Whole leaf tobacco

[Plinsc]

Tobacco is in the same family as tomatoes, so you feed it like tomatoes and prune like tomatoes.
*according to what I’ve read and follow grow blogs on FTT*
I haven’t grown yet and didn’t get settled in the new house (December move) in time to build the beds for this year.

[Plinsc]

One guy grows his in kiddie pools with grow bags full of mulch, he feeds on a regular schedule. The tobacco, like tomatoes, are heavy feeders.

[HSigurdsson]

Years ago I grew some tobacco that was extremely successful.
This was like 2004 when I did not smoke pipes, I smoked cigars.
I grew Pennsylvania Broad Leaf, Connecticut......and a couple other types that grow good up here near Canada. The plants grew extremely well according to what I wss told they would do. Some of the plants grew to almost 5 feet tall and about 10 feet around. The place I got the seeds said they would grow to about 2-3 feet and 6 feet around. Some of the Pennsylvania Broad had leaves that were 20+ inches long and 15+ inches wide.
I dried and fermented them in several different ways as suggested by the online cigar group I was involved with.
Without any exaggeration they cigars they produced were pretty darn good. Better than many premium cigars I have tried.
THEN......the next year I got the SAME seeds from the SAME place and grew them the SAME way. But, the plants grew to about 2 feet with thin, narrow and veiny leaves.
I wss told that the dirt was possibly depleted of the proper nutrients. This was very fertile soil where I had been growing vegetables for many yesrs.
I turn manure and vegetation into the earth every year but did NOT do this before I started the second season of tobacco. I was told that tobacco plants have very different nutritional needs than corn and oats. But, the previous year the plants did fantastic. The next year I turned in the usual manure and vegetation, but had the same horrible results as the second year.
Theeeeen, the next year I bought seeds from another place and put some plants in the original area and the rest in a new area.
The plants in the original plot grew like crap again, bit the plants in the new plot grew like the first year. Huge plants with thick, huge leaves.
Ive been growing on this land for decades bit cannot figure this one out.
After that my interest in growing tobacco ended.
I have contemplated trying again but who knows.
Now that my interest is in pipe tobacco, I believe the size of the leaves matters less.
Cigar leaves need to have the correct size and thickness to roll cigars, while with pipe tobacco this is probably less important.
The tobacco from the "bad" years still tasted fine but the cigars were like 36 gauge and maybe 5 inches long after trimming the leaves.
I will be watching this thread for ideas about how to process raw leaves into good pipe tobacco.

[HSigurdsson]

This first post I made had some grave errors.
Apparently you cannot fix you posts anymore.
The quoted one above is correct.
Typing on a phone that I have to push a button to get to numbers is horrible.
I need to proof read better.
I will post pictures when I get home of the plants I grew..

[Plinsc]

I just smoked a bowl in a Yello bole Nova ! It was cleaned recently!
The straight burley smoked very smooth and no bite! I could smoke that alone all day.

[Ruffinogold]

I just smoked a bowl in a Yello bole Nova ! It was cleaned recently!
The straight burley smoked very smooth and no bite! I could smoke that alone all day.

God smokes Burley

[Silver]

I just smoked a bowl in a Yello bole Nova ! It was cleaned recently!
The straight burley smoked very smooth and no bite! I could smoke that alone all day.

God smokes Burley

C&D Burley, I'm sure.

[Piping Abe]

I just smoked a bowl in a Yello bole Nova ! It was cleaned recently!
The straight burley smoked very smooth and no bite! I could smoke that alone all day.

God smokes Burley

C&D Burley, I'm sure.

Damn Right!

[Plinsc]

I just shredded up some of the 609, casing is next step. I want to make cavendish out of some of this.

[Plinsc]

Rainy day so I am casing the 609 I de-stemmed the other day. Same casing mix as the burly