An observation on Silver River

[Jitterbugdude]

Last year (2011) I grew about a dozen Silver River plants. I kilned some last fall and sweated the rest this spring/summer. I originally grew this for the novelty, the "alleged" slight hint of menthol everyone talked about. Well, I gotta tell ya, I've never tasted menthol, nor my wife nor 3 other people we gave it to. All (including me) think it's a very mild and tasty tobacco. It's on my permanent seed list. Anyway, about 6 months ago I shredded a lot of different varieties and put them into mason jars. Yesterday on a whim I opened the Silver River jar and got an EXTREMELY strong dose of menthol. It was so strong that if I didn't know better I'd swear someone had put some menthol crystals in the jar. Maybe I'll go get that jar and smoke it to see if it now tastes of menthol.

Regardless of the menthol taste or lack thereof, Silver River is a very tasty, high producing tobacco.

Randy B

 

[leverhead]

Interesting! I may have to try growing some. I've got some Dark air cured from FMGrowit that smells and tastes a little like some kind of mint.

 

[johnlee1933]

Yes, very interesting as Chicken was saying just today that it is a strong tobacco. I wonder why the different observations?

John

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Remember, Chicken fertilized the hell out of his garden. More N usually means more nicotine ( and more alkaloids in general) and more difficult curing.

 

[Chicken]

i dont think my silver river was ready to come out of the kiln,

it was completelly done yes<

but i think it needs more of a cook time than the other baccy's i got in there,

 

[johnlee1933]

OK I guess maybe Silver River gets back on the list for 2013. Here we go again.

John

 

[FmGrowit]

Different climates will produce different ranges in flavor and nicotine content from the exact same seed. Fertilizer also affects the finished product as does the maturity of the leaf when harvested.

I've always commented that Silver River had a hint of a very mild mentol-like flavor. I'm sure I've never suggested it would make a proper substitute for a menthol cigarette.