RbwGeorge's Blog 2023: Growing "Rustica/Machorka" and a Cigarette Blend

[RbwGeorge]

Hey guys.
ive shredded the mud leaves i had with a knife and put those shreds in a black container and sprayed a tiny ammount of water on it. Ive exposed it to the glaring Sun for a few days and shook it around every day.
What can i say, it actually tasted quite pleasing.
Its hard to smoke because my shreds are way to coarse, i had to relight the cigarette a lot.
I think it was a week in that little box and the small leaves were mostly rustica i think.
I might be onto something for the first time, thanks to all of you and this pool of knowledge

George

 

[RbwGeorge]

Hi everybody,

Some of my N.Tabacum plants seem to lack some color. It looks like there is veins of clorophyll and some spots lacking it. Its in the youngest leaves. Does that mean anything?


Those are the 3 leaves that looked like they might had that virus Bob was talking about.
I removed them when they started to turn brown and hung them on a string. Now i have shredded them with a knife and put them in a zip-lock-bag with a 69%RH boveda pack. Im putting that in the direct sun inside a black plastic bag. Right now it smells like damp straw.

Cheers
George

 

[RbwGeorge]

Hi everyone.
This is my current situation.
Some of my rustica is curling up and turning yellow and brown.
Some rot front plants aswell, especially on the bottom.
Can i harvest those yellow ones?
If i want to cut the whole stalk, when is the correct time for that?
Im super hesitant right now.

Cheers and thanks!

 

[Knucklehead]

Has the Rot Front flowered yet?
They look like they could use more nutrients just from the photo.
Here are some pictures from skychasers growout of Rot Front.

Northwest Tobacco Seeds Providing nicotiana seeds at wholesale prices for retail distributors and growers world wide Tobaccos

 

[RbwGeorge]

Has the Rot Front flowered yet?
They look like they could use more nutrients just from the photo.
Here are some pictures from skychasers growout of Rot Front.

Northwest Tobacco Seeds Providing nicotiana seeds at wholesale prices for retail distributors and growers world wide Tobaccos

One of the Plants is developing the first flowers.

 

[Knucklehead]

One of the Plants is developing the first flowers.

I would wait until 50% or more of all the Rot Front plants have at least one open flower. Then top them. If you are going to stalk cut, wait until the upper leaf is showing yellow, then cut and hang. Sometimes the lower leaf is ripe quite a bit earlier than the rest of the plant. You can prime those, then stalk cut the rest of it when they are ready.

I don't think your leaf is yellow due to maturity, I think they are nutrient deficient. They need some fertilizer. They are a few weeks away from being ready. I topped my earliest ones June 2 and I'm still waiting to harvest. That's over a month ago. Mine are close, but not there yet. The one plant with the bud bag wasn't topped and it's not even mature yet. The others are pretty ripe. Topping will get you there sooner. I don't top Rustica.

I grew some Rustica one season about ten years ago. (my only attempt with Rustica, I can't get past the smell lol) I didn't top those. The ones that I was able to successfully cure were the plants that I allowed the leaves to fully yellow on the plant. Then harvested. They were easy to cure. The Rustica that I tried to harvest like they were N. Tabacum gave me fits.

 

[RbwGeorge]

I would wait until 50% or more of all the Rot Front plants have at least one open flower. Then top them. If you are going to stalk cut, wait until the upper leaf is showing yellow, then cut and hang. Sometimes the lower leaf is ripe quite a bit earlier than the rest of the plant. You can prime those, then stalk cut the rest of it when they are ready.

I don't think your leaf is yellow due to maturity, I think they are nutrient deficient. They need some fertilizer. They are a few weeks away from being ready. I topped my earliest ones June 2 and I'm still waiting to harvest. That's over a month ago. Mine are close, but not there yet. The one plant with the bud bag wasn't topped and it's not even mature yet. The others are pretty ripe. Topping will get you there sooner. I don't top Rustica.

I grew some Rustica one season about ten years ago. (my only attempt with Rustica, I can't get past the smell lol) I didn't top those. The ones that I was able to successfully cure were the plants that I allowed the leaves to fully yellow on the plant. Then harvested. They were easy to cure. The Rustica that I tried to harvest like they were N. Tabacum gave me fits.

Ok, ill fertilize them again tomorrow!
Thanks!

 

[johnny108]

Hello everyone.

This is the second time i am growing tobacco.
My first attempt was semi successful.
I managed to get some nice plants, but because lack of knowledge, i didnt know what to do with the leaves.
Now my seeds for this project have arrived from tabak-pflanzen.de

My goals and roadmap:

Goals:
-Produce my own Machorka Papirosas out of Rustica made of:
-Rustica Asiatica

-Produce my own German/American Blend Cigarettes made of:
-Virginia Gold
-Oriental
-Rot Front

Roadmap:
-Grow 4 varieties of Tobacco in the garden (probably in big pots)

-Air cure until brown

-Fermenting in a Klin for 2-3 weeks
(So far my idea for my klin is a water bath at 130°F/50°C, the tobacco in water and airtight glasses or plastic bags plus boveda packs at 70% Humidity or so)

-Shredding (Maybe with a meat grinder)

-Ageing

-Producing Cigarettes/Papirosas


Hopefully someone finds this Blog interesting, can learn from my inevitable mistakes, and maybe you guys have some tips for me along the journey.


George

George- do you know why smokers pinched the cardboard tubes on Pappirossa cigarettes?

 

[RbwGeorge]

George- do you know why smokers pinched the cardboard tubes on Pappirossa cigarettes?

Its supposed to create a circular flow of smoke, to cool it down before it reaches the mouth from what i have read

 

[RbwGeorge]

Hi everyone.

I am leaving home for a few weeks, so i had to start harvesting. Tomorrow ill get the other half of my plants.

Cheers
George

 

[RbwGeorge]

Hi everyone.

My plants have color cured pretty well, some even developed more flowers in the time i was gone.

My fermenting will take place in a Yoghurt fermenter inside of jars.
Ive measured the temperature and its at 51 celsius.

Cheers
George

 

[RbwGeorge]

First test run.

After 3 Days the machorka has already developed a sweet and floral smell.

In the bag i have all the leafs that fell down and were not identifyable. That bag has a very funky smell that i cant really describe. Somewhat sweet but also unpleasant.
Maybe its the mix of different types or the bag they are in. It might also be the smell of oriental tobacco in early stages of fermentation?

Im confused because the Rustica is smelling really good, and in the forums here i found people describing the smell as cat urine like.

Maybe its the color curing method that works great with rustica.

Next ill try to harvest them all from the stalks and try not to „contanimate“ them so i can find out wich one smells like what

cheers

 

[RbwGeorge]

After about 5 days in the fernenter i couldnt resist. I got a cheap tobacco shredder from amazon and ran the rustica trhough it.
It has a super sweet and floral smell.
The taste is close to unscented pipe tobacco, but it feels a little scratchy in the nose and throat. It definatley has a kick to it and the taste is interesting. Ill ferment it a little longer and will probably treat all of my strands like this.

Cheers

 

[johnny108]

What type of yogurt incubator do you have?

 

[RbwGeorge]

What type of yogurt incubator do you have?

This one

 

[RbwGeorge]

First Batches of cured Tobacco.

One Plant really came back after harvest.

Cheers
George