Grow Your Own Tobacco – Book Review

A while back, I had some trouble with the government about buying cigarettes from outside the country (USA), it is perfectly legal to order cigarettes for import into the USA for personal use. I assure you that the cigarettes I ordered WERE for personal use, I did not trade, sell, barter or in any other way distribute these cigarettes. After receiving a threatening letter from the Dept of Homeland Security, a very scary thing to find in your mailbox, especially for a law abiding citizen! I decided that I needed to find a better way to get smokes without having to pay an arm and a leg, or having the threat of the government over my head. I found an alternative way, it’s legal and it should be doable by nearly anyone.
Another note of interest, in the USA, the government is trying to make it illegal to buy cigarettes through the mail, so no matter what your source, whether you are buying overseas or buying domestically or from Native American reservations, if the powers that be have their way, this way of buying cigarettes is about to become illegal. So what can you do about this?

You can grow your own tobacco plants. I immediately started a search for information on how to grow your own, as well as how to process it to make a smokable product. It turns  out that there are not many sources with good info readily available on the internet. Fortunately I was able to find this source, it not only teaches you how to grow your own tobacco plants, but how and when to harvest, how to dry and cure your tobacco, and much, much more. Here is my review on this book. I hope to have a follow up interview with the author, when I have it, I’ll post a part 2 to this article. The link to the book can be found at the bottom of this article.


Growing Tobacco in the Home Garden
The Little Handbook
Review
As a smoker, you go out, you buy a carton or pack of cigarettes, (after you get over the sticker shock!), you open the cellophane, tear off the foil, you tap out a cigarette, you put it to your lips, you light it and inhale deeply. You fill your lungs with smoke and it’s good… or is it? What are you getting besides the nicotine your body craves? There is a whole laundry list of chemicals and toxins that you are also inhaling, what’s worse, these chemicals and toxins are not naturally found in the tobacco, these things are ADDED to the cigarettes by the cigarette companies. Why is that?

What if there was a better way? If you grow a vegetable garden or grow plants in containers, then you are already half way to a better and healthier way to smoke tobacco.  If you have been following my cigarette saga, then you already know the troubles I have had with the government about buying cigarettes overseas, so in an attempt to work around the problems, I investigated growing my own tobacco. It turns out that it is perfectly legal to grow your own as long as you are not selling, trading or bartering with the tobacco.

I found a seller on eBay who sells tobacco seeds and promptly ordered a set of 3 different types. I still didn’t know how to grow tobacco, how difficult (or easy) is it to grow? What are the best conditions to grow tobacco? How long do you allow it to grow, when do you harvest it? What do you do after that?

It turns out that the tobacco plant is fairly easy to grow, it is related to tomatoes, peppers and potatoes, it’s in the nightshade family, if your local conditions permit you to grow these plants, then you should be able to grow tobacco as well. But there are some steps that need to be taken to grow the best plants and know when to harvest them, and most importantly, to know how to dry and cure the leaves to get the most out of your tobacco plants.

I searched the internet and I found only one source that gives you step by step information on growing tobacco, everything from where to get your tobacco seeds, how to choose the varieties of tobacco plants to best suit what you want in a smoke and your growing zone, how to get the seeds started, how to transplant them, how to care for the plants (fertilizing, pest control…), when and how to harvest the leaves, how to dry and cure the leaves for the best quality in the finished tobacco.

This information is not a big dark secret, nor is it impossible to do, the hard part is just FINDING the information, the big cigarette companies don’t want you to know how this works. They have huge farms with proprietary processes, not to mention all the chemicals and garbage they add to the tobacco. Wouldn’t it just be better to grow tobacco in your own backyard or on your patio? Yes, you can grow tobacco in containers. It is a pretty, tropical plant with showy flowers and large leaves; many people grow it for purely decorative reasons. Another reason besides smoking to grow your own tobacco, it is used for natural, organic insect repellent in gardening.

I found a great illustrated eBook that explains all you need to know about growing your own tobacco plants.

Where to get your seeds
How  to start your tobacco plants
How to transplant them
The best conditions for them to grow
How and when to fertilize
Pest control
How and when to harvest the leaves
How, when and IF to prune
How to dry and cure the leaves for the best flavor
You will learn how to choose from the different varieties of tobacco
You will learn about the different blends of tobacco for flavor
What to do differently if you want to harvest the seeds for next year’s plants
How to troubleshoot common problems and issues

One question that many people ask is how many cigarettes or cartons worth of cigarettes will I get from one plant? This is a good question to ask as you will want to determine how many plants you need to grow to accommodate your personal smoking needs. You will learn the answer to this all important question within this eBook.

In this eBook you will find (table of contents)

1. Introduction to Tobacco
2. Different Types of Tobacco
3. Choosing Good Tobacco Seeds
4. Germinating Tobacco Seeds
5. Soil Types for Growing Tobacco
6. Planting Tobacco
7. Maintenance and Fertilization
8. Harvesting Tobacco
9. Drying and Curing Tobacco
10. Different Tobacco Uses
11. Interesting Facts about Tobacco

Thanks so much to Benjamin for sharing this invaluable information with us, I have searched high and low for the info contained in this eBook and so far, this is the only place where I have everything needed to grow your own tobacco plants and everything else involved in the process. With this information, you will save a lot of money by growing your own tobacco, not to mention the fact that the tobacco you grow is free of additives.

Disclaimer
I do not condone smoking or tobacco use in any form, if you are not a smoker or tobacco user, DO NOT START! I can’t emphasize that enough, there is no such thing as healthy tobacco use. If you are already a smoker or tobacco user, of legal age, then please consider growing your own, it is “healthier” for you in the fact that it will not contain additives or extra chemicals, you KNOW what is in the tobacco that you grow yourself.

I almost forgot to add, the author of this book is also including a free book on homebrewing your own alcohol, it’s an infomative book all about the ins and outs of homebrewing.
If you smoke cigarettes, you need the information in this book.

Click here to get your copy of this informative book.


Wretha

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DIY tobacco / video

In the process of becoming more and more independent, we grow much of our own foods. But there is still one thing that is still expensive and is becoming more expensive to purchase. Tobacco. The government is taxing tobacco to death (no pun intended). With the high cost of buying cigarettes, it has occurred to me that we can be growing our own tobacco. I have decided that now is the time to give it a try. I took the plunge and ordered a set of 4 different types of tobacco seeds from eBay. If smoking or the use of tobacco offends you in any way, then you probably should not read this.

Go here to learn how to grow your own tobacco, including how to harvest and cure tobacco.


Read the rest of the story here:
http://www.off-grid.net/2009/05/21/diy-tobacco-video/



To read all of my messages on Off-Grid.net, click here:
http://www.off-grid.net/section/wretha/


Wretha

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Smokes

Stockpiling foods and ammo are what most people think about when pondering the TEOTWAWKI scenario... but there are more things to that will be needed, consider this, even if you don't smoke, there are many other people who do. In the event that things get hard to come by, money gets short, stores close down... whatever the cause, those who smoke will be scrounging around for smokes. So whether or not you smoke, or have a loved one that smokes, these little bits of tobacco, paper and filters will be in short supply and in great demand. This makes them valuable as barter fodder. Perhaps more valuable than our failing cash will be.

I'm about to give away a huge secret, this is something I found just before we moved to our off grid home. We knew that our income would be whittled down to nearly nil, the problem with that is that Bob smokes, there I said it, he hates it, and tries his best to never do it in front of anyone. But he is addicted and is not going to stop any time soon. He has cut back to 1 pack a day, but when you figure up an average price for a pack of cigs run about $5.00, a carton runs close to $50.00, that's still an expensive habit to maintain. Now with the new cig tax, it is even more expensive, and don't expect that to go down any time soon, expect this to continue going up.

I began to research (on line) how to get cheaper cigs, first I checked out the (American) Indian reservations, they have cheaper cigs, but we don't have a reservation nearby. It's possible to buy from the reservation on line, but I wanted an even cheaper source and I was able to find a cheaper, MUCH cheaper source. Contact me via email, state in the email that you are of legal age to purchase cigarettes, I'll send you a list of places where I have purchased cigarettes. I have not had ANY trouble doing this. I will say that the places where I have purchased them, it does take up to a month to actually get them delivered, so plan ahead, don't order and expect to have them the following week. The longest it has taken for me is the last time I ordered, I had to use the bank transfer method of payment and that added an extra week to the delivery time.

Another thing about ordering from this source, just about every time I have ordered, I had to order from a different website, but the cigs came from the same place. It seems that this company has some sort of issue with the merchant accounts (credit card processing), or it could be something else, I am only assuming that is the problem. It seems that they just create a new website, I just follow the link from the one I ordered from last time. I will say that I have been ordering cigs this way for over a year and have NEVER had trouble with them, I have always received my orders, and my credit card/bank card has been just fine. It kinda weirded me out the first time this happened, I went back to the original site where I ordered and they said their credit card processor didn't work, they sent me to another site to order, the package that I received was wrapped the exact same way and came from the same place, now I'm used to it, it doesn't bother me at all. One thing I do, is I use PayPal, they have a deal on their site where you can create a one time use credit card, I try to use this when possible, that way IF anything were to go wrong, that credit card could only be used the one time. But as I said, I have been doing this for over a year and have not had any problems. It's not always possible to use the PayPal credit card option because it's a MasterCard branded card and sometimes the credit card merchant doesn't accept MasterCard, I do wish PayPal could have a Visa option.

Email me, state that you are of legal age to purchase cigarettes, and I'll give you the links where I have purchased and the way to find new sites and how I find the best deals. The cigs that Bob likes are made by Phillip Morris, they are called "Red&Whites", he used to smoke Marlboro Reds, he says that the Red&Whites taste just as good, and the price is right, between 6-8 dollars per carton, plus shipping. That is the one place where they get you is the shipping, they charge 5-7 dollars per carton to ship, no matter what, if you buy 1 carton, they charge you shipping for the one carton, if you buy 3 cartons, they charge you for 3 cartons, but it still comes out cheaper than buying here.

Just a caveat, a legal notice here, you cannot legally resell these cigs here in the USA, because of tax law, if you are caught reselling these, you could go to jail. Now as far as I'm concerned, you can do as you please with your cigs, but Uncle Big Bro has other ideas about this. Smoke em yourself, but don't trade them for goods or services, don't outright sell them (or if you do, don't come looking for me if you get caught). I also don't encourage anyone to start smoking if you don't already smoke, it's a bad habit, it stinks, it is bad for your health in many ways, and it's bad for your pocketbook. I am only offering a cheaper source for buying cigs.

Another option is to buy tobacco seeds and grow your own. I understand that it's pretty easy to grow the plants, you harvest the leaves, dry them, it's the next step that complicates things a bit, you need to cure your tobacco, it's not absolutely necessary, but I understand it makes them more like commercial cigs. One of the best places I found that explains it better than I can is here CLICK HERE. It may be worth the trouble to get additive free tobacco, this way at least you KNOW what went into it.

Here is a link to a site that inspired me to write this, actually I had been considering writing about this subject before, but didn't quite have the nerve to do it until I read this article.
http://srvive.com/?p=199

Email he here
wretha (at) gmail (dot) com

To read all of my messages on Off-Grid.net, click here:
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Wretha

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