Getting Introduced to Organic Tobacco
The last few days there has been some organic tobacco for sale being sold by one of the residents here at The New Society in North Denmark. I haven't ever been involved with home-grown tobacco but the timing seems to be always on time with things that fit, since the tobacco that I had brought cheap in Holland and Germany to last me some time in Norway, has nearly depleted and its way too pricey to start buying packets here in Denmark.
It's a great time to learn about it, and even a great skill to know for the future when the way we will be buying things will be completely different as it is now today with shops. I personally am choosing now to prepare for a future where I can still get the things I buy from a shop, without going to a shop, or using a drone delivery from online.
Growing tobacco will be a good way of having something worth trading if one wants to live freely and out of a system, and its something that grows ready to harvest in 3 months and will always have a customer base due to its common use.
I have only done a mild search on how to make this Organic Tobacco taste and burn better although I am unsure of what the name is, or if its a blend of a few types, but yesterday I read there are atleast 70 different types of tobacco plants giving different tobaccos.
I am only interested in trying to replicate the same as what I already find nice to smoke, and since a few months I am on American Spirit Blue. Let's not go there in this post about the marketing scheme of American Spirit, but I do agree its just plain wrong. I was smoking yellow Pueblo but realised it was making my lungs bad and so I swapped to a true organic and lighter version of tobacco. I will find out exactly what plants are used from American spirit rolling tobacco and will even buy seeds to have ready for when I'm settled.
People still think that Pueblo is still organic when infact they dropped the part saying No Additives a long time ago.
The tobacco here is not bad, but it's very high in Nicotine and is quite harsh to smoke. I am not sure if it's been soaked in water already to remove some of the nicotine, but I presume not because many people have commented on its strength.
After 15 minutes of reading, I found out a few ways of making it a better smoke and here is what I have been doing with it.
Steeping in water.
This is an easy way (if not the only way) to remove Nicotine or to lower the levels dramatically. I had already done it a few nights back and it was only the second time I made photos of it.
The first time I left it soaking for a couple of hours and the water had gone very yellow, and then I replaced the water and left it for 18 hours or so, and the water was still yellow.
I then dried it out and when it was still moist, I sliced it finer with a sharp knife. Two things happened, it had much less Nicotine in it and it turned much darker, but still you cough your guts up if you inhale too much at one time.
I mixed the washed tobacco 50/50 with the shop brought tobacco (Right) and the shop tabacco is on the left with the home grown tobacco in the middle.
This took me to learning about PH of the tobacco and if the leaves used are too Alkaline then it's not a smooth smoke whatsoever. The pH can be lowered with Citric acid and that help create a better burn and not so harsh on the throat.
The Second Test Batch.
Last night I was doing the first test with citric acid. The last time I went dumpster diving I came back with many lemons, so I used this as the citric acid. I had read that the acid would also remove much more Nicotine at a faster rate and also lowers the pH for a smoother smoke, so already its seems more efficient than using just water like I did the first time around.
This was just 30 seconds after I layed the tea bag full of the tobacco in the water..
I added 1 quarter of a lemon to this bowl of water, and stirred it. This time I wore a glove to stop my skin soaking in the nicotine. Oh by the way, the water after its containing all the nicotine is highly poisonous and get rid of it straight away or contain it and use as pestercide.
After just 15minutes the water was saturated with nicotine and I changed the water and soaked it again to remove the lemon taste and that nasty nicotine water..
The Drying Time
After squeezing out the excess and rinsing the tobacco with plain water, it needed drying out. Whilst it wasn't fully dry and still compact, I cut it finely with a sharp knife..
The last time it took 2 nights to dry just on the window sill so this will be ready to try out soon. If its still not smooth, I'll do it again with lemon juice!
The difference of the original tobacco and after being washed is noticed..
Just thought this was worth sharing!
I will buy some of this myself and so a bigger bulk production. A least for now I have research to find the seeds to replicate the tobacco I want to grow.
Have a great day!