed. I hung them up in the barn for about three weeks. I ground a handful of leaves up, added a little carbonate of soda, an old packet of Poschl mixer menthol, which had no menthol scent left. Then I tried it. It wasn’t too good, very green still, but it did give a good nicotine hit… I have 9 plants in the ground still, and some of the leaves are turning yellow. I will wait till they all turn yellow, and when it begins to frost, I’ll cut them down. I have a feeling I’ll have to cure them until next summer before they are any good. They sure look nice tho, big green leaves and little yellow flowers. I have saved some of the flowers, and will try grinding them into snuff. They have a sweet smell, and I imagine they’ll make good snuff. Also as a side benefit, I now have millions of seeds!

Sounds good dude - I missed the season for planting in the end…sometimes life just takes over I suppose. That said one of the Black Mammoth short stalk plants I cut last year grew back of its own accord and is now hanging outside on my terrace…happy days. Let me know how it goes with the flowers - I am really curious about that. Cheers!! Ubert