Raise tobacco in your garden?

[RichZ]

MY grandfather started a hand rolled cigar business in Brooklyn in 1904. My father continued that business until he closed up the shop in the early 1970's, due to the fact that it was extremely difficult to get Cuban born and trained cigar makers, and the fact that it was now proven that cigar smoking was dangerous. In my grandfather's day, most people thought cigar smoking was actually healthy.

I grew up in the tobacco business, and I traveled with my father throughout the country in search of the best domestic tobaccos after the US stopped trade with Cuba. As has been said earlier, there are many, many varieties of tobacco. In addition, each variety of tobacco will be completely different if grown in different type of soils and climates. The Havanna area of Cuba has the best soils in the world for the growing of cigar wrapper and cigar filler tobacco. These soils are very rich with a variety of volcanic ashes, and growing special tobaccos in that soil and climate is what gives Havanna tobacco it's unique and sought after flavor. In addition, the Havanna farms used a unique combination of manures to fertilize their tobacco fields, and believe it or not, that combination of manure was a very closely guarded seceret.

The closest soils and climate to the Havanna region of Cuba is in the Dominican Republic. But try as they would, Domincan farmers could not duplicate the flavor of the Havanna tobaccos even when using seeds from tobacco grown in Havanna. In the late 1960's, my father teamed up with an old family friend who had owned a large Havanna tobacco farm, and had escaped communist Cuba. My father and his friend rented a barge, and tried to fill it with the same combination of manure, from the same combination of livestock as they used on the Havanna farm. People were pretty surprised to find out later, that the "secret project" our two families was involved in was in mixing a barge full of manure to use on a Dominican tobacco farm. Despite all the efforts of our families, and many others, no one was ever able to duplicate the conditions to grow Havanna tobacco anywhere else.

My family is no longer in the tobacco business, but my experiences with my father is what gave me my love of farming, and why I have a farm today. Of course my farm's main product today is goat milk, quite unlike the farms I grew up around.

Also, as Ken's farm stated, there are many ways of curing tobacco, and he gave an accurate synopsis of them. Despite the new microwave technologies, I doubt that fine cigar wrappers are cured in any way but the old time proven methods. Some things just can't be rushed.

 

[bontai_Joe]

To RichZ and others,
Thanks for the insight on the tobacco industry. I'm a consumer of mass market cigarettes, but never really realized that there were such different varieties of tobacco, or the regions it grew. When I was last in the Philippines (Nov. 2000), a pack of domestic cigarettes were less than a dollar. My in-laws grow their own tobacco in small quantities, but my father-in-law loves the pipe tobacco I bring him from the US. He very carefully guards it so that his friends and relatives don't smoke it all up on him.

 

[Libertine]

RichZ:

Thanks for your story.

<font color="blue">In the late 1960's, my father teamed up with an old family friend who had owned a large Havanna tobacco farm, and had escaped communist Cuba. </font>

Was in high school when castro took over. Some of the guys couldn't go home and a few had family killed. Too bad what happened there.

JEH

 

[RichZ]

The Castro situation in Cuba effected many Americans more than most people knew. In my family's case, with our contacts in Cuba, my father saw the whole thing coming, so he had rented an entire refrigerated warehouse, and filled it with Havanna tobacco. For years, our cigar company manufactured and sold the only LEGAL real Cuban hand made cigars in America. If only my father had the money to buy more tobacco, we would have had it made. Our company doled out the cigars made with this tobacco for years, and naturally the cigars were extremely expensive, and actually with the cost of storing the tobacco, we actually didn't make much on the small amount of tobacco we had saved. But we had many interesting celebrity costumers, including George Burns, Ernie Kovacs, Groucho Marks and even JFK ordered a few boxes from us. Part of my job in the company was to deliver these exclusive cigars to the high class customers, So I got to meet some very interesting people, including George Burns and one of my favorite all time comedians, Groucho Marks. Both of them were incredibly nice, talked to me many times, and gave me many autographed pictures made out to my father and me. I made many deliveries to each of them whenever they came to NYC, and they always met me personally to take the cigars, and always were incredibly nice. We framed the pictures and had them in our shop, prominently displayed, but they were stolen, one of the many times our shop was robbed. The shop was in the Bedford Styvesant section of Brooklyn, which was one of the roughest neighborhoods in NYC. But the Cuban cigar makers all lived there, and refused to move out of the neighborhhod, even though they made very nice salaries for their skills. They also refused to travel out of the neighborhood, so our shop had to stay there. One of the many reasons we finally had to get out of the business.

But due to the Cuban situation, we lost contact with many old family friends in Cuba, never to hear from them again. My father tried many times to contact them, but was never successful. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[Charolais]

Just saw this thread for the first time tonight. I grew tobacco up until 1979. Flue cured that is. Up till now have still helped neighbors in the harvest at times. I don't expect much tobacco to be grown around here with the quota buyout. All of my friends and neighbors that I've talked to will raise no more tobacco. The contract prices are so low they will go broke if they plant.

So far as growing it for your own use, I don't think there's any problem with that. If it's farmed you will have to have a contract from a tobacco Co. It still falls under ATF.

The #1 legal cash crop that America was founded on is gone or soon will be. It all started at Jamestown Va. about 400 years ago. The end of an era.

 

[Libertine]

Richz:

Thanks for story. Am curious,

<font color="blue">my father saw the whole thing coming </font>

how did he figure Batista would loose, the US wouldn't do anything about it and so on? I know you had a lot of contact, but some kids I knew at school (private military acoademy) didn't seem to know what was coming (of course, they were from the upper classes so were maybe out of touch). Yeah, it's too bad, lot's of people killed, tortured (real torture, not the stuff in the press now), etc. Have another comment, but it might be construed as too political.

Anyway, thanks for your posts. Sorry I havn't responded, been otherwise occupied.

JEH

 

[Libertine]

Charolais:

<font color="blue"> The #1 legal cash crop that America was founded on is gone or soon will be. It all started at Jamestown Va. about 400 years ago. The end of an era. </font>

There's a lot more ending than just tobacco. I feel sorry for the younger people - they have no idea what's coming.

JEH