# Bob - Tobacco Grower



## bobkemp (Oct 7, 2009)

Hi --

I've been searching the forum and have found the word tobacco all over the place, but no real discussion of growing it at home to avoid taxes.

I assume lots of pot growers do it to avoid paying the high prices on the street? Since pot and tobacco are both semi-tropical plants, I would think that the cultural requirements would be similar. 

Will some of the regulars here point me to an existing thread where I could compare growing tobacco and pot?

I have a large greenhouse and sell 1000's of garden transplants every year. I'm in N. Central Texas near Dallas. I don't have much hope that they will legalize pot for medical use in Texas any time soon. 

Thanks!

Bob


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## #1Raiderfan420 (Oct 9, 2009)

bobkemp said:


> Hi --
> 
> I've been searching the forum and have found the word tobacco all over the place, but no real discussion of growing it at home to avoid taxes.
> 
> ...


 I haven't seen much on tobacco on here ..but here is a link with soem basics
http://www.rusticgirls.com/gardening/growing-tobacco.html


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## bobkemp (Oct 9, 2009)

#1Raiderfan420 said:


> I haven't seen much on tobacco on here ..but here is a link with soem basics
> http://www.rusticgirls.com/gardening/growing-tobacco.html


Hi --

#1Raiderfan - Thanks for the link to the other site and I'll surely follow it up. But I'm looking for the proper place here to start a discussion about growing your own tobacco. Maybe I'll just poke around and see if I can find a general gardening area here. I've run my greenhouse and small farm for over 16 years now and can probably add to the discussion here about any kind of growing of plants for either food or entertainment! (grin)

Bob


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## chitownsmoking (Oct 9, 2009)

dont you know tobacco kills people grow bud


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## Dr. Greenhorn (Oct 9, 2009)

chitownsmoking said:


> dont you know tobacco kills people grow bud


 lolheheheh


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## bobkemp (Oct 9, 2009)

chitownsmoking said:


> dont you know tobacco kills people grow bud


Hi --

chitownsmoking, are you sure that tobacco is worse than some alternatives? 

Nicotine has a calming effect on your body. How many people would have to take anti-anxiety drugs if they quit smoking tobacco?

Smoking lowers appetites and keeps people from becoming obese. Are you sure that's worse than taking diet pills?

Tobacco has many beneficial effects and I think that we should be very careful before we automatically damn something people have done for millenia. Is it possible that the anti-tobacco demonization by the government has worked on you?

Let's discuss it!

Bob
[email protected]


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## chitownsmoking (Oct 9, 2009)

bobkemp said:


> Hi --
> 
> chitownsmoking, are you sure that tobacco is worse than some alternatives?
> 
> ...


 the only thing that works on me is dank ass bud. yeah i smoke ciggs like a fiend but i find the higher i am the less i want!!! tobacco is a curse to society!!! one day i will quit i promise. but i will smoke the green forever!!!


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## bobkemp (Oct 9, 2009)

chitownsmoking said:


> the only thing that works on me is dank ass bud. yeah i smoke ciggs like a fiend but i find the higher i am the less i want!!! tobacco is a curse to society!!! one day i will quit i promise. but i will smoke the green forever!!!


Hi --

chitownsmoking, maybe you would like a healthier alternative to smoking the commercial cigs with their pesticides and additives?

Think about putting in a crop of your own tobacco this coming spring. Not only will you save mucho dinero, but you can remove much of the cancer risks associated with the chemicals they use and the high heats they use for curing.

Smoke well, smoke healthy.

Bob


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## ol hippy (Oct 9, 2009)

Howdy Bob, Lets make sure the tobaco companies don't grow weed when it becomes legal they'd just fuck it up adding all the legal chemicals so to make it as addicting as there fucking tobaco is .. Right Bob grow tobaco clean and it's not nearly as bad , probably tastes better too (smoked tobaco for over 20 years, been smokin pot for almost 40 ) I still prefer pot !!


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## bobkemp (Oct 9, 2009)

Hi --


ol hippy, yeah, we can grow our own tobacco and make it stronger in nicotine too. I smoke a lot less, it's healthier smoke and doesn't caintina nearly the amount of bad stuff in commercial smoke.

Bob
[email protected]


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## Dr. Greenhorn (Oct 9, 2009)

Hey bob, you smoke weed any?


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## cali-high (Oct 9, 2009)

of course bob the farmer gots to smoke weed....


you should start a grow journal BTW for tobacco growing i would be interested just because...


peace
cali


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## bobkemp (Oct 9, 2009)

cali-high said:


> of course bob the farmer gots to smoke weed....
> cali


Hi --

You know, I spent the last 30 years playing in rock bands and consorting with all kinds of entertainment people like dancers and theater and in all that time, nobody has ever offered me a hit off a joint!

Strange that is! (quoting Yoda)

Bob


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## cali-high (Oct 9, 2009)

haha thats crazy..how did you find this site then?


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## bkbudz (Oct 9, 2009)

bobkemp said:


> Hi --
> 
> You know, I spent the last 30 years playing in rock bands and consorting with all kinds of entertainment people like dancers and theater and in all that time, nobody has ever offered me a hit off a joint!
> 
> ...


Hahahaha

But I agree, I would love if you'd document a tobacco grow. I doubt I'd be able to pull much in 5 gallon buckets on my roof with the tomatoes but if I ever save up enough to buy a farm and move from the city and haven't quit smoking yet I'd love to give it a try.


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## cali-high (Oct 9, 2009)

haha i will roll my weed in the tobbbacco leave  get super lifted


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## bobkemp (Oct 10, 2009)

BkBudz -

If you have a flat roof and no shading trees, then you sure could grow a nice crop of tobacco up there. I know people who grew 200 plants in 4-5 gallon pots last year and the plants went to 8 feet tall!

It would make send to put in a drip irrigation system, for sure. You'd also have to make provision for keeping the pots from tipping over or, GASP! Blowing away in the wind! An 8 foot tall plant in a 5 gallon pot tends to get a bit top-heavy!

What's important is that you are ready to put the transplants in the pots (or ground) right after your last average freeze. That means you need to start them indoors 6-7 weeks before that time. I plant out around April 1, so I start my seeds germinating around the 2nd week of February. If you are growing tomatoes and peppers too, you would start tobacco about the same time as the peppers and about a week before the tomatoes.

Bob


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## stringd2002 (Oct 14, 2009)

I have a question. How many packs of cigarettes do you think would be on one mature tobacco plant?


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## bobkemp (Oct 14, 2009)

stringd2002 said:


> I have a question. How many packs of cigarettes do you think would be on one mature tobacco plant?


Hi --

That's a very important question when sizing your crop. 

The standard answer is that each plant makes about 3 ounces of dried product. This assumes an average plant grown in an average fashion.

One pound of tobacco will make on average 2-1/2 cartons of cigs. This will allow you to figure out how many plants to grow to fill a year supply at a certain smoking rate for cigs.

Some plants, however, are huge ones. Take the Havana varieties. They could be 8 foot tall plants with 18-20 leaves and can yield over 4 oz per plant.

Some are very small, like rustica. It is only 2 to 2-1/2 feet tall and you'd be luck to get 1/2-1 oz from them.

Hope that helps,

Bob


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## 88malice (Oct 14, 2009)

Welcome aboard Bob, hope you enjoy your stay here. I'v not tried home grown tobacco, I quit smoking cig's about 9 months ago however. What are the differences between homegrown and store bought cigs? I know the additives are awful, but how's the taste / other stuff compare?


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## bobkemp (Oct 14, 2009)

88malice said:


> Welcome aboard Bob, hope you enjoy your stay here. I'v not tried home grown tobacco, I quit smoking cig's about 9 months ago however. What are the differences between homegrown and store bought cigs? I know the additives are awful, but how's the taste / other stuff compare?


Hi --

88malice, I will never go back to smoking commercially produced cigarettes again unless I run out of homegrown, and even then I will probably buy bulk lbs of uncut, uncured leaf to be certain there are no additives used to cover up the taste.

I've been selling my tobacco seeds at Flea Markets and handing out my homegrown cigs for people to taste. They respond very well to the taste. It seems milder at first, but you get used to the flavor fast and they do have more nicotine in them than the over-processed commercial brands. I smoke a lot less now.

The taste will vary by the strain of tobacco you use and the blend you make with them. Virginia/SilkLeaf vars have a very mild tobacco taste. To get a stronger tobacco taste, you blend in burley or turkish or both at a 10-20% rate. The more you add in, the stronger the tobacco flavor. There are other varieties that taste distinctively like cigars, such as the Havanas. Pipe tobacco and chew/dip/snuff/snus can be made of the Virginia/Silk Leaf because the flavoring added overwhelms the tobacco taste anyhow. 

I know it's hard to describe tastes using text, but that's about as close as I can get!

Bob


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