Historical Strains.

[Gargoyle169]

Having grown up in rural Virginia in 60's and having been a cutter and a hanger on one of my families farms as a wee sprout, I'm pretty safe in saying that I can spot a field of 'baccah from miles off.

On my drives through Wisconsin I have spotted several a square (mile) of the original Devils Lettuce. Seeing this I began to pay closer attention to many of the rural buildings and a few antiquated structures still in use. Namely, tobacco warehouses throughout the state

My question to the forum is this.

WHAT STRAINS OF TOBACCO GROW THAT FAR NORTH?

I am trying to imagine the bouquet of of such a leaf and what the curing profile would be like.

Thanks.

 

[deluxestogie]

(Belated) welcome to the forum. Feel free to introduce yourself in the Introduce Yourself forum.

Tobacco growing in Wisconsin, a tradition that's fading away

If you never worked in tobacco, you might be surprised at the crop's long history in our state.

www.wisfarmer.com

In the past, I have grown Wisconsin 901 as well as Wisconsin Seedleaf. Very nice cigar fillers / wrappers / binders.

If you go to the USDA ARS-GRIN seed bank database (GRIN-GLOBAL):

Search Accessions GRIN-Global

npgsweb.ars-grin.gov

and enter the search terms, "nicotiana tabacum wisconsin", then you will find 13 entries listed. Tobacco is grown all over the world, including Canada and Nepal. No surprise here.

Regardless of the growing location, the seasonal variations in temperature, humidity, rain and soil fertility seem to have a greater influence on the quality of the resulting tobacco. With the advent of indoor germination and seedling propagation (over 100 years ago), a suitable growing region simply needs a growing season of about 90 days. Curing conditions can be manipulated indoors.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

WHAT STRAINS OF TOBACCO GROW THAT FAR NORTH?

In Canada, they only commercially grow flue cured tobacco. I'm sure it's mostly modern, serial numbered varieties, these days, but a lot of varieties were developed by federally funded research: you may have heard of Delgold, or Delhi.

There is a law that cigarettes manufactured in Canada cannot contain air cured tobacco. That's why we only grow flue cured strains. Harrow Velvet may be a burley variety you have heard of, which used to be grown.

Although the season might be shorter in Wisconsin, the days are longer.

 

[OakBayou]

Maryland tobacco is also grown here in Wisco. Madison has an old tobacco warehouse with the Lorillard sign still painted on, it was originally built by the American Tobacco Co. in 1899 and is now luxury apartments called the "Tobacco Lofts."

Today I believe most of the tobacco that is still grown here is used for snus. There's a large warehouse and processing center of the Swedish Match Leaf Tobacco Co. in Stoughton. Swedish Match is a big name in smokeless tobacco products.

And if I'm not mistaken, the threshed Maryland 609 offered by WLT is grown on an organic farm in Wisconsin. I have some, and it has a nice flavor almost like brown sugar when combined with flue cured.