One Plant Will Produce......

[Southern Planter]

Three packs of cigarettes.

This should be in the "Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch" section, but we don't have one.

Here is how I did the test:

A burly plant typically has 24 to 30 leaves. I took a hand with 30 leaves and spent the day de-stemming, shredding and loading the bacca into a cheap Top cigarette machine. I was flabbergasted that as I got to the end of the bacca, that I got exactly 60 cigarettes out of the hand!

That would make 4.8 ounces per plant or .3 pounds per plant or 2 cigarettes per leaf.

There could be a slight flaw in the science though, I used mud lugs for the test, and they are smaller than the leaves still on the stocks that are hanging in the barn. I'll make the test again when they have aged a year.

 

[deluxestogie]

Mud lugs are usually the thinnest leaves on the plant. The upper leaves will give you a higher yield by weight.

Bob

 

[Southern Planter]

That would explain why it's half of what your "frequently asked questions" says it should be!

 

[DGBAMA]

Something is off in your experiment. Either you had less tobacco than you thought or you packed a lot of baccy in your smokes.

An average cig is about 1 gram of tobacco. 28 grams per ounce, so 1 ounce should easily make a pack of smokes with some to spare.

 

[leverhead]

In Zig Zag Kings, 17 - 18g makes 20 cigarettes.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Using Virginia Gold I usually average 5 packs per plant using a Powermatic shredder. I have not measured Silver River yet but it would not surprise me if it yielded 7 packs. I stalk cure my tobacco so I probably get a little more than people who prime.

 

[Knucklehead]

I stalk cure my tobacco so I probably get a little more than people who prime.

Why would stalk curing yield more?

 

[istanbulin]

Actually, yield by weight and filling capacity are two different and important things for cigarette filler tobacco. While the thick leaves provide higher yield, their filling capacity is low. On the other hand, the filling capacity of thin leaves are high but their weight is low. So leaf thickness is also very important when it comes to eficiency.
The first rule of making a cigarette (especially for commercial producers) is using tobacco as low as possible in a cigarette (with a perceivable fullnes), so they really care about filling capacity of the leaves.
Thin leaves fill a tube with a smaller amount of tobacco (by weight) but a cigarette with thick leaves weights more. You know tobacco sold by poundage and companies want profit.
On the other hand, blending is a must for this commercial guys at least for burning matters. Because if they produce a cigarette with only thin leaves it burns fast but if they make it with only thick leaves it burns very slow, may be burn out.

 

[Dean]

I think of it this way, mature leathey leaves don't burn as well as lugs so I am finding a happy medium of using lugs and mature leaves to get the best burn for your buck. I'm using a pasta type shredder so basically shooting flake. I must have at least 25% thin lug type to get a good burn and draw. So a single plant if primed will give good fags. If I am left with only the mature thick stuff I need to buy shag to get it to smoke well. I can't cut it any finer with my machine. I have not found it necessary either. I just mix and match till I feel a good injecting flake is made. Case weight will also add weight, I tend to shoot dryer and re case.

cheers

 

[Southern Planter]

Cool, I'm learning a lot here from you guys. I used a chiveta knife to cut it. First I would take about two stemmed leaves or so and role them like a cigar, then cut diagonal with the knife, and then sort of chop in a bunch of directions, and repeat until the hand is prepped. The result is course ribbons. Then I cram it into the chamber of the cheap five dollar Top machine till no more will compress in it and then inject. It takes about 75 minutes to inject 20, not counting the time to prep the tobacco. Then i hand out the smokes to friends and relatives for feed back, since I don't smoke cigs.

Everyone loves the silly things, but they burn fast.

I don't have a scale yet.

 

[DGBAMA]

when I was cutting by hand, my best success was to roll a dozen or more leaves as tightly as possible, about a 1" diameter "tobacco stick" then slice as thinly as I thought possible, almost "shaving" slices. Then I put the slices into a small container and shook until they separated and "fluffed". This got me close to a cigarette "shag cut". a "slice" that seemed right when cutting, always ended up more like a ribbon cut when separated and fluffed.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Why would stalk curing yield more?

Because most people (I think) when they prime do not take ALL of the leaves. They usually do the bottoms, the mids and the tops. With stalk curing, after they've turned brown every single leaf gets stripped off the stalk.

 

[BarG]

Facts are, different varietys will have different yields, regardless of how harvested. Also taking into account quality of grow conditions and experience on producing favorable results.

 

[janetta007]

One Plant Will Produce......

So we rename it "One Plant Will Ruffley Produce" or "One Plant Will Almost Produce" or "One Plant On Average Will Produce" lol. Just funning around.

 

[BarG]

A few of Jecklnz pa red leaves will out weigh some plants worth.
An 8' tall burly { with the 2' long heavy red leaves versus a 6 ' tall bursa with th 6-8" light leaves] for instance. That is one reason to grow several varietys to experience the differences.

 

[deluxestogie]

When creating the tobacco growing FAQ, I solicited comments and estimates from many FTT members. The yield numbers in the FAQ are usually the median of reported yields. It's all highly dependent on variety, growing conditions (soil content, spacing, etc.), topping practices and sucker management.

Bob

 

[DrBob]

1 plant = 1 carton or 8 oz

 

[BarG]

When creating the tobacco growing FAQ, I solicited comments and estimates from many FTT members. The yield numbers in the FAQ are usually the median of reported yields. It's all highly dependent on variety, growing conditions (soil content, spacing, etc.), topping practices and sucker management.

Bob

And there it is in a nutshell.

 

[bonehead]

one plant will produce leaves,buds,flowers,seeds and bugs. not necessairly in that order.

 

[indianjoe]

Its like Bob said, there are so many variables that can produce different yields. I have noticed that year to year and sometimes plant to plant there will be a big difference in yield. Therefore, always try to plant more than you think you will use, you cannot rely on prediction.