Advice on tobacco cultivation

[tombear]

After a year off we are planning on getting back into growing usefull stuff this coming year. To this end the middle son has dug over more than half the top back garden and we will soon be getting some well rotted manure t dig in to break down over the winter.

One of the things we would like to try is growing some tobaco plants. There's plenty of sources for seeds and plants on the interweb but we are rather spoiled for choice. Could anyone recommend strains, if that's the right term, which would be suitable for up here in Penine Lancashire that we could air cure into something suitable for the pipe?

Over the winter herself will be taking some cuttings to thicken up the fruit hedge which is the one thing that has done well over the last year. We'll also get another Dozen or so hedging plants to replace the odd loss we have had. Could anyone recomend a native species that does well in the shade as there's a gap under some existing old hawthorns I awnt to fill.

ATB

Tom

 

[sausage100uk]

is there any tax implication with growing your own????

 

[dewi]

is there any tax implication with growing your own????

Yup... you have to pay the duty to the HMRC whether you buy tobacco or grow your own.

 

[mick91]

Yup... you have to pay the duty to the HMRC whether you buy tobacco or grow your own.

Even growing your own? What next duty on homebrew and VAT on fresh air?!

 

[Goatboy]

Used to know a chap in Crail who grew his own. Sure you were allowed to grow a certain amount before H&M Customs got involved. The main problem he had was cutting it fine enough to be smokeable.
This was back in the late 80's though, things may have changed since then.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[sunndog]

is there any tax implication with growing your own????

Its sad that that was my first thought too

 

[dewi]

Even growing your own? What next duty on homebrew and VAT on fresh air?!

Unfortunately yes.

Not aware of being able to grow a certain amount before being taxed, I think its a blanket rule... if you grow your own tobacco, you have to inform the HMRC and they will tax you depending on the amount you produce.

Considering that even a small crop can bring in thousands in duty, its not really cricket.

Anyone growing tobacco at home to smoke must ensure they pay the duty legally due, otherwise they could face a fine or have the tobacco seized.

 

[tombear]

From what I've read the duty is payable once the leaves have been cured and shredded. I'll get some one I know who works for HMRC to get me the precise details. It's perfectly legal to buy seeds or seedlings and grow the plants.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...-duty/excise-notice-476-tobacco-products-duty

Even if it is a no go to grow it for smoking I may grow some to use to make insecticide to us
e on the other crops.

ATB

Tom

 

[Robson Valley]

Vitis riparia is a grape vine species native to North America and the variety: "Valiant" is very frost-hardy (-30C). Fantastic syrup & jelly, not a wine grape (Vitis vinifera). I've been propagating it and selling 50-80 started vines every summer. Many have come in to decent production this year alone. Rave reviews about the food quality which please me greatly.

 

[Andy BB]

Three basic types - flue-cured, Burley and Oriental. All you need now is decent weather (hotter than anything you get in the UK), greenhouses to grow the seedlings, a detailed knowledge of how to transplant and maintain it (Oriental for example wilts in the hot weather but do not water it), understanding of when to remove the various parts of the plant - cutters, tips etc, a decent curing barn, and the ability to remove the stems/veins and process the crop. (dryers, pressurised steam cylinders, air separators, shakers etc etc etc) and a detailed knowledge of blending.

Once you've done all that, start the fun and games with HMRC..............

 

[tombear]

But if I'm just using it to make insecticide and You pick a robust specie with a lot of nicotine and either boil it up or steep it for longer and use a spray to put it on anything that's having trouble with insects then there's no tax issue at all. It seams you can get 200 seeds for 3 or 4 quid. From the images on the sites of the people flogging them some of the species look quite attractive in their own right.

Truth be told I only smoke when I'm on holiday a couple of times a year so I wouldn't be doing it for economic reasons etc.

Just need to know a strain that will do well in the crappy weather we get up here, which I believe was my original question!

Cheers!

Tom

 

[Samon]

No idea on the suitable strains for our crap weather but I'm really excited to see your progress! There are some growers on www.pipemagazine.com and some really informative experienced chaps there. Read one guys experience with whole leaf yesterday. http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/fun-with-whole-leaf-tobacco

Best way to pick a species/strain would imo be to look at the regions the common varieties grow in. The rest are just methods of curing and treating the leaf once picked.

Regarding the cutting.. I'm sure you could fashion a shredder or find a real one somehwere and even roll your own cigars! I read an instructables yesterday on cigar rolling with leaf bulk.

 

[Goatboy]

Tom I don't know if it still exists but there was a UK Tobacco growers club back when the chap I was talking about was growing his. Might be worth a check 'round on the net as back then they helped folk out with types & tips. Some members of the tabacco family are grown as ornamentals such as Nicotena (spelling may be off there and I know it sounds like a bad comic book anti smoking character). As to how much they have in the way of the compounds you need to kill bugs on your plants I don't know but I know that they're pretty bug free and are sometimes used in companion planting schemes.
The flowers are pretty long lasting and look good in the garden/cut in the house.
Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[dewi]

But if I'm just using it to make insecticide and You pick a robust specie with a lot of nicotine and either boil it up or steep it for longer and use a spray to put it on anything that's having trouble with insects then there's no tax issue at all. It seams you can get 200 seeds for 3 or 4 quid. From the images on the sites of the people flogging them some of the species look quite attractive in their own right.

Truth be told I only smoke when I'm on holiday a couple of times a year so I wouldn't be doing it for economic reasons etc.

Just need to know a strain that will do well in the crappy weather we get up here, which I believe was my original question!

Cheers!

Tom

Problem you've got Tom is that the HMRC are idiots... even if you explained why you were growing it, if they decide to take the hump, it could be the start of a lot of hassle for you.

That being said, if GB is right and there is a club you could join, that should take the sting out of the taxman's tail and give you some grounds that they use for growing it.

 

[Chiseller]

i chew leaf tobbacco ...twist. ive often wondered abaht growing my own. i wonder if the tax would be enforced on growing it for consumption? ??

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[dewi]

Chewing tobacco is still subject to duty

They've got it pretty stitched up... I wanted to order some cigars a while back from abroad, they would be subject to import duty and the tobacco duty, plus a handling fee... made them extortionate for each cigar. I'd have to have had a really good day at work to justify smoking one.

This may sound a little bizarre, but as a reward for doing well in my work (I'm self employed) I set a daily figure back in the mid 2000s... if I earned that figure in one day, I got a cigar. It was to motivate me, push me to get out and sell, or stay behind and work in the evening to get to my goal and the cigar was a special treat. I rarely hit my target figure, but when I did, I knew I was going to have a comfortable week.

If I did that now with the same daily figure, I'd be smoking a cigar every day... but the truly bizarre element of this is, I'm no better off than I was back then. Maybe I should set a new figure and triple it... then maybe it would work like it did back then.

 

[tombear]

Oddly snuff is without duty.

i need to look into this a bit more, there's plenty of time before I need t order owt.

cheers!

Tom

 

[dewi]

For pipe tobacco though, which was your original thought, it's £103.91 per kilo... which when you consider 20 plants will give you just over a kilo.. the cost of buying it in the shops, £104 is quite cheap. You shouldn't have to pay it in my mind, but anyway... its not all that bad if you want it for a pipe.

Just don't look up the prices if you want to grow it for cigars!!

 

[Chiseller]

whereas chewing tobacco is nearer to £240 per kilo....i can consume on average 70g a week depending on how long and what my days entail. ....mmmmm

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[Samon]

For pipe tobacco though, which was your original thought, it's £103.91 per kilo... which when you consider 20 plants will give you just over a kilo.. the cost of buying it in the shops, £104 is quite cheap. You shouldn't have to pay it in my mind, but anyway... its not all that bad if you want it for a pipe.

Just don't look up the prices if you want to grow it for cigars!!

Where can I buy bulk pipe tobacco to cellar and save that little bit of cash?