Hello from UK

[IanA2]

Hi folks, first post so be gentle.

A few questions if I may. I've just bought my first parcel of tobacco and I'm in a bit of a quandary. It arrived very dry so I moistened it, stripped it and shredded it. Whilst processing it I noticed quite a bit of evidence of disease. Lots of mottled bits and quite a few sort of cotton wool bits. After a couple of smokes I found I had a bit of a headache. Nothing too serious but slightly uncomfortable.

I have binned the first lot I processed and am now in the process of washing each leaf with a damp sponge and discarding the more obviously diseased leaves before deveining/shredding all over again. A laborious task, but hopefully this should cure the problem.

My questions are; have others experienced this? Have I just been unlucky in the leaves I got? Should I be buying organic? Is there anything else I should be doing?

All suggestions gratefully received as would be a recommendation for a dependable (preferably organic?) supplier in the UK. I imagine the USA would be problematic because of customs etc.

Thanks folks.

 

[Lakota]

welcome, it is possible that the " wool bits" might be mold. Is it possible for you to post pictures of the tobacco? It always helps to have a pic to try an identify any problems. If it is a white mold I would not smoke it to be on the safe side.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Where did you buy your leaf?
Whole Leaf Tobacco routinely ships to the UK. Their ad can be seen on the top of this page
I would agree with Lakota- you might be looking at mold. A picture would tell us a lot.

 

[IanA2]

Thanks both. I'll post some pics tomorrow. The Whole Leaf seller in the ad, would you know if they have problems shipping to the UK. By problems I mean customs.

 

[Lakota]

I think if you ask FMgrowit ( site owner) He can give you a better answer than I could.

 

[MarcL]

Welcome to FTT.

 

[Knucklehead]

Welcome to the forum Ian.

 

[deluxestogie]

Welcome to the forum.

Natural tobacco can actually appear pretty trashy, without causing any ill affects or unwanted taste and aroma. In my own home-grown tobacco, once it's color cured in the shed, I occasionally find:

• tiny spider webs
• bits of grass clippings
• dirt
• remnants of bug cocoons
• a live bug
• small bird feathers
• pine needles
• bits of frilled seeds (like dandelion and cottonweed)
• dead gnats

Commercial cigar leaf is hand sorted, and should be generally free of debris. Burley and flue-cured varieties are often machine harvested, and are a bit more prone to odd bits of non-tobacco.

I routinely examine both sides of each leaf that I'm about to process, and flick away any trash.

My guess is that your new tobacco contained more nicotine than you are accustomed to, and that the headache was from a big hit of nicotine. I may be wrong, of course.

Bob

 

[Boboro]

Tobacco leaves are sticky when green everthing sticks to them.

 

[Rickey60]

Welcome! I agree with other posts, everything will stick to green tobacco and more nicotine than you are use to will give you a mild headache

 

[IanA2]

Thanks for that. Yes I think the "wooly bit" are bug cocoons. Whilst wiping the leaves with a sponge, the other thing I've noticed is that they seem to be covered in a very fine sand-like grit. No probs though as it's being wiped off.

I normally smoke Amber Leaf, so I have no idea if my leaves have a higher nicotine content, but what you say makes sense.

Thanks for all the welcomes folks, smokers are friendly sorts

 

[IanA2]

Eventually got round to taking a couple of pics of a leaf to show what I mean. Also I strip out the centre stem, and I know this needs to be done. But I also strip out some of the thicker side stems. Is this the right thing to do? I'm not chucking nicotine away by doing this am I? Many thanks.

 

[Lakota]

I looked at the pictures by enlarging them and it looks like mold to me. It seems to be eating away at the center of the white spots. I would be careful with those leaves.

 

[IanA2]

Thanks; in what way do you mean careful?

 

[Lakota]

by careful I mean I would probably not smoke it. Maybe you can treat it with a peroxide solution and get rid of the mold, if it is mold. But I would right it off and not take any chance with smoking moldy tobacco. But a second opinion would always be good.

 

[IanA2]

Thanks for that. I hope it's not the case as quite a lot of my leaves have it. I did a bit of searching on here, and some else has posted something similar and folks said it might be "frog eyes" and the they are sugar lumps or some such thing. I'm a newbie at this and really don't have clue.

 

[Brown Thumb]

If it is hairy it is more than likely mold. But I would get a third opinion.
I would not smoke it, I just threw a bag out the other and was no where near that bad looking.

 

[Brown Thumb]

Frog eyes on my one sucker.

 

[deluxestogie]

Have a close look at several of the spots with a magnifying lens. If you see fine fuzz at the white spots (different from the trichomes on the surrounding lamina), then, as BT suggested, it's likely mold. Otherwise, if it smells fine when in case, it's not likely mold (i.e. I would smoke it without hesitation).

Bob

 

[Markw]

Hi Ian and welcome to the forum. It looks bad leaf you have there., bad mould in the UK looks just like that. where did the leaf come from and what type is it, or what was sold to you as. It looks like that it has been grown in the UK and not dried properly . I have had leaf dry just like that over here. I just chuck it in the bin