SmokeStack
Well-Known Member
I will start my first grow blog of the 2013 season with a list of the tobacco varieties that I intend on planting:
For almost all of my tobaccos, I will grow 25 plants; however, for Yellow Orinoco I will double that figure to 50. Much of my Yellow Orinoco crop from last year was destroyed by mold. For the little quantity I have remaining, I treasure it like gold. Of all the samples of Virginias that I smoked, none had the flavor and aroma of Yellow Orinoco - even fresh out of the kiln. I can only imagine what aging will do.
Jitterbug sent me a sample of Vuelta Abajo seeds. I am anxious to try this Cuban seed.
For Connecticut Shade Leaf, I have a great spot for it to grow. I am not going to cover them with anything to provide shade. I will leave that up to Mother Nature. I will plant the Connecticut Shade Leaf in a location that gets some morning sun, but otherwise it is under the shade from large trees
I was able to recover Isleta Pueblo from last years crop and it smokes great even without kilning. I works well in a cigarette blend. A little to harsh for the pipe so I will have to kiln the Isleta Pueblo to get better results.
I have to grow a Burley, so I decided on Yellow Twist Bud. I heard much praise for this tobacco.
Little Yellow - now this is one I am curious about the most. It is a Dark Air variety and I have no idea what to expect.
Italian Bright Leaf grew well last year. But I lost most of it as it completely dried green during the curing process. It is fast growing and is ready to harvest in less than 60 days maximum. During this short time, it reaches a height of 4 feet and produces a bounty of huge leaves.
'Kentucky' tobacco is commonly smoked in Europe. When I went to Italy and Spain, their premium pipe tobaccos were 'Kentucky' blends. Somehow these blends never made it to the US marketplace. In fact, I ordered my 'Kentucky' seed from Germany (http://www.tabakanbau.de) along with some Sumatra Besuki. For those members who tried to order from www.tabakanbau.de before, they have changed their policy to make transactions to the USA much easier. At first they wanted me to wire the money for the transaction - it costs $45 at my bank to do so. But now, they are accepting payments via PayPal which makes things much easier and cheaper. Although the seeds a somewhat on the costly side, but they do provide free shipping to the USA. So all-in-all I would recommend this website as a good source for purchasing tobacco seed. They have an inventory of tobacco seeds that are not readily available from US vendors, especially they have several Oriental varieties. I would definitely visit their website. The only problem is that the website is written in German. I had to copy and paste the German text into Google translator, but it was not that difficult.
I am considering growing a Maryland variety such as Catterton or Keller, but I am uncertain since I am trying to limit my list of tobaccos.
I will be sowing the seeds soon!
- Yellow Orinoco (50)
- Vuelto Abajo (25)
- Connecticut Shade Leaf (30)
- Isleta Pueblo (25)
- Yellow Twist Bud (25)
- Little Yellow (25)
- Italian Bright Leaf (25)
- Kentucky (25)
For almost all of my tobaccos, I will grow 25 plants; however, for Yellow Orinoco I will double that figure to 50. Much of my Yellow Orinoco crop from last year was destroyed by mold. For the little quantity I have remaining, I treasure it like gold. Of all the samples of Virginias that I smoked, none had the flavor and aroma of Yellow Orinoco - even fresh out of the kiln. I can only imagine what aging will do.
Jitterbug sent me a sample of Vuelta Abajo seeds. I am anxious to try this Cuban seed.
For Connecticut Shade Leaf, I have a great spot for it to grow. I am not going to cover them with anything to provide shade. I will leave that up to Mother Nature. I will plant the Connecticut Shade Leaf in a location that gets some morning sun, but otherwise it is under the shade from large trees
I was able to recover Isleta Pueblo from last years crop and it smokes great even without kilning. I works well in a cigarette blend. A little to harsh for the pipe so I will have to kiln the Isleta Pueblo to get better results.
I have to grow a Burley, so I decided on Yellow Twist Bud. I heard much praise for this tobacco.
Little Yellow - now this is one I am curious about the most. It is a Dark Air variety and I have no idea what to expect.
Italian Bright Leaf grew well last year. But I lost most of it as it completely dried green during the curing process. It is fast growing and is ready to harvest in less than 60 days maximum. During this short time, it reaches a height of 4 feet and produces a bounty of huge leaves.
'Kentucky' tobacco is commonly smoked in Europe. When I went to Italy and Spain, their premium pipe tobaccos were 'Kentucky' blends. Somehow these blends never made it to the US marketplace. In fact, I ordered my 'Kentucky' seed from Germany (http://www.tabakanbau.de) along with some Sumatra Besuki. For those members who tried to order from www.tabakanbau.de before, they have changed their policy to make transactions to the USA much easier. At first they wanted me to wire the money for the transaction - it costs $45 at my bank to do so. But now, they are accepting payments via PayPal which makes things much easier and cheaper. Although the seeds a somewhat on the costly side, but they do provide free shipping to the USA. So all-in-all I would recommend this website as a good source for purchasing tobacco seed. They have an inventory of tobacco seeds that are not readily available from US vendors, especially they have several Oriental varieties. I would definitely visit their website. The only problem is that the website is written in German. I had to copy and paste the German text into Google translator, but it was not that difficult.
I am considering growing a Maryland variety such as Catterton or Keller, but I am uncertain since I am trying to limit my list of tobaccos.
I will be sowing the seeds soon!
