Very young cigars!

[Corvin]

I've been thinking about doing this for a while myself.

Only problem that I've encountered was how to cure and ferment the leaves.

I've found a few thoughts on the process, but the same pages that I've found also talk about either tobacco for cigarettes or shredding the leaves before rolling.

[mrtr33]

There are a number of sites available. While I was waiting for my seeds to arrive, I did quite a bit of research. I share it with you here. Take it or leave it. I am guessing not all of it is correct, but it did keep me excited until I got some hands-on experience.

I first began reading this. It's great information, but there is so much more! A great place to start. I also ordered seeds here, but really just because I didn't know of any other place to order from. I only chose one variety because I'm not even sure if they will grow in Louisiana (none of the nurseries/plant stores have tobacco plants for sale), and I needed something appealing for the wife to allow me to grow these in the front yard, as they ARE NOT going in the backyard, near the vegetable garden.

I guess I then visited here. They provided pictures, and it gave me the best idea of what I could expect when I begin my tobacco garden.
This also offered helpful information, but with no pictures, I had no idea what to expect. A bit more information, once I realized what was going on.

As far as curing your leaves, look at this and this. I like the former one because the guy seems as frugal as I am, and actually explains why you are doing what you are doing. I like the second one because of the pictures, but he wants to sell you everything he tells you that you "need". I don't know if either one are the best route. I'll keep looking, though. To be honest with you, I'm not personally interested in curing the tobacco in order to one day roll my own cigars. Maybe one day, but not this day.

Then, there's the heavy stuff. I haven't had a chance to read this article yet (although it looks good), but this article is fascinating. Absolutely incredible. There is also an article entitled Fermentation of Cigar-Type Tobacco in the March 1950 issue of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, beginning on page 519. My local library doesn't have it - I'm going to look to the medical library here in town. If anyone can find it locally, please let me know.

Hope that helps.

[mrtr33]

pics?

I'm not going to leave you alone, Dennis!

I'd post pics of my tobacco garden, but there are only little peat pellet pots now. Maybe I'll do that, anyway......

[bigwhiteash]

Dammit! I forgot...

I'll post some pics tonight!

[FactoredReality]

Dammit! I forgot...

I'll post some pics tonight!

pics?

[badwhale]

pics?

He don't have time for that... he's too busy on chat.

Will

[bigwhiteash]

Bastiges

[mrtr33]

So, I'm resurrecting this thread to show how far I got with my tobacco crop this year - I don't know how much longer these guys are going to last.

I was hoping they'd get much bigger, but I started VERY late. I'm glad I got what I got.

I may keep them indoors for the winter time, but we have several other perennials we want to keep indoors, and I don't know how many we can realistically keep up with.

I started out with perhaps a dozen in April or so, and this is all I ended up with now. The longest leaf is about 6 inches.