This row is for seed and ceremony; I don't necessarily want to have an N hammer when using this for prayer.Without topping/suckering your rustica will have a tiny fraction of the alkaloids rustica is famed for, fyi.
Maybe my much earlier harvesting is why I found Sacred Cornplanter to be difficult to cure, and awful to smoke after color-curing, after kilning, and even after a subsequent Cavendish process. It was just horrible. I guess I was working with leaf that was far too immature. The Cornplanter blossoms were actually better than the leaf.Try to go a full 60 days after topping before you harvest. Everything at once.
For n hammer: top and keep suckered. Try to go a full 60 days after topping before you harvest. Everything at once. Color cure and store some and kiln the rest. Color cured is stronger, kilned is better tasting/aroma.
Maybe my much earlier harvesting is why I found Sacred Cornplanter to be difficult to cure, and awful to smoke after color-curing, after kilning, and even after a subsequent Cavendish process. It was just horrible. I guess I was working with leaf that was far too immature. The Cornplanter blossoms were actually better than the leaf.
It's been lost in storage for years now. Perhaps time has improved it. I'll have to do some searching.
Wooda, save all those blossoms, and give it a try. Buffalo Bird Woman's diary describes the old men smoking the blossoms (N. quadrivalvis) after stirring them in some melted buffalo fat. [http://www.bettercodger.com/images/Buffalo Bird Woman - Tobacco Garden.pdf]
Bob