Hi Wes
Yup school is in session. So the truth is I have no Idea at all what I am interested in yet. I only recently became curious while choking on a hand rolled bugler and got to lookin about for some alternative. Right away just lookin made me mad because I started to imagine that some federal reason had made it so browser inquiries about foreign sources or even domestic for that matter concerning raw or unprocessed tobacco returned very little. I kinda wondered how can this be possible? surly there must be dozens of folks all over the world that have some tobacco they would sell but surprisingly there does not seem to be a way to access those folks that most surly exist. So after lookin a bit I found out about whole leaf and the couple sources we can order from.
So right now I am like a kid at christmas waitin on my very first shipment to arrive. I have a variety pack comin so I can experiment some. Then I began lookin for info on what to do with it when I get it. A couple dozen youtubes and some readin here has me thinkin that there is as many ways to treat your leaves as there are folks that get em.
Pretty much here is my plan, I intend to shred up all six kinds of leaf and case them cept for the turkish then I am considering perhaps toastin the dark air and perhaps the maryland too and keep em all separate and just do a lil eyeball blending after they all took some.
I am not too worried because i am hardly any type of connoisseur, I smoke for effect up till now, I live a good clip from anywhere and have been gettin canned tobacco for some time, more because it easy to keep on hand and stock up on then any other reason. I just roll a smoke with the enclosed papers and a can lasts me around a month. I get two smokes actually from a single smoke, or I puff a lil and the wind usually puts it out and then i finish it later when I have the need. You will laugh but I make these rolled paper tubes that I use to smoke the 1/2's. so I am hardly a gourmet where tobacco is concerned.
All that to say while looking about to figure out what to do with my leaf when I get it I noted a lot of folks here grow tobacco. I was out tendin to chores and started to think hey! I may have a good set up here for doin the same. Besides big hay barns we also have a small steel building, perhaps 20' around that we call the red room, Its really a huge dated oil tank that was cut and set up on end in concrete like a silo round 12' tall with a door on hinges cut out. I store pallets of sack grain for the horses in it now but I could put that other places. This little shed could be made to be a smoker or flue easy.
So I have all winter to get an education and make a plan. Mostly I am leanin towards growin a small plot of somethin I will consume myself to see what nightmares I encounter, no doubt the nematodes, crawlin and flyin critters and all the blights will visit my attempt. If I find I have some talent I could perhaps grow a bit more.
I Imagine I would get a kick out of tryin to grow somethin along the lines of heirloom or heritage stuff that is rare and there is a demand for provided that it is ok to market such a commodity.