In the year 2040

[Seiggy]

All the chatter reminded me of the movie "Millennium". I also got a kick out of the scenes where they flicked the cig into the air and a laser zapped them out of existence, except in the past where they caught things on fire. Just think, we may need to use some vaping type device at regular intervals just the breath the polluted air that climate change is going to bring by 2040. Whoa, I think it's time for bed. Brain is starting to wander....

 

[Ed Brown]

I grew tobacco for two summers a few years back. Your best bet to get started is to get baby plants shipped to you. The seeds are extremely tiny and difficult to sprout. The plants are vigorous and will grow nearly anywhere. Most insects leave it alone, as nicotine is a potent insecticide. However there is one kind of caterpillar that will munch it with abandon. The good thing is that they are rather large, but you have to look carefully because they are the same color as the plant. My plants grew to about 5' tall before they flowered. The flowers are very pretty. Once the flowers die and dry up you theoretically could save the seeds. That's the easy part.

The hard part, and the part that I was unsuccessful at, was the proper drying and curing of the leaves. The leaves have to dry to a specific moisture content. Too much moisture and they'll get moldy during the next step. Too dry and they will crumble up. Then they have to be bundled up tightly and left to ferment. That is what gets rid of the ammonia and gives it the flavor.

Another thing is that one entire plant will give you a small amount of leaf, once it's dried. I estimated that a 5' plant wouldn't even be enough for an equivalent pack of cigarettes. After two summers, I gave up.

So that's my experience. It's not as easy as growing tomatoes

 

[Falconeer]

Well you know, in the unlikely event I'll not be pushing up daisies, given that I'be 90 by then, I would expect that I'd have found myself tottering round to the nearest spit and sawdust boozer with a crowd of guys clustered round the doorway smoking bootleg tobacco in roll your owns - just like now, with me puffing away on my squonker filled with out of date juice but not giving a flying furbat ... as the man said - "The more that changes the more that stays the same."

As Burns mighta said - "Fur a' a ' tha, an' a' a ' that we're gonnae dae it for a' that, an' a' a' that, we're gonnae dae it fur a' that .... cos wearrapeeple and nae cnut tells us whit tae dae, fur a' that!"

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

However there is one kind of caterpillar that will munch it with abandon. The good thing is that they are rather large, but you have to look carefully because they are the same color as the plant.

How could I forget! The tobacco hornworm caterpillar/sphinx moth! I have to deal with them some years on my tomato plants.

That thing is about the size of my thumb. Now you would think that would be easy to see. Not! VERY hard to see...best at night with a black light because they sort of glow under black light.

 

[smacuser]

"Fur a' a ' tha, an' a' a ' that we're gonnae dae it for a' that, an' a' a' that, we're gonnae dae it fur a' that .... cos wearrapeeple and nae cnut tells us whit tae dae, fur a' that!"

Well. There you have it.

Back in scouts, we'd smoke old mans beard, known as "Boys Bacca".

 

[Ed Brown]

How could I forget! The tobacco hornworm caterpillar/sphinx moth! I have to deal with them some years on my tomato plants.

That thing is about the size of my thumb. Now you would think that would be easy to see. Not! VERY hard to see...best at night with a black light because they sort of glow under black light.

Yeah that's the one! Big scary looking things. I couldn't bring myself to squish it between my fingers. Tomatoes and tobacco are in the same family.

 

[Falconeer]

@smacuser - Well you see, us Scots at heart are really quite nice folk - we'll make you welcome, we'll do most things if you ask, but the minute you try and tell us what we can or can't do then our hackles come up and we tend to respond "Aye right Jimmy F*** you we're goney dae it onywey and up yours!"

 

[zoiDman]

...

Another thing is that one entire plant will give you a small amount of leaf, once it's dried. I estimated that a 5' plant wouldn't even be enough for an equivalent pack of cigarettes. ...

I'm gunna Need a Bigger Yard.

 

[smacuser]

@smacuser - Well you see, us Scots at heart are really quite nice folk - we'll make you welcome, we'll do most things if you ask, but the minute you try and tell us what we can or can't do then our hackles come up and we tend to respond "Aye right Jimmy F*** you we're goney dae it onywey and up yours!"

That explains a lot, especially since my last name is Mackie