New from Central Illinois

[smgorden]

Greetings all!
I'm from central Illinois. I come from an agricultural family (mostly corn and soy beans). As an adult, I'm becoming more familiar with the concerns of growing crop, but still have no first hand experience. As it happens, my personal habit of pipe smoking has offered me a little cross section in which get some first hand experience in cultivation and also supplement my personal stock. The wife is also supportive, in that if I'm outside... the whole family can enjoy the benefits of time spent in the garden this year.

Accordingly, I'm looking to grow some tobacco suitable for pipe smoking. Found a wealth of online resources for cultivation and curing, but only today got into the resources here in the Fair Trade Tobacco domain. Decided to register and introduce myself. Looking forward to reading more and preparing my home garden leading up to the spring.

I tend to be an ambitious fellow with project, and the tempting here is to grow enough varieties to be able to blend. But for some reason this year I feel the lesson of so many unfinished projects setting in (not to mention the limited garden space). So I've resolved to grow only one variety this year as an experiment, and just let this project develop naturally as I gain experience.

Any suggestions on a starter leaf to try out this first season? Thanks for reading. Looking forward to the feedback.

 

[Knucklehead]

Welcome to the forum. What are you smoking now?

 

[smgorden]

The most recent tin I opened is Tudor Castle.
http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend/2926/mcclelland-tudor-castle

Enjoying it with coffee or black tea.

 

[Knucklehead]

You can learn how to make your own Perique process tobacco here: http://fairtradetobacco.com/showthread.php?2873-Really-Easy-Perique-Press

The founder of this forum owns a Whole Leaf tobacco business. You can purchase Virginia and Turkish tobaccos from him here: http://wholeleaftobacco.com/ You can also purchase Burley or Maryland to use in the Perique process from him. You can start saving money immediately over the cost of store bought, figure out what you want to grow, and how to process it by starting with Whole Leaf now.

 

[smgorden]

I select the Tudor Castle as a highly rated Virginia-based blend. And I think it holds up to that. I like an edge of sweetness, but I'm starting to prefer a bolder smoke. That's how my preferences are shaping up.

As for growing my own? I'm mostly interested in something that's easy to grow and cure. It doesn't have to match my consumer preferences 100% this first time. The main focus is educating myself in the process, seeing if I have the dedication to follow through all year, and hopefully having something pleasant at the end of the year.

 

[smgorden]

Thanks for the link! That perique process is fascinating. I'm going to have to consider that.

 

[jekylnz]

Welcome gorden..sounds like you'll have things under control coming from a grow family. ..knuckls is right about getting onto blending your own first from wlt...then you'll know what variety makes up each flavour of a blend. .and then you'll have a better idea of what you want to grow. .and something decent to smoke in the mean time. .

 

[Knucklehead]

It's an enjoyable but addictive hobby. You'll be fine. The varieties you'll grow for pipe use will all grow and cure very similarly. A good place to start the learning process is with the FAQ's: http://fairtradetobacco.com/links.php?ab_s=1

If you'll put a general location in your profile, it will be easier for us to answer specific questions later on. Many of the answers will depend on your location and weather, especially in regards to curing.

Another reason to start with Whole Leaf now is that tobacco needs to age a year before it tastes or smells like tobacco. It will be pretty grassy the first year.

 

[smgorden]

Updated my profile to list Bloomington, IL United States as my location.
I believe our frost season can go until the end of April.

US Dept Agriculture maps show we have 36-40 avg inches rainfall annually.
On the Plant Hardiness Zone Map, I'm in the 5b zone, which marks the average extreme low temperature between -15 to -10 degrees fahrenheit. I'm not sure how to translate that into which seed to buy this year. Perhaps that's just a thing to be aware of for when to transplant out into the garden.

 

[Knucklehead]

Plug your zip code in this handy gizmo and it will tell your average first and last frost dates: http://fairtradetobacco.com/showthread.php?781-Last-and-First-Frost-Date-When-Is-It-Really

 

[smgorden]

Awesome! Here's the output from that frost-season gizmo.

Each winter, on average, your risk of frost is from October 9 through April 27.Almost certainly, however, you will receive frost from October 22 through April 9. You are almost guaranteed that you will not get frost from May 15 through September 26. Your frost-free growing season is around 165 days.

 

[smgorden]

I feel like the first big question is whether to start with Virginia or Burley. I like the heartiness of the burley blends I've smoked, and the sweet edge of the Virginias. Assuming I can cultivate and cure them properly, I'm sure to enjoy either.

Other notes on my garden space. We only have one garden space setup right now, which is on the west side of our garage, meaning that it's in shade half the day. When summer growth gets going... we have a hedge that will block sunlight on that patch during twilight hours. The other options is to open a the front yard for more gardening. There are resilient shrubs next to the house on the front side. If we prep'd that space for growing, it would get direct sunlight all day.

Any suggestions between Burley/Virginia, and what varieties would succeed in either of those spaces?

 

[indianjoe]

Welcome. Why not try a couple of each? With the exception of wrapper leaf, most tobacco species like full sun. You could use buckets and relocate them as needed. Like knucks said, try out some varieties of leaf from wholeleaftobacco.com and you might be surprised how good different varieties taste.

 

[MarcL]

Hello! Welcome to FTT.