Smoking is... good?

[Guardian]

The proposed bill would equalize the taxes between RYO tobacco and pipe tobacco and cigars from $2.85 a pound to 25$ a pound! This bill http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/senator-durbins-bill-to-close-tobacco-tax-loopholes-will-save-lives-by-stopping-tax-avoidance-151024675.html
has been introduced in the Senate, but I don't know anything about how it's doing there.

Here's the bill:

S.3081 - Tobacco Tax Equity Act of 2012

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-s3081/show

If passed, and it looks like it will be eventually, it may well knock a LOT of RYO smokers out of the market, including me. Right now I pay about $50.00 for 5 pounds. That would change to $175.00 for 5 pounds under the new bill.

Gawd what next...can we have a big comet now please? OK, even a small comet will do, as long as it lands on DC.

 

[Thomas Alan]

The proposed bill would equalize the taxes between RYO tobacco and pipe tobacco and cigars from $2.85 a pound to 25$ a pound! This bill http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/senator-durbins-bill-to-close-tobacco-tax-loopholes-will-save-lives-by-stopping-tax-avoidance-151024675.html
has been introduced in the Senate, but I don't know anything about how it's doing there.

Here's the bill:

S.3081 - Tobacco Tax Equity Act of 2012

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-s3081/show

If passed, and it looks like it will be eventually, it may well knock a LOT of RYO smokers out of the market, including me. Right now I pay about $50.00 for 5 pounds. That would change to $175.00 for 5 pounds under the new bill.

Gawd what next...can we have a big comet now please? OK, even a small comet will do, as long as it lands on DC.

Good grief: do they have to ruin everything good? Well, I guess they are pathologicals just doing their thing.

This bears watching. I may have to fill the deep freeze with enough Kentucky Select Organic to last through 2014. By then the whole world might be smoking. From multiple cometary strikes!

Mac

 

[bngenoh]

Gawd what next...can we have a big comet now please? OK, even a small comet will do, as long as it lands on DC.

:D That's what one of my dreams showed me, but it wasn't comets, D.C was being blasted by lasers. ;)

This bears watching. I may have to fill the deep freeze with enough Kentucky Select Organic to last through 2014. By then the whole world might be smoking. From multiple cometary strikes!

Good thing I can inhale smoke then, huh. ;) (I know different composition.)

 

[ocean59]

The proposed bill would equalize the taxes between RYO tobacco and pipe tobacco and cigars from $2.85 a pound to 25$ a pound! This bill http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/senator-durbins-bill-to-close-tobacco-tax-loopholes-will-save-lives-by-stopping-tax-avoidance-151024675.html
has been introduced in the Senate, but I don't know anything about how it's doing there.

Oh wow, that is not good news at all. :(

If passed, and it looks like it will be eventually, it may well knock a LOT of RYO smokers out of the market, including me. Right now I pay about $50.00 for 5 pounds. That would change to $175.00 for 5 pounds under the new bill.

I understand if you choose not to answer, but I must ask: Where can one acquire tobacco for this price? I'm super broke right now, and if this is the probable future reality, I feel the need to go out of my way to stock up, while the prices are still low.

Gawd what next...can we have a big comet now please? OK, even a small comet will do, as long as it lands on DC.

 

[Thomas Alan]

The proposed bill would equalize the taxes between RYO tobacco and pipe tobacco and cigars from $2.85 a pound to 25$ a pound! This bill http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/senator-durbins-bill-to-close-tobacco-tax-loopholes-will-save-lives-by-stopping-tax-avoidance-151024675.html
has been introduced in the Senate, but I don't know anything about how it's doing there.

Oh wow, that is not good news at all. :(

If passed, and it looks like it will be eventually, it may well knock a LOT of RYO smokers out of the market, including me. Right now I pay about $50.00 for 5 pounds. That would change to $175.00 for 5 pounds under the new bill.

I understand if you choose not to answer, but I must ask: Where can one acquire tobacco for this price? I'm super broke right now, and if this is the probable future reality, I feel the need to go out of my way to stock up, while the prices are still low.

Gawd what next...can we have a big comet now please? OK, even a small comet will do, as long as it lands on DC.

I see the RollYourOwn site shows out of 5lb bags of KS Organic. When the word gets out about this legislation good tobacco may become scarce. Don't know if that is what is going on here.

Also would like to know your source, Guardian. :)

Mac

 

[Mr. Premise]

I'm convinced whole leaf is the way to go. I've ordered some from 3 different vendors, the latest being an order of 1 lb Virginia Bright Leaf and 1 lb Turkish from the guy I ordered my plants from. The price was $12 a pound and the guy added extra of both types and gave me a sample of Maryland 609.

This tobacco farmer doesn't have time to create a website so you have to just email him. PM me if you want his address. There are also the vendors I mentioned earlier in this thread.

The nice thing about whole leaf is that you can experiment with blends and get it to taste the way you want. My blends now taste way better than the KY Select Virginia on its own.

 

[Thomas Alan]

I'm convinced whole leaf is the way to go. I've ordered some from 3 different vendors, the latest being an order of 1 lb Virginia Bright Leaf and 1 lb Turkish from the guy I ordered my plants from. The price was $12 a pound and the guy added extra of both types and gave me a sample of Maryland 609.

This tobacco farmer doesn't have time to create a website so you have to just email him. PM me if you want his address. There are also the vendors I mentioned earlier in this thread.

The nice thing about whole leaf is that you can experiment with blends and get it to taste the way you want. My blends now taste way better than the KY Select Virginia on its own.

Thanks for the info on whole leaf tobacco. I ordered a cigarette tobacco sampler pack for Whole Leaf Tobacco. This may be the solution if they raise the tax on ryo. Can't wait to try it!

 

[dant]

Ok, I'm in agreement with Mr P. (not Mr T) that whole leaf tobacco
is the way to go. Grow your own, COOP with farmer to grow your
specific tobacco, and/or buy direct from the farmer.

Prices continue to climb every 6 months at each purchase and getting
expensive. I am thinking of buying a large order so that I can hedge
against growing price hikes... I can see it: bales of tobacco delivered
"fresh" to my suburban home.

 

[Mr. Premise]

The nice thing about stocking up is that tobacco improves with age so you can store it for years. One thing about storing whole leaf, though. They ship it fairly moist so it will taste good right away but for long term storage you want to open the packages and take the leaves out and just store it in closed cardboard boxes. Then you will have to moisten it before cutting or shredding it.

 

[dant]

Thanks for the advice! Sent you a PM

 

[Guardian]

I understand if you choose not to answer, but I must ask: Where can one acquire tobacco for this price?

Cherokee, NC
http://www.cherokeetobacco.com

The Cherokee have GREAT tobaccos, including organics, and it's cheap, but they lost a lawsuit about paying taxes long ago.

 

[Guardian]

I'm convinced whole leaf is the way to go.

I agree, in fact it may be the only way to get tobacco in the US before long....at least tobacco you can afford.

We just planted our first crop of tobacco, from heritage Carolina seed no less. I'll let folks know how it goes as this is a new venture, and I expect will take some trial and error. Hopefully I will learn how to grow and dry a good quality tobacco before I can't afford to buy it commercially anymore due to taxes.

 

[Mr. Premise]

I'm convinced whole leaf is the way to go.

I agree, in fact it may be the only way to get tobacco in the US before long....at least tobacco you can afford.

We just planted our first crop of tobacco, from heritage Carolina seed no less. I'll let folks know how it goes as this is a new venture, and I expect will take some trial and error. Hopefully I will learn how to grow and dry a good quality tobacco before I can't afford to buy it commercially anymore due to taxes.

Great, glad to hear you are growing it too! One successful crop can yield years' worth when you figure 4 or 5 plants per pound of finished product.

 

[Guardian]

Great, glad to hear you are growing it too! One successful crop can yield years' worth when you figure 4 or 5 plants per pound of finished product.

We've planted about a 1/2 an acre of a VERY old line of Carolina seed. It should be well suited to the local soil and environment, so we'll see. It's a very time consuming crop when you take into account processing, and we'd really rather spend the money and effort on food, but if we can't afford to buy tobacco due to taxes, it's the only option left.

 

[Cosmos]

an update on my plants 4 weeks after planting them out (ca 30 days):

plants inside the terrace:

plants outside:

I've also uploaded a video update on Facebook