Home Grown Tobacco

[Mr. Premise]

Can anyone recommend the best way for storing tobacco. I am lucky as I can get it by the kilo so wish to stock up slowly. I have tried storing in the fridge in black plastic bags also in a cupboard. The constituents seem to change though and it drops all over the place when smoking, plus feels a bit rougher to smoke.

Also is there a shelf-life for seeds? I have some I ordered over 4 years ago and wonder whether they would still be okay to plant sometime. I hope to grow them on my balcony here.

Do we have to use pipe tobacco in pipes, as I was thinking of buying a couple too, maybe I cannot get filters/papers easily so prefer to not be taking in the extra poisons from them anyway (I tried the organic papers but found my fingers got badly stained with nicotine which never happened before). I was hoping I could smoke my same tobacco using a pipe instead.
thanks.

There's no need to refrigerate it because it gets better with age but how you store it depends on the climate where you're at. It probably tastes rougher because storing it in those kinds of bags might make it dry out. You can mist it with water to make it moist again. For long term storage, you want it to be "low case." "Case" refers to the amount of moisture in the leaf. Low case is not bone dry but one step above. It will not crumble into dust when crushed. Low case is ideal for storage. Medium case is ideal for smoking, kid of a leathery feel, won't break when crushed and, if shredded, it will be kind of spongy. If you squeeze it together it will spring back. High case is moist, if you press it together it can stay pressed, if not shredded it will feel moist. Storing in high case can lead to mold.

I use two methods for long term storage: Mason jars if the tobacco is already shredded and vapor-proof bags for whole leaf. If you store it in regular plastic bags, even ziploc storage bags, humidity will escape over time and it will end up bone dry. The vapor proof bags can be sealed with an iron on low heat. They are made of triple laminated poly nylon. Members of the Fair Trade Tobacco forum can order the bags here: _http://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/418-Vapor-Proof-Bags.

As for your seeds, tobacco seeds will last up to ten years or more, depending on how they are stored. I store mine in half pint mason jars with those little dessicant bag things in them. The dryer the better for storing seeds. At four years they should be fine. If you grow them on your balcony, just use 5 gallon pots and they will do fine.

And, yes, any tobacco you can smoke in cigarettes you can also smoke in a pipe.

 

[Erykah]

Do we have to use pipe tobacco in pipes, as I was thinking of buying a couple too, maybe I cannot get filters/papers easily so prefer to not be taking in the extra poisons from them anyway (I tried the organic papers but found my fingers got badly stained with nicotine which never happened before). I was hoping I could smoke my same tobacco using a pipe instead.
thanks.

Happyliza I buy pipe tobacco in bulk (1 pound bags, runs for about $20.00) from Carey's smoke shop, the pipe cut is much cheaper, you can also become a member, buy in bulk and the price is even a bit cheaper, I usually buy 5 pounds at a time We are in a very humid damp climate so I use seal-o-meal bags to keep the pipe cut fresh. I use organic hemp RAW papers and don't get the nicotine stains on my fingers :D

And anyone who wants seeds and growing instructions can PM me with an email address and a mailing address. I'll email the instructions and mail the seeds.

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I was wondering, Mr. Premise, what tobacco was it that I had a bit of the last time I was over? It was very smooth.

Lizard Tail Orinoco. Weird name, huh? It's classed as a "primitive" which means it wasn't bred and the name Orinoco (from Venezuela) means it may be the original type that was brought to Virginia in the 1600s and was the ancestor of the Virginia types. It tastes pretty good by itself without blending, but since it wasn't bred to improve yields, the yield was pretty low when I grew it.

I'd like to add that Mr. Premise's tobacco is the best around!

 

[happyliza]

Thanks for the replies, very helpful. Good to know the seed keep well and for a long time. Will use mason jars for storage now. Must order some of your tobacco/seeds sometime Mr Premise! Great to know can use ordinary tobacco for pipes. Ordering in bulk is tricky for me as may not get to me here in Cyprus. I get one kilo tobacco for 50 turkish lira - via friends. Approximately £15. I hear cigarettes in UK are nearly £10 a packet so I get 6+ weeks tobacco for 1.5 packets of cigarettes! In fact I think I spend more on the filters and papers!

 

[Mr. Premise]

Thanks for the replies, very helpful. Good to know the seed keep well and for a long time. Will use mason jars for storage now. Must order some of your tobacco/seeds sometime Mr Premise! Great to know can use ordinary tobacco for pipes. Ordering in bulk is tricky for me as may not get to me here in Cyprus. I get one kilo tobacco for 50 turkish lira - via friends. Approximately £15. I hear cigarettes in UK are nearly £10 a packet so I get 6+ weeks tobacco for 1.5 packets of cigarettes! In fact I think I spend more on the filters and papers!

Yes, it's crazy how much papers cost. I can get 200 filter tubes to inject tobacco in for $3.00 but a pack of 50 papers costs 3.79 or something. It doesn't make sense to me. That's a good price you get for a kilo of tobacco. How does it taste? Is it grown in Cyprus? I know they make Latakia there for pipe tobacco blending. That's an amazing flavor, they make it by burning aromatic shrubs and wood and leaves in a barn where the tobacco leaves hang. It comes out black with a nice smoky, piney flavor. Better for pipes than cigarettes, though.

 

[Mark]

You might search eBay for 'Raw Rolling Papers' - a box of 24 packs is $24 and free shipping. They're raw unrefined unbleached papers with hemp-based gum. And they're thin, transparent to some extent, and seem to work very good. I buy 'em by the case. If anyone is interested in that many then sort the search results to 'highest first' to find the full cases easily.

 

[MusicMan]

One way of keeping tobacco moist is to store it with some apple peeling (or potato peeling if you prefer).
It worked for me.

 

[SeekinTruth]

FWIW, I sometimes smoke my pipe tobacco rolled in paper, and sometimes rolling tobacco in my pipe - and sometimes mixing it with pipe tobacco. It all works well.

 

[davey72]

I sure hope i can get a few seeds this year. How long before planting season should they be started?

 

[Mr. Premise]

I sure hope i can get a few seeds this year. How long before planting season should they be started?

Davey, I already told you via PM that I would be sending you seeds. I also told you that you shouldn't start seeds until two months before your last frost, which means you have lots of time.

 

[davey72]

I was pretty sure that i did message you. I assumed you were busy.

 

[Mr. Premise]

I was pretty sure that i did message you. I assumed you were busy.

Yeah, you did PM me, and I replied via email with the instructions and saying I would be sending the seeds later. Did you get that email? Let me know if you didn't and I can send the instructions again.

As for the seeds, I have seeds from 2013 ready but I am in the process of cleaning seed from the 2014 crop. There's some good varieties in 2014, so once I'm done with that I will send them along to you. Given where you live, I would start the seeds in maybe the second week of April. The plants can go outside maybe around June 10. You want to make sure there's a very low chance of frost by that time. So there's lots of time!

 

[davey72]

No i didnt. And i was watching for anything at the time. Was it to hotmail?
Also we have a very short growing season here. A perspective for anyone that knows Calgary is that we have a full month less growing season here.

 

[Mr. Premise]

No i didnt. And i was watching for anything at the time. Was it to hotmail?
Also we have a very short growing season here. A perspective for anyone that knows Calgary is that we have a full month less growing season here.

Yes, I sent it to the hotmail address you gave me in the PM. I can send it again. I know you have a short growing season, that's why I said you have lots of time before you should start the seeds. What I would do is around June 1, take a look at the 10 day weather forecast and as soon as you don't see a hard frost in the future you can plant the seedlings.

 

[davey72]

Thank you. :)

 

[Mr. Premise]

Thank you. :)

I sent you the email on Jan. 2. I just sent it again, PM me if you didn't get it. I will send you the seeds soon. I have one variety that was developed in Canada for short growing seasons and I will send some other early maturing ones, too. Good luck! I'm happy to help with any questions you have once you get going, and you can help me with livestock raising questions.