Thank you for all of the replies. I think I will try the tobacco sampler pack. I think I will also try to talk Larry into sending me 10 seedlings. I saw his post that he does not like to do that but I am willing to wait until he is planning a trip to town for him to ship. Is it too late to plant now. We have mild winters or I could grow indoors maybe.
Like any other new undertaking this will have it's ups and downs. From personal experience if you never grow a leaf you can make/smoke cigs from purchased leaf for about $1.50/pack. You will be smoking chemical free tobacco and can tailor the taste/aroma to your personal desires. As mentioned by others there is an initial $$ investment. My buddies experience shows that with him and his wife smoking a pack a day they got the investment back in 2 months. Of course there is an investment in time also. I roll my cigars in the evening while watching the boob tube. It's fun and painless. As a result I am smoking $10 cigars that cost me about $0.35. You might even find someone near you who already has a shredder (the biggest single expense). If so you could get your feet wet for very little capital outlay and see if you think it's worthwhile. Believe it or not I have friends who'd still rather pay $8/pack. No accounting for people.
The first thing you'll need is a cig maker. Almost all of the cig smokers prefer the injector type (as opposed to the auger type). Top-O-Matic is what I use and so do a lot of others. You can usually pick one up on ebay for under $50. Cig tube prices vary a lot. I am using Premier tubes and am paying $2.65/carton.
Growing indoors is indeed possible but in general your plants will be smaller. If you have any outside, sunny space I think you'll like the results better. My first patch was 8' X 12' (raised bed) and I got a lot from it. I have now doubled that and have all the tobacco I need.
Hope this helps and you are not overwhelmed,
John
