Nah not collecting seed, the good folks at Northwood do a world class job of that so I see no need.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Radagast Grow blog attempt 2020
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Thanks for your thoughts.
Yes, I've been impressed with the great customer service from northwoods so far and plan to use them for any new seed purchases.
For the plants I have though I plan to start collecting seeds in earnest once I begin planting in soil or for plants that I see that seem particularly robust or have other traits I like. "Pure" breeding lines still have a decent level of genetic variation going on even though they are typically "fixed" for the breeders desired traits somewhere between the F6-F8 generation - especially allopolyploids like tobacco. There is a lot to be said for adaptation to a local climate and (brace yourself for this bad word to geneticists) epigenetics. Commercial growers tend to select for plants that make their life easy for growing and harvesting in mass - i.e. uniform height, days to heading, yield, suckering, etc. As home growers growing a handful of plants we are not as concerened about some of the traits commercial growers are and can select for plants that do well in our little area and have the qualities we like. Just my perspective on things though
Your plants are looking good by the way. I'm looking forward to trying to grow some yellow twist bud next year.
Well I finally found a tobacco I don't like, not too proud of this green Cavendish I made (left). I know green leaf is trash but I had to try. If you're curious, load your pipe with cat hair, that should be almost as foul.
I tried a little green stuff straight in the pipe and had the same opinion
I wonder if the green stuff would even be useful for chewing tobacco or if it's just a total waste. Funny how candela wrappers are green but don't taste bad.
ChinaVoodoo
Moderator
The first time I attempted to grow was in 2001 in a pot on a north facing apartment balcony. I harvested and attempted to cure two plants and got about two ounces greenish brown tobacco. Its funny, I never read a book. I didn't own any form of internet, but I gave it a try... I even toasted it! I don't even know what made me think of that. There were no books. Nobody I knew had experience.
It tasted like cat pee.
It tasted like cat pee.
They don't taste great either. They are made by flue-curing, but skipping the yellowing phase.
Bob
ChinaVoodoo
Moderator
I wonder if the difference may be that it's reached maturity, while the cat pee tobacco cured green because it wasn't mature.
Oldfella
Well-Known Member
I would have thought chickens feathers would have been more like fowl, or is that foul.
Old featherd fella
If I had gone through the entire process for two oz. of cat pee, or the barbecued dog hair I just had, I would have been ultimately discouraged. So kudos to you.
Luckily I've had some really delightful smokes just on dirt lugs so I know there's some good stuff coming.
Hwa Hwa! Oh you.
I don't know if if they age candela wrappers or not but if they do maybe that helps. Of course it might be hard to keep their color if they age them in piles like regular cigar wrapper tobacco. Sounds like a Bob question to me
I have made candela accidentally, simply by progressing a flue-cure run from yellowing to leaf wilt before a particular variety had actually yellowed. It was some years ago. My very first flue-cure run. I assume that I primed the leaf in question when it looked somewhat mature. The aroma from the chamber at that point in the run smelled like cooking asparagus (a sure sign that you've messed up the flue-curing), and the leaf came out a lovely, consistent, light green candela, at the end of the run. As a cigar wrapper, it tasted like most commercial candela. As filler, it was pretty awful.
I sent some to the late @johnlee1933, who failed to see my hand-written note in the parcel. He PM'd me soon after receiving it, saying, with apologies, that it was just horrible tobacco. Once he rummaged through the discarded shipping materials--at my direction, and found my note explaining that it was for wrapper, he subsequently reported that it made an okay wrapper, but that he had never liked candela cigars anyway.
Bob
I sent some to the late @johnlee1933, who failed to see my hand-written note in the parcel. He PM'd me soon after receiving it, saying, with apologies, that it was just horrible tobacco. Once he rummaged through the discarded shipping materials--at my direction, and found my note explaining that it was for wrapper, he subsequently reported that it made an okay wrapper, but that he had never liked candela cigars anyway.
Bob
Tobacco landscaping 101
ChinaVoodoo
Moderator
I didn't mean to imply that I pushed through until I succeeded. I didn't try again for a few years, until I had a garden. I had similar results with slightly more tobacco. My third attempt, I didn't pick because I thought, why bother? That tobacco cured on the plant over winter and it was actually ok. Ice tobacco. I've tried that again and it always molds. I guess I was lucky that year. I didn't have any real success until my 4th grow in 2014 when I discovered Fair Trade Tobacco. Go figure.
Clever press. You may have difficulty removing the plug from the can, because it will have expanded into the circumferential ridges of the can. An alternative container for that method might be a plastic vitamin jar or similar.
Several days of pressing will bring about some change. Several weeks of pressing causes a more marked change. Do post pics.
Bob
Several days of pressing will bring about some change. Several weeks of pressing causes a more marked change. Do post pics.
Bob
Thanks!
I was thinking maybe a regular-old can opener might facilitate at least the initial removal process. I have the type that takes off the lip in the process, so I could use the hunks of wood, which I cut from a maple log about the same diameter, to smush the tobacco from either side without much hassle after that. I'll take a look at it tomorrow which will be day 3. Pics for sure. I'll have to come up with more recipes to cook with tomato paste. Or a can opener that removes just the inner part of the lid for next time.
With some fiddling I was able to get the plug out without destroying the can.
It's juicy. It just smells like leaves in the fall so I think I won't bother test smoking any for quite a while. Back in the can she goes.
It's juicy. It just smells like leaves in the fall so I think I won't bother test smoking any for quite a while. Back in the can she goes.
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