They're lookin' good. :-)

Image
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:-):-):-)
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Very Nice.
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Lookin' good, Scott!!
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I'm gonna smoke it tomorrow. :-)
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That is awesome Scott. Keep the updates comin!
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I just knew you were going there :-)
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Next come the seeds, each of those pods have the potential to produce thousands of plants… and so goes the cycle of life :-)

Each year I have tobacco plants appear in planters all on their own. Once a friend always a friend.

Good show Scott. :-)
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I've told you, but the guys don't know...
That flower is the culmination of a 20+ year desire to grow tobacco.
I've grown tons of different plants that are relatives of tobacco, because I love the habit of the plant, and I love the flowers. It's kinda like "you know what kind of women you like", but with plants.
Richard shared the seed with me this past year, and I've finally gotten to witness just how beautiful and complex the plants are.
I really screwed them up this year, so I actually have dwarf, prematurely finishing plants, but the flowers were what I was after and I was truly blessed to get such an early showing.
I still have no idea what I'll do with it (the tobacco), but I may see how to cure it for chewing tobacco (my first love).
That has to be far easier than curing it for cigars. I hope. :-)
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Have you started priming it yet? Talk about liguro!
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Well really old school, say pre 1700's, snuff wasn't even cured tobacco. It was just ground up leaf that was pressed into the gums. As for curing cigar vs chewing I don't think there is much of a difference, don't really know though. Just hang the stuff somewhere you can control the temp. Hell a clothes line in the garage would work if the temp didn't swing much. The commercial boys just use oversized open air barns. Maybe I can get more info from one of my peeps that worked at the USDA Tobacco lab before they closed it down in 02.
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I doubt they'll be ready for priming for another couple months.
My guess is that since they are forcing flowers already, and I'm getting offshoots at all the notches, they won't turn into "real" tobacco plants.
Thus, primings ain't gonna happen.
Best I can do is wait and see what happens.
What's gonna be cool is that these plants will look like none other because of holding them back. It'll very much change the plant structure and their habit.
They'll be much fuller, have hundreds more leaves, and be more like bushes than upright corn-stalky plants.
It's gonna be cool, even if it's totally wrong. :-)
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Cool!!!:-) I know when I lived in Tennessee, they would hang them in the drying/curing barns and smoke cure them. The first time I saw that process, I thought someones barn was on fire!!!:-) Then they would take the leaves and make a twisted/ braided chewing tobacco plug. Maybe if you have a smoker, you can cure some that way?
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I love living vicariously through you.
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True on that hanging the whole plant procedure. Last season I gave that method a go along with the "priming" adventure. I must say that hanging the whole plant at the end of the season is much easier given the lack of a barn and extra farmhands. The plants dry slower as they continue to feed from the stem doing their conversion and metabolizing the chlorophyl. After a few months, once they have turned a lovely shade of yellow to dark brown they can be spritzed, bringing them back to a pliable state and from there the plant can be disassembled and attentively stored for further cuing and aging. At no point in the process can the leafs well being be taken for granted. A real labor of love begins when the plant is pulled or a leaf plucked. That is my five cents :-)
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Thanks for keeping us updated Scott. I may have to give this a try next year. They are very nice looking plants :-)
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A barn, sawdust, oak or hickory strips, molasses, and a lighter will get you on the way :-).

It would be interesting to see how this plant would do with the fire-cured process, but these leaves are not as thick as the dark-fired variety plant, and probably would not hold up to the process. At least not on the scale of an entire barn.

The smell of the smoke from the curing barn is just fantastic. One of my favorite things in the autumn/fall season.
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You kill me..... :-) :-) :-)
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I had no idea.....that's fricking awesome!!! :-)

Is that what happens when you throw the nubs in the backyard? :-)
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