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Gardening newbie, from Michigan

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Soul_Adventurer

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Hi all. My name's Ben, I'm 22. I live in a small town called Marine City on the St. Clair River, about a 40 minute drive from Detroit, Michigan. Did my first real attempt at gardening last summer; it was a mild success. I love hiking, kayaking, backpacking, being outdoors in general, especially the mountains (none of those here). I've been smoking since I was 16 or 17, but for the last year or so I've been getting more and more sick and tired of paying 6-7 dollars a pack for shitty, mass produced, "fire-safe" smokes. I enjoy smoking tobacco, but with these name-brand smokes, I'm super addicted and always feel halfway shitty. It's tough not to smoke close to a pack a day, sometimes more, and I intuitively feel that it's all the additives and nasty chemicals and manipulated nicotine content that's really to blame. I'll smoke American Spirits every now and then, and after 2 or 3 days of doing so, I've noticed that although I can feel the nicotine entering my system during and after smoking one, I'm left with a craving for something else... a Marlboro or a Camel! So that needs to stop. I just want to enjoy tobacco in a moderate, natural way, not scorch my lungs with 20 of these nasty ass chemical bombs every day for the rest of my life. I'm trying to start better living up to my ideals of what it means to be self-sufficient, healthy, sane, and socially/environmentally conscious. Supporting liquor stores, chain gas stations/grocery stores, and Big Tobacco to the tune of thousands of dollars a year while I make myself ill and unhealthy with an inferior product is not my idea of a good time. So I hope to learn some stuff here about growing/harvesting my own tobacco, and, shucks, maybe even make a few friends. ;)

Also, by the way, I enjoy smoking cigars of different kinds and sizes, but I'm mainly a cigarette guy. Although I do enjoy those cig-sized filterless little cigars of decent quality about equally as well, whatever they're called. I'm a total novice in the whole wide world of tobacco, I don't know much about cigar classifications, names or ratings, and absolutely nothing about growing my own crop. My pops has created himself a good-paying job in the last few years and now fancies himself something of a cigar aficionado, so now me and him have a good time trying out new stogies together and acting like we know what we're talking about. But it's really fun. ;)
 

Soul_Adventurer

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Thanks guys. I'm not sure how many plants I'm gonna do or what kinds yet. I've got to do some more research first. I started messing around looking through some different forums today and I've already picked up a little bit. And I know I'm in Zone 6, although with the weather this winter it seems that could change soon haha. I usually switch off between Marlboro Reds and a couple different Camel Turkish blends (Royal and Gold, but I prefer the Royal). I also like Perique American Spirits and the full-flavored Spirits. And then I like all kinds of pipe and cigar tobacco, not really sure what any of the names actually are. I've got a decent sized yard with shady spots and sunny spots and then access to a friend's yard that's decent size too. So I could theoretically grow a couple hundred plants, but I'm not looking to do anything like that until I really know what I'm doing. I really don't know what type of soil I've got here or what the PH is. Last year I just bought a bunch of veggies and herbs from a local place and planted them with a little all-purpose plant food pellets thrown in and watered em, no testing, no compost, nothin. And they turned out okay. I guess I'd like to grow some strains that are good for turkish and regular full flavored cigs and then some stuff to make cigars too. Right now I'm thinking I want to try a variety of plants and curing methods to get a grip on what I like, then next year plant just a couple or three strains or whatever once I've got it pinned down. I'd also like to try growing a high-nicotine content strain just for kicks. I know that's a lot of rambling information, but any general advice would be much appreciated. I need some good fool-proof, beginner methods to start with.
 

FmGrowit

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Welcome to the forum.

That's a very nice introduction and it will ultimately help you with getting the proper recommendations of varieties to grow.

There are a few old reliable varieties that seem to be enjoyed by most people who grow them. Yellow Twist Bud is a Burley that makes a fine cigarette and cigar tobacco. Bursa is an Oriental that makes a big leaf for an Oriental and can be stalk cured like a Burley variety. American cigarettes are typically made from a blend of Burley, Oriental and Flue Cured tobacco. There currently isn't a tested design for home growers to make their own Flue Cured tobacco, but I suspect there will be a functional design before the end of the year.

Growing, curing and processing your tobacco can seem a bit intimidating, but there is sufficient time to learn as you go...you don't have to learn everything you need to know before you start. With the experience of the of the other forum members, you're journey will be well guided. All you have to do is ask the questions and someone will offer advice or direct you to the area where the answers can be found.

Thank you for joining and be sure to request your free seeds.
 

Daniel

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Welcome and I will repeat Bob in saying very nice intro. As for the search for the "Camel" as I call it. Keep in mind you may be craving the additives of manufactured cigarettes as much as you are nicotine. So far the search for a cigarette tasting cigarette is anything but complete but I am working on it. I will also be one of those working on a home flue cure solution this year. Hopefully completely home made wood burner and all. We will see how well that works.

Keep in mind that even camels that are labeled as a blend of Turkish tobaccos are pretty much boiled down to nothing and then flavored with a sauce. I am not tryign to reproduce that process so I am not certain any home grown tobacco will ever taste like a Marlboro or Camel. That does not mean a fine cigarette cannot be blended. The hunt is still on and I quite frankly am not to far past the starting line after one year. I am currently working on 4 varieties and hope to have my best recommendation concerning them in the next few weeks. hopefully before it is time to start growing this year.

Monte Calm Yellow and Yellow Twist Bud are showing the most promise so far. I am growing 26 varieties this year and hopefully by this time next year have a whole lot more to report.
 

HaGGarD

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Soul

Welcome to FTT I am new to tobacco myself, and were very near in age. I would suggest only organic if you don't mind putting in the time and research to make it work. Cheaper in the end, and I am sure the smoke will be smoother. (It is with other things). I posted my soil mix and some other random posts about how I plan to do it around here.

If you are interested I can send you some links to blow your mind. Also are you planting in the ground or in containers? Doesnt seem like much of a difference but there is.

Once again welcome.

HaGGarD
 

Chicken

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once you smoke your own grown baccy.....your proablly going to wish you'd have grown more,,, so remember the more the better, at least a full years supply,,,

becuase if you smoke your own for 5 months and have to go back to a store bought cigg,,

your going to be disappointed,,,,, i havent bought no baccy since last july,,,,i am smoking what i grew,,,,and like it a lot,

if i had to buy store ciggs,,,, id really miss my non additive, home grown smoke<
 

johnlee1933

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Welcome Soul -- Nice intro -- I'm relatively new here about also and over the last two years have learned a bunch. These guys are great and will go the extra bit for you.

Read a lot, ask LOTS of questions and keep the green side up.

John
 

Soul_Adventurer

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Hey thanks everyone. I appreciate it.

@HaGGarD: Yeah, I plan on doing it organically. I wouldn't do it any other way. Go ahead and post some links for me, that would be great. Or my email is blee21483@gmail.com if you wanna do it like that. Whatever's easier. Thanks man.

@Chicken: I'm sure it all depends on what varieties you're growing and how big they get, but can you give me a ballpark of of how much dry tobacco you get from one plant? I know when I buy 6 oz bags of store-bought it lasts me at least 2-3 weeks, so at 16 ozs a pound.....carry the 4.....square root of 38..... I'll need about 9-10 lbs to be safe for a year. But then I also wanna be able to give some away to people and make cigars and stuff too. So maybe 12-15 lbs would be perfect. Any idea how many plants I'd need, and square footage, approximately, to do that?
 

FmGrowit

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I'll smoke American Spirits every now and then, and after 2 or 3 days of doing so, I've noticed that although I can feel the nicotine entering my system during and after smoking one, I'm left with a craving for something else... a Marlboro or a Camel! So that needs to stop. I just want to enjoy tobacco in a moderate, natural way, not scorch my lungs with 20 of these nasty ass chemical bombs every day for the rest of my life.

A couple of things I noticed when I started smoking my own tobacco were...
1. I had money in my pocket when I woke up.
2. I still wanted to pull into the gas station to buy a pack of cigarettes

The money thing is self explanatory. The "wanting to buy cigarettes" thing I believe can be attributed to sociological addition and physiological addition. My morning routine was gas, coffee and cigarettes. When I stopped buying cigarettes, the routine was incomplete and left something of a gap in my everyday life. I'm convinced there are chemicals in commercial tobacco products that are equally addictive (if not more so) than nicotine.

One of my favorite stories about smoking my own tobacco is...

It was Easter Sunday. My family gathered at my parents house for dinner. Of the 15 or so people there, only three of us used tobacco, so nobody smoked in the house. After being at my parents house for almost five hours, I realized I had not been outside for a cigarette since I first got there...and didn't miss it.

Now I smoke tobacco because I enjoy it, not because I have to.
 

deluxestogie

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Soul_A,
The yield of cured, stemmed leaf usually ranges from 1/8 to 1/4 pound per plant. I have gotten as much as 1/2 pounds of cured leaf per plant, less ~25% when the central vein is removed, so ~3/8 pounds per plant. Some varieties give more, while some Orientals produce significantly less. For 10 pounds of finished leaf: ~80 plants.

For cigars, a standard corona (5.5" x 44 ring) requires about 2 whole leaves. Assuming 12 to 22 leaves per plant, you can roll 6 to 11 coronas per plant. A large, fat cigar can require 3 times as much. I grew ~85 plants this past year, and found that was not enough to supply my insatiable cigar habit.

Many growers plant standard-size plants at 2.5 to 4 feet between plants in the rows, and typically 4+ feet between rows. I usually layout my tobacco in rectangular, deeply-dug beds, and allot 3.75 sq. ft. per large plant, and 2.5 to 3.0 sq. ft. per Oriental. (I'll be trying Xanthi Yaka at 1.2 sq. ft. per plant this year.) My layout for 2012 is diagramed in my grow log. I don't do cigarettes, so I can't help you there.

Bob
 

Daniel

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I can add what I got last year. 15 lbs of ready to smoke tobacco from 132 plants. I grew these in 5 gallon buckets in a space of 220 square feet. This was rows 4 buckets wide and 11 buckets long pushed together as closely as they will fit. I thn left a walking space of about 3 feet (to narrow in the end) and then another group of 44 buckets. This worked with no issues for the first couple of months. In the last month when the plants got large it started getting hard to get to them. Priming leaves as they ripened helped. But here is an idea of what my tobacco patch looked like about half way through. the plants eventually reached about 6 feet tall.
normal_16_weeks_YTB.JPG

Warning it gets expensive to buy buckets and the dirt needed to fill them with. I spent $1000 last year or seed starting rack, lights, buckets and dirt. You can reduce that by quite a bit.
 

Soul_Adventurer

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Man you guys don't mess around when it comes to responding quickly! That's awesome. Thanks for all the advice. After I get a little breather from work (hopefully tomorrow) I'm gonna start really scouring the site to figure out how to start going about all this.

If you did 132 plants in 220 sq feet to end up with 15 lbs Daniel, I can probably do something similar sized in my yard no problem, so that's good to know. I could even go considerably bigger than that with multiple plots. $1000! Wheww! Big spenda ;)

Bob, your numbers match up pretty well with Daniel's as far as the poundage per plant, so that's helpful for me. I'll have to check out your grow log when I get some free time here. Thanks.

And FmGrowit, that's awesome to hear. Thanks for the story. That's exactly what I want to accomplish by growing my own crop. To be able to enjoy a nice organically grown smoke in moderation without being hooked on them like a damn junkie. Big Tobacco smokes are just brutal on your body, definitely more insidious things going on than simple nicotine addiction. I've been a regular smoker for only 5 years and I can already feel it negatively affecting my whole system. Tried to quit cold turkey last summer and made it about 30 hours. I was absolutely crawling out of my skin. It was awful. I'm not a whiny person, and I thought I could handle it, but I was shocked at how terrible my body felt. You would've thought I was kicking heroin or something. Body aches, low fever, blurry vision, crazy nightmares, the whole nine. I mean, I smoke 15-20 cigarettes a day, but it's not like I'm a 3 pack a day chain smoker or something. Nasty stuff in there for sure.

I'm gettin really pumped to do this now. You guys are some cool cats.
 

Jitterbugdude

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Warning it gets expensive to buy buckets and the dirt needed to fill them with. I spent $1000 last year or seed starting rack, lights, buckets and dirt. You can reduce that by quite a bit.

And I'll bet you still saved money from not having to buy store bought cigs!
 

BarG

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Well heres my 2 cents to the hundreth power in savings, I went from 4-5 cartons a month of the native all natural indian reservation smokes to probably 3-3.5 cartons equivalent a month in rolling my homegrown blended with a few lbs. of flue cured and others. I mostly hand roll as I go and spend out of pocket about $6-8.00 a month after averaging my whole leaf purchases for blending. I combine my tobacco expenses along with my veg. garden and is not uncommon for me to spend $1-200.00 ayear for a years supply of my favorite food and smokes.
 

Daniel

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A small fortune. In fact I didn't spend one dime I would not have paid for store mid priced roll your own tobacco.
I first found a lower price for tobacco to smoke last year. I then took the difference and applied it to growing tobacco. That covered the $1000 to get started plus all the tobacco we will need except 15 lbs to smoke this year. And that is buying smokes for 4 people. That folks is creative financing. I am doing it again this year only on a bigger scale. the goal this year is to grow three years worth of tobacco for 4 people and not spend more than $1000 doing it. We have to travel to the place we are growing. put in an electric fence and put in 2000 feet of drip system. I am coming in under the wire by about $150 so far.
 
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