Just joined

[gregoryzim]

Hi. Growing to build a very wide seed bank from around the world.

Problem is the more varieties I obtain and plant - the more I find I've never heard of..

Also unlike buying seeds - I am still trying to figure out many of the terms for leaf/varieties. For example looking at cigar tobaccos in this shop for whole leaf - the names are not plant variety names but country of origin and cigar component names - such as Dominican Seco or Dominican Ligero for example - but what variety of nicotiana are they? As I understand it - you can't "grow" 'Dominican Seco' seeds - but Dominican burley or sylvestra or whatever.

So - my question is - how do we know what tobacco variety different whole leaf tobaccos are?

 

[istanbulin]

Welcome aboard, gregoryzim.

We use GRIN database much and there're some varieties from Dominican Republic there, like these;

Higuerta (377893), Amarillo Planchado (377891), Negrito (377895), Chago Diaz (377896), Rubio Canca (377897), Amarillo Parado (377898), Bufalo (377899), Quin Diaz (377900).

These varieties were donated in 70s so there may be more/different of them today in Dominican Republic.

 

[Rickey60]

Welcome gergoryzin. You will find your answer here. Glad to have you join.
Rick

 

[leverhead]

Welcome! Seco and Ligero are names for different leaf positions on the plant, a search of the forum will turn up some good reading. If collecting tobacco varieties is your hobby, you'll never run out of new ones to collect.

 

[madhouse]

Hi gergoryzin welcome to the forum you will find just about every thing you ever wanted to know about Tobacco here, the folks are great, if you put your location under your name it helps alot, have a great stay.

Bill

 

[deluxestogie]

Welcome, Gregory.
The tobacco varieties of the cigar industry are hidden behind a curtain of "proprietary information." Most list only country of origin, occasionally the stalk position of the leaf (volado, seco, viso, ligero), and even less frequently an actual varietal name. As for your quest for new varieties, there are between 2000 and 3000 named varieties of Nicotiana tabacum alone, not to mention other Nicotiana species (of which there are, if I recall, 76 species).

Although you may find growing tobacco challenging in your area of Nepal, I'm sure you'll manage. If you're not in Nepal, you might want to add a general location to your personal profile, so it will appear beside all your posts, and assist other members in answering your questions and understanding your horticultural context.

Bob

 

[darren1979]

Welcome to the forum, there's plenty or reading on here about different cigar varieties. Some cigar manufacturers play there cards close to there chest over what leaf is used in there cigars to stop copy cats.

 

[Knucklehead]

Welcome to the forum. A good place to start is the tobacco FAQ's: http://fairtradetobacco.com/links.php?ab_s=1

A lot of tobacco information such as curing will be dependent on where you live and your prevalent weather, so a general location in your profile will help us better answer any questions you may have.

 

[gregoryzim]

Hi gergoryzin welcome to the forum you will find just about every thing you ever wanted to know about Tobacco here, the folks are great, if you put your location under your name it helps alot, have a great stay.

Bill

Thanks to everyone who welcomed me - very friendly forum.

Several suggested I put where I am - which if I was growing tomatoes would be straight forward - but in this case definitely not - given the laws of where I live !! (Which should tell you now where I might be Although all countries claim to be free - some are more free than others. !!

Meanwhile - back to tobacco varieties. Thanks for the answers. When we say 300 + varieties - I do wonder in reality though if its not more a case of 300 varieties with many names for each for example? I have read much about the past movement of plants from district to district around the world and then the same plant assumes a new local name. The shade varieties of Connecticut would be a good example. Any thoughts on this aspect of varieties? ( I am not really talking about modern industry strains developed in laboratories with numerals in the name.

My real interest is in growing Heirloom stock for seed bank preservation and doing it in a part of the world where almost none exist, and making them available world wide.

In addition I am interested in early farmed varieties grown in the Caribbean , and eastern USA circa 1600's - late 1800's.

If anyone knows of historical variety data places which show earliest dates used or date periods when used please let me know.

Tks Greg

 

[winston-smoker]

Must be an English-speaking country south of the equator, which isn't located on the continent of Africa!

Your reluctance is certainly understandable given your reasons. Anyway, welcome!

 

[Chicken]

i see no harm in stating where your at... im sure the bacca cops aint looking for those that grow thie r own crop,

and yes your location is important for your growing season and certain pests you may have in a certain region,


so where you at<-----

 

[jekylnz]

Another aussie then.lol..I think even if you put your state..it would still be hard to track you down. .long as your not selling it I wouldn't worry too much. .anyway welcome..from across the ditch..(I think)

 

[MarcL]

Welcome to FTT.

 

[Knucklehead]

Welcome to FTT. Bob stated there are around 3000 varieties, not 300.

The USDA keeps a seed bank of all kinds of seed, including tobacco. While you won't be able to access the seed there, the website is a great resource of information. They have over 2500 varieties alone, and that's not all of what's out there. Here's some links to get you to different areas of their monster website:
http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?25309
http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/desc.pl?81001
http://www.ars-grin.gov/npgs/acc/acc_queries.html

 

[rainmax]

VIVA Nepal! Welcome.

You can also check in Europe for seeds if you are more to European side:

http://www.imperial-tobacco-bergerac.com/pdf/ITB_collection.pdf

 

[gregoryzim]

Tks for the link. As it turns out - you can ask for seed from them. You simply have to give a reason for the seed. I wrote to them 2 months ago and they were very obliging. They can not by law send the seed overseas though, but were very happy to post them to my CA address for me. I received two heirloom varieties from them. Very obliging lady - Jessica Lott Nifong [jessica_nifong@ncsu.edu]

Rgds

Greg

 

[gregoryzim]

Thanks very much for this link. It looks very interesting. I speak (bad) french, so that works for me as well.

Rgds

Greg

 

[Knucklehead]

Tks for the link. As it turns out - you can ask for seed from them. You simply have to give a reason for the seed. I wrote to them 2 months ago and they were very obliging. They can not by law send the seed overseas though, but were very happy to post them to my CA address for me. I received two heirloom varieties from them. Very obliging lady - Jessica Lott Nifong [jessica_nifong@ncsu.edu]

Rgds

Greg

Jessica is a member of the forum. You're right, very nice person.

 

[POGreen]

Welcome to the forum gregoryzim and nice to have you on board !

You'll probably find anything u need to know about tobacco and growing it right here.

 

[gregoryzim]

Thanks. In Sweden I see. What varieties are you growing that far north. Amazingly wide geographical ability tobacco has. From the very south (where its 32degs C today) to the very north in Alaska. I'd be interested in any ones shade growing experiences. In the heat here I'm noticing this year for out door (Ive only grown indoors before) that shade, with foggers every hour for 2 minutes during the 2pm - 5pm period is saving serious wilting.