Where does COPAN come from?

[Jitterbugdude]

Let me be more specific. I have tobacco seed (and now plants) that is called Copan, it is GRIN #: PI 116071. It has the highest sucrose ester content of any tobacco tested. No where on the GRIN site do I see the word "Copan". So my question is, why is this particular GRIN # called Copan?

Randy B

Edit: Here is the link- http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npg...nk&si=0&si=1&.cgifields=si&.cgifields=reverse

 

[darren1979]

I could be pissing in the wind here, but a wild guess would be its from the Maya city of Copan.

 

[FmGrowit]

Received June 3 1936 from Costa Rica

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Aaah, my mistake. Let me be more clear. Why is that GRIN # called "Copan"? I saw no reference to the word "Copan" in the Grin site

 

[FmGrowit]

Open the PDF file and the original inventory list calles that number "Copan". It doesn't say where the name came from.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

yeah most of the grin seed has a name, they print it on the packet or if you look up the original accession data it will have it there. generally it is named after the town it came out of though, the stuff i am growing is Punta de Lanza, but they use that name for other accessions from the same area back in 1936 when they secured seeds. Apparently its a town, and they just named it after the town they were at when they got it.

I think they do it this way to differentiate the non named stuff from strains that really do have a name, i.e. yellow twist bud. they will list that in the title, these are just numbers, and a name is associated with it from the original expedition but it is not named that really.

so i guess if we popularize the strain we get to name it right? hehe

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Open the PDF file and the original inventory list calles that number "Copan". It doesn't say where the name came from.

Thanks Don, I didn't see the "PDF" file

 

[Tom_in_TN]

Randy, great to hear you included Copan in your grow-out but curious where you obtained your seed? I too wanted to raise Copan this season and Don sent me a packet of seeds in one of those yellow GRIN packets. I was quite happy to get the seeds and that they came from GRIN. I've got a couple of these plants growing but it took some extra care to get that far along.

First, there were only about 24 seeds in the packet and almost 1/2 were immature looking (hard to tell if I got the count correct because of the all the other debris in the packet). Anyway, the good seed would barely germinate (got 6 to show a white tip over a 6 to 10 day period). Only 3 of those developed true leaves. One of those didn't make it to transplant. I got the last two in the dirt and they are growing like little runts compared to the Turkish plants they are next to. Then, about 2 weeks ago one of the two plants that was 12" tall decided to bolt into bloom. I decided to bag it anyway. The other plant is still growing with no sign of a bud yet. It is about 16" and looks healthy, just a bit small. Now, back to the plant that I bagged, it has sent out 2 suckers that have grown to about the height of the bag. Looks a bit strange to see suckers that have grown about as tall as the parent. I'm letting the suckers develop. When I bagged this little runt I pinched off 3 of the mud leaves and hung them to dry. Couple days ago I took a tiny, tiny snippet of leaf from one of them and added to it my pipe tobacco and can attest to the fact that lots of nicotine is present in this plant.

 

[Chicken]

sounds like a good plant, to mix, and make your baccy a little stronger,

like a burley???

 

[Tom_in_TN]

Yeah, burley with PUNCH. I did have the idea to use it to 'spice' up a smoke now and then, like when I wasn't operating heavy machinery.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Tom, I also got my seed from Don. I had an almost 100% germination rate. I only started 10 seedlings. When it came time to transplant them I had second thoughts and decided to toss them. Luckily another member here took 6 or so. I decided to plant the two that I kept. Of the two, they grew very similar in appearance. The flowers are almost a red color. They are the deepest pink of any tobacco I've grown. I've smoked more of the Copan that I got from Don and I really like it. It has aged enough so that it doesn't have much of a kick to it. The stuff I grew is already in the barn and cured and the pods are already 75% brown. I primed both plants.

Randy B

 

[Tom_in_TN]

Randy, glad to hear you have some experience smoking the leaf plus your decision to grow it out. I think deluxe mentioned the nic levels come down after kilning and it seems that aging reduces it too.

The difference in germination rates could be I received the older seed left from GRIN. At least there are 2 plants with one doing OK considering the late start at the end of April. And, they were still young when the 100+ degree weather blew in.

I stepped down to the lower garden this afternoon to measure the 'normal' Copan plant. It is about 20" to the bud leaves and no obvious sign of a flower bud forming so far. Yeah, the little runty one did have nice red flowers. I gently squeezed their pods and most felt as if they were failures, just one had a firm or swelled pod.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

I finally was able to get a new card reader for my defunct Nikon camera, so here is a pic of a nice red Copan flower.

 

[Tom_in_TN]

Yep, looks like we are both growing Copan. I need to cure a few more leaves out and smoke 'em.

Glad to see you got your new card reader.