Why isn’t Tobacco grown illicitly?
Posted by Ambitious_Jeweler816@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 184 comments
We all know that cannabis is grown in the UK, often in loft spaces with hydroponics etc. why aren’t the same methods used to grow black market Tobacco?
SituationIcy5938@reddit
Tobacco is really easy to grow legally. I grew some a few years ago and had huge 5ft plants, they grew better than my tomatoes.
It's the curing process that's the issue though. To smoke it, it needs to be dried, then rehydrated and then stored for a number of years. It's easy to get wrong and end up with a load of mould. (Speaking from experience.)
froggit0@reddit
To expand: the drying process is at an industrial scale- coal-fired drying sheds the size of a couple of acres, for instance. As a side bar, a factoid is that tobacco production in England was forbidden to protect imperial and colonial trade.
Same_Seaworthiness74@reddit
Now it's to protect their precious tax money 💰
MAWPAB@reddit
I looked it up the other week and you can grow all the tobacco you want for personal use, but you have to register it and pay tax, yes.
Basic_Bid_6488@reddit
You can also brew all the alcohol you like, but it's illegal to distill it without registering it with HMRC and paying duty, even if you're not selling it.
MAWPAB@reddit
I feel like I could hide a home distillery better than a home tobacco plantation from the Feds.
Interesting_Try8375@reddit
It's really easy.. So I hear. Check out /r/firewater
Homebrew supplier I use also sells an assortment of distillation equipment. I am pretty sure it's just illegal on paper but for personal use no one cares. If you are selling it that is probably when they get interested.
There was a guy a while back using a water butt to ferment in and then distilled it. Gave recipes that are incredibly cheap from Asda usually.
gundog48@reddit
Professional distiller here. Can confirm that every distiller has never produced a drop before deciding to persue it as a job and get the training and employment to do it legally!
It's a great hobby especially if you like building equipment! Don't sell it, don't post about it on Facebook, don't share it with anyone you wouldn't offer a joint, and you're fine.
You can get molasses and grain from feed shops very cheap, but I'd recommend gin if you like it. You can use a really small still on a hotplate and redistill vodka with botanicals. If you're fermenting and distilling you will want a much bigger still as you have to process a lot more.
You'll hear some nonsense about methanol and it being illegal because it's dangerous, forget about that unless you're distilling methelated spirits! But be careful to make sure you've always got cooling to the condenser (and ideally a contingency) as alcohol vapour is very flammable! Ideally do it outside if you can. Apart from that, remember it should always be an open system, be mindful of anything that could clog or block the vapour path, there should be no backpressure.
It's a great hobby, I feel it's mostly illegal due to a lot of misunderstandings that people have about it!
Interesting_Try8375@reddit
IIRC the waterbutt guy was using one of those gallon or so water stills. It works but you are only going to get a litre or so worth from it. Can always do a few batches then combine that for a spirit run ... So I hear. Glass demijohns make convenient containers for more than just fermenting.
Lucy_Little_Spoon@reddit
Sure, but it'd also be the cleanest, healthiest tobacco you can get a hold of, without all the shitty chemicals.
MAWPAB@reddit
True to an extent though a lot of the bad stuff is from burning a plant that accumulates bad things.
The main drawback is that curing/drying/fermenting needs a well controlled temp/humidity environment to happen over about 8 weeks which i do not have the headspace for. If you dont do that it spoils or tastes like shit.
sole_food_kitchen@reddit
Incredible act of self reflection here
MAWPAB@reddit
It is clearly healthier not to put extra effort onto procurement of your poison.
sole_food_kitchen@reddit
Yeah, it’s just a very funny comment
MAWPAB@reddit
No, fight me. I think we have broadly established what kind of person I am. I demand conflict - crave pain.
You say -
Thats ludicris! The more effort to have to put in, the less likely you are to smoke! Its the ease of just pulling the packet out of your pocket that is the problem. Go grow your own you jibbering roachlicker
Then I say -
Its clearly worse for my health to be exercising in a smoky environment that my smoking creates. Just like those altheletes in Olympic towns that they turn of the smog machines for. I shouldn't be doing hardcore weeding in my condition.
And then I lose either way and everyone ia happy.
sole_food_kitchen@reddit
Can we kiss?
MAWPAB@reddit
With my breath? I need a hug though.
sole_food_kitchen@reddit
Fine. Straight in. No kissing. You drive a hard bargin for a soft person.
MAWPAB@reddit
As a gay man, I find that wildly offensive, and yet arousing. ~~spank me daddy~~ sorry I'll stop now ;)
sole_food_kitchen@reddit
I’m a woman <\3 alas we were star crossed from the inception
FourInTheBack@reddit
Just because I think it's funny that a whole radio bit was designed around this, but the correct UK definition of a factoid is a fact that is regularly accepted but is incorrect. So the use of the term factoid to describe a small fact, is in fact a factoid.
It is the American usage of the term that means a brief fact.
V65Pilot@reddit
My house in the US sat on property that used to house tobacco drying barns. As a result I had 3 phase power at a massive amperage feeding the house, because why would you run new lines if the existing lines could carry enough current to power an industrial warehouse? 240V compressor and welder in the garage, both running at the same time, along with a 2ton AC unit, and the lights wouldn't even flicker...
deltree000@reddit
How many $/kWh?
LikelyNotSober@reddit
Rates in the U.S. average around 17¢ for residential. Commercial/industrial rates tend to be less.
Nebulousdbc@reddit
Probably the usual rate, something like 14c per kwh. Massive amperage means the amps are available to use, not that they're in use all the time. It means the potential for big bills is there if you decide to take advantage of the capability
V65Pilot@reddit
Exactly this. FWIW. my electric bill in summer was around 400-450 months, the AC and pool account for a lot of that. In the winter months, because I could literally heat the whole house with a wood, my bill was less than 100/mo. Wood was just an investment of time and sweat over the summer. A few days logging out old clear cut debris piles would get me a couple of cords. I would burn through about 4 cords over winter.
Forgetful8nine@reddit
A factoid isn't the same as fact. It's something that has become accepted as fact despite its questionable accuracy.
Ahhhhrg@reddit
It has had two meanings for some time, but I’m with you as the -oid suffix means “like” or “resembles” which only works with the original meaning of the word.
Pleasant_Tackle_2752@reddit
Is this like literally not meaning literally due to poor use?
Ahhhhrg@reddit
Language is pretty simple in many ways, if others understand what you mean then it’s “correct” in that context. If enough people say “would of” instead of “would have”, and everyone knows what they mean, then that’s fine.
turkishhousefan@reddit
I'm not really a prescriptivist either, but the use of "was" in place of "were" really yanks my pizzle for some reason.
blither86@reddit
Well, you can, becsuse they are, but they may not like hearing it from you.
pecuchet@reddit
Unfortunately it's become skunked.
SoMuchF0rSubtlety@reddit
You either die a hero or you live long enough to see a fact about factoids become a factoid about facts.
froggit0@reddit
Hence my use of ‘factoid’; I cannot point to this as a source, with references, but as a dimly remembered ‘factoid’. Thank you for your misunderstanding.
qwerty-mo-fu@reddit
Need to dry - ‘case’ it in your attic then. No mould
WorhummerWoy@reddit
Have you ever tried crossing your tobacco and tomatoes?
I saw a documentary about that once, the cows loved the stuff.
LengthinessFalse8373@reddit
Based on this and other comments, turning tobacco into a smokeable, and importantly, not fucking horrible product, is complex and bloody long.
Do you know how on earth someone found out how to turn it into what we know and why they did?
platebandit@reddit
Olives is another weird one. Oh let’s take this disgusting bitter thing, why not crush it and keep it in brine for a few months to see if it’s edible. Or even better yet chuck a load of lye at it and see if that improves them.
Splodge89@reddit
The same as lots of foods. Cassava is poisonous if not cooked in the right way, yet entire countries have it as a staple. Cashew nuts are another - deadly toxic, even just by touching them in enough number - not an issue if processed properly.
The one that really gets me is cheese. Especially things like Stilton. Some milk went off. So instead of throwing it out they kept it, sieved out the disgusting stinking lumps in it, then left it to go properly mouldy - after being put in a cave. Then ate it…
turkishhousefan@reddit
An iterative process of improvement over centuries and because addiction and money. Just my completely uninformed guess.
9thfloorprod@reddit
Should have allowed the plants to fuse for a nice crop of tomacco
benDB9@reddit
It’s refreshingly addictive!
0xSnib@reddit
Scratch_Careful@reddit
You also buy raw tobacco. Its cheap, <£20/kg, its only when you process it that it becomes a tobacco product but i guess its the processing bit thats difficult at home.
Hazeri@reddit
I hope the tobacco and tomatoes didn't cross-breed
uk451@reddit
I tried smoking a leaf that I cut and dried in the sun. Horrendous.
leonardo_davincu@reddit
There’s so much more added to give you that lovely smooth burn. That secret ingredient? Cancer
Long_Repair_8779@reddit
I did the same except I cut it, heated it in a pan to dry it… tried to smoke it… definitely tobacco but not suitable for cigarettes/cigarette style smoking. I had to smoke it like a cigar
tiankai@reddit
Is it toasted though?
lacb1@reddit
sips rye and harrases a secretary
glipglopthegreat@reddit
Hi Don
Ambitious_Jeweler816@reddit (OP)
I guess this is probably the reason, thanks!
Whisky_Delta@reddit
It’s a lot of space, equipment, and work for something you can buy legally.
Ok_Analyst_5640@reddit
It's perfectly legal to grow tobacco in the UK and use it yourself. The big caveat is they still expect you to declare it and pay excise duties on it.
arabidopsis@reddit
Only if you sell it.
Like alcohol, you can brew it but if you sell it for £ you need a license and pay tax on it
turkishhousefan@reddit
Nope, even if you don't sell it.
Ianhw77k@reddit
How can you pay taxes on something you haven't made money off? How would they work out the amount you need to pay?
CarpeCyprinidae@reddit
VAT is an ad valorem tax - charged on the sale value
Alcohol duty, tobacco duty, climate change levy, motor fuel duty, are all excises rather than taxes
they are charged at a set amount per volume of product - Alcohol duty per litre, tobacco duty per kilogram, CCL per kilowatt-hour, motor fuel duty per litre
Ianhw77k@reddit
So if I brew my own beer, I'm supposed to pay taxes on it?
Thanks for the explanation btw, I didn't know the differences.
Interesting_Try8375@reddit
Really? Never heard of that one
forgotpassword_aga1n@reddit
Technically speaking you can't even give away homebrew. Not that anyone cares, but it is illegal.
DogSuicide@reddit
100% going to pay all my taxes
Crayon_Casserole@reddit
Vaping duty, October 2026 = hold my beer.
Ambitious_Jeweler816@reddit (OP)
People brew their own beer, make their own wine? While it’s legal to buy surely there would be profit in selling it? People buy dodgy tobacco all the time
Super_Swordfish_6948@reddit
How many of those people are growing their own barley, hops or grapes?
Interesting_Try8375@reddit
It's a lot cheaper to make yourself with ingredients from Aldi though. I have wondered about getting an apple press but don't know if it's really worth the effort.
shalo62@reddit
Plenty growing their own hops, grapes too. Barley unfortunately takes up far too much space.
armitage_shank@reddit
And you’d have to malt it, which is a bit finicky. All-in-all not worth the effort.
LemmysCodPiece@reddit
I make wine out of foraged black berries, elderberries and damsons.
throwaway388138@reddit
Define dodgy? Just because it's from outside of the UK doesn't make it automatically dodgy.
Banes_Addiction@reddit
If it's been sold without a clear supply line it's already dodgy.
My friends/colleagues trade duty free tobacco all the time, where you have a clear trusted chain. Some wanker in a pub selling something with a fake tax stamp, that's dodgy.
Not that anyone is smoking cigarettes for the health benefits anyway.
Equilateral-circle@reddit
Less regulations n shit, I get me baccy from airport duty free half price, I wouldn't trust that camel shit they sell in towns to tourists, you can get lucky and get some ok stuff but that 50 quid for 10 50g pouch bs is sus
Whisky_Delta@reddit
Weed is about 10x the cost of tobacco. The production cost would be roughly the same (or more for tobacco since I think it’s more difficult to grow). Even cutting down the “it’s an illegal product” markup, you’d be hard pressed to compete with just buying it legally.
citron_bjorn@reddit
Usually with homebrewed alcohol there's more flavours and the alcohol contents can be adapted to tastes. With homegrown tobacco the flavour won't be drastically different and it probably has a similar effect plus there's the time required to grown new strains
IsWasMaybeAMefi@reddit
Economics.
Equilateral-circle@reddit
Exactly, 28 grams of weed is like 200-300 whereas 28 grams of baccy is what like 25 quid
pockets3d@reddit
And if you want to go slightly illegal you can get it cheaper in any pub with day time drinkers who got it in Tenerife.
Ok_Adhesiveness_8637@reddit
If you bring enough back, it pays for your flights out.
Or so one of the parents who's kid played footy with my kid said!
Splodge89@reddit
My own parents never smoked, yet used to come back from abroad with suitcases full of cigarettes and tobacco. Sold the lot at work and made enough to pay for the holiday each year.
Until they got caught that is…
Ok_Adhesiveness_8637@reddit
Yeah, we do something similar, we do smoke, but cigarettes are so cheap out there that we pack enough to save enough to cover the flights for our next trip.
Hopefully the last bit doesn't happen haha 😅
Splodge89@reddit
They got caught becuase they’re idiots lol. A couple going to Spain for three days do not need four massive suitcases between them. Especially when 3 and a half of those suitcases are nothing but cigarettes - and they didn’t even think to pack a lighter so it even looked like they were smokers and it would be for personal use.
Border control and HMRC don’t care if you have a bit over your allowance if it’s clear it’s for personal use. We’ve only got a 200 cigarette limit from Spain for example, but they won’t batt an eyelid if you’ve got 600. They do care if you’re making thousands out of it that should be in their pocket by having 6,000 cigarettes and literally no means to smoke them.
Ok_Adhesiveness_8637@reddit
Yeah, you're allowed 200 from tenerife, but easyjet will sell you 600 on the plane lol.
I actually saw one of those "jet 2 holiday" memes where someone had basically did what your parents did, but the case was somehow opened when it was on the luggage turnstile... cigs EVERYWHERE lol
Moto-Ent@reddit
I remember being a young teen and my duty free allowance used for a box of amber leaf, shared with my brother and my nan, my mum got a hefty amount. Her friends were always very grateful…
Tough-Train-5117@reddit
In my local, this year alone I’ve seen 3 different people walk up to the bar with a carrier bag and say something like “is the big man around”, it’s obvious what they’re doing and every time the landlord will tell them no or the bar staff just say he’s not in, I’ve only ever seen 1 sale though, old east end boy got about 50g for a couple of quid or something.
Regular-Company7013@reddit
30g of marlboro gold still goes for like 16/17 quid tbh
Embarrassed_Belt1692@reddit
"The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction states the average price for an ounce in the UK is about £180, influenced by the factors mentioned. A gram averages around £8, and a pound ranges from £1000 to £2000"
Like I said most really really good stuff is around 160 180, nobody will buy crap or over priced weed as they can just go to next man, same reason nobody cuts cocaine in the UK anymore......because they wouldn't get repeat business, there's to many people with quality stuff in the UK especially Cocaine, average purity is around 85% with the other being made up of water (it's highly hydrophilic) and other chemicals that haven't been removed, although you can get rid of these when you wash Cocaine HCL back to Cocaine Base. it's called washing in the UK as you wash away the HCl from the Cocaine salt and the other water soluble chemicals.
I've got a twenty year drug addiction and even though I'm on Methadone I still smoked 4 bags yesterday.
I'm sorry if you're paying £300 for an Oz of weed dude as it's not nice to see people get taken for a ride, an 8th of top bud costs max £30/35.
Equilateral-circle@reddit
I ain't buyin 300 an oz weed bro I'm sayin it can get that high when plebs are giving it stupid names like milky tits or whatever an putting it in cali packs n makin snapchat lists n shit like that I was happy payin 220 for the weed I like, sometimes more sometimes less
Embarrassed_Belt1692@reddit
I get an average of 5oZ a month for £1.23 of electric a day, so that works out around £200 of electric for 5 to 6oZ......can't go wrong fella, and no it doesn't get sold it's too nice to sell, that's all your personal and know exactly what's gone into it, and yes that one on the back right is part of the haze family hence why it looks so different from the Indica at the front
SpreadLox@reddit
£1.23 x 30 is £36.90… how did you calculate the £200 a month figure.
Splodge89@reddit
The effects of the weed, probably.
Froggiejaks@reddit
Tell me you know nothing without even telling me.
Embarrassed_Belt1692@reddit
Mate your getting your pants pulled down over that price, an Oz is typically between £120 and £220 depending on the dealer and quantity, we get a 9 bar.....still use Bar to denote quarter of a kilo for 1k, usual standard decent British weed goes for mainly £160 to £180'd
inide@reddit
Prescription bud runs around 200-280 for 30g depending on the strain.
Embarrassed_Belt1692@reddit
We don't have prescription bud in the UK mate, we either grow our own or buy mainly imported stuff now as it's cheaper to smuggle in from California or Thailand than it is to do a crop that will take 4 months when you factor in the extra veg time and then drying and curing until that 10% of water left in it spreads out even between the buds.
Here's a few of my babies, well teenagers now as they have just started to flower. It costs me £1.20 a day in electric and will pull 5 to 6oZ for around £120 +- £30 worth of electric.
ManGullBearE@reddit
Yes we do have medical flower in this country, look at Alternaleaf or look at r/ukmedicalcannabis . You've just proven that you don't know what you are talking about.
kipperfish@reddit
You have no clue. It's been legally prescribed since 2018. At least know what your talking about before chatting shit.
I literally have a prescription for bud. In the UK. A full online store to pick and choose from. Prices from £5/g up to £15/g. Almost all of it is good quality stuff. Delivered to my door by royal mail.
And because it's prescribed, i can drive without worrying about a swab test picking up last night's use.
Embarrassed_Belt1692@reddit
You know what argument over, I have nice weed in my draw I'm going to smoke now, we are acting like kids in fucking primary school FFS
Embarrassed_Belt1692@reddit
Last grow, it went another two weeks after that as I like it when most trich's are amber.....just my preference.
Embarrassed_Belt1692@reddit
I just do that it's easier for my personal stash TBH fella
sir_rino@reddit
Yes, we do. https://cannabishealthnews.co.uk/2022/09/08/how-to-access-a-medical-cannabis-prescription-in-the-uk/
Embarrassed_Belt1692@reddit
Embarrassed_Belt1692@reddit
£300 a week that costs, no NHS foundation Trust is going to waste that sort of money, they don't have any as it is dude, the NHS is on its arse
Embarrassed_Belt1692@reddit
Yeah but it's not a flower is it, it's a spray dude
Embarrassed_Belt1692@reddit
That's the only Cannabis you can get on the NHS and you can get CBD, you can't go and buy flower from a bloody shop, and you need to be dying of cancer or have epilepsy to get it, no GP is going to prescribe you that, specialist do, same as my Lamotrigine and Clonazepam script, that's not from my GP that's from my neurologist.
Equilateral-circle@reddit
120 is shit weed tho an we ain't buyin bars 300 is for that cali bolox people sell 200 to 240 get you bone dry super silver or lemo or summin nice. Only do haze
Embarrassed_Belt1692@reddit
I suspect many of you in here have not passed your mid twenties yet
Embarrassed_Belt1692@reddit
Haze hasn't been cropped for years
kipperfish@reddit
Shut up. I can go get haze right now if I wanted.
Haze is also popular on the medical side as well. So yes, it's still being grown.
Embarrassed_Belt1692@reddit
Lmao I've got some around 3ft away from me, check bet or raise
Also got that if you fancy a real smoke 😉
Embarrassed_Belt1692@reddit
Mate you seem young and inexperienced without any contacts apart from the internet where your getting taken for a ride, so I'm not going to argue any more, how is a dealer selling 8ths for £30 and then making money on top of it, you're prices would make dealers lose money, and you don't want it bond dry because that means the weed is fucked and needs rehydrated which all that will degrade that much it would only be good for hash FFS I'm don't know why I'm even wasting my time.
Equilateral-circle@reddit
You keep smoking ya 120 an oz conifer leaves mate
Embarrassed_Belt1692@reddit
Alright mate, send you some pics when we pick up another 9 oZ later tonight
itsYaBoiga@reddit
Embarrassed_Belt1692@reddit
Sad boy, go and kiss a girl or are you to scared 😲
Drillingz@reddit
200/300 is like top shelf
opopkl@reddit
Why don't people mine their own coal?
opopkl@reddit
Why don't people build their own cars?
LemmysCodPiece@reddit
They do.
Hard_Dave@reddit
My dad did, Morgan kit car. Real beaut
LemmysCodPiece@reddit
A mate and I did a custom beach buggy from scratch using an old Beetle chassis.
Dommccabe@reddit
I just downloaded one illegally instead.
CorpusCalossum@reddit
You wouldn't steal a coal mine...
Mrslinkydragon@reddit
Some people do though
Busy_Mortgage4556@reddit
In the NE of england people used to dig coal on the beaches back in the 80's. It was dangerous.
Goregoat69@reddit
There’s a few bits on the east coast of Scotland that “beach coal” washes up after storms.
Goregoat69@reddit
Guys did actually do that in the village I stay in, back in the ‘80s, early ‘90s. Unemployed fellas had a mine up in the wood at the back of the graveyard and you’d see them covered in coal dust pushing old bmx bikes with sacks of coal draped over the frame. Used some themselves and sold the excess to boost their dole money. Eventually the mine was shut and the entry dynamited by the authorities, so they started nicking it off the coal train instead, in a probably equally dangerous but much more efficient endeavour.
Throwaway91847817@reddit
The children yearn for the mines
wtf_amirite@reddit
Little pit kittens.
arabidopsis@reddit
I mean people in Norfolk and other parts of the fens do in the form of peat that they then burn.
txakori@reddit
Greta Thunberg hates this one trick...
Intelligent_Ad3309@reddit
My grandfather used to grow tobacco on his allotment in Yorkshire when I was a boy. He showed me a plug of dried leaves & smoked it in a pipe, it was really foul & my gran wouldn't allow it in the house. I also recall an EU row about subsidies for tobacco grown, I think, in Spain which was so carcinogenic that it could not be sold in Europe. A seed order to Eastern Europe came with a free packet of tobacco seed a couple of years ago, so some people are growing it.
llamaz314@reddit
Because it's not illegal economies of scale means that buying taxed tobacco is still cheaper than making your own untaxed. Plus the lack of demand - weed dealers are everywhere but nobody's heard of a cigarette dealer
jonpenryn@reddit
Lots round here, fishermen land fish and import cigs etc rare to see a loose leaf packet thats been bought in the uk really.
WritesCrapForStrap@reddit
My weed dealer also sells tobacco
platebandit@reddit
They have untaxed cigarette dealers in Australia. World’s highest tobacco duty opened up a huge market. Entirely controlled by gangs who firebomb each others illegal tobacconists.
Ripx@reddit
You do get people selling cigarettes smuggled in from abroad for cheaper than our taxed cigarettes
forgotpassword_aga1n@reddit
They definitely exist. People buy loads whilst abroad, bring it back, and sell it dirt cheap.
notquitehuman_@reddit
It just doesn't make sense. By the time you've grown, dried and aged it, the profit margin is slim for the time and effort put in. And that's if you don't get caught and shut down.
With weed, for example, the price is super high because there's no legal alternative. The profit margins make sense for the risk incurred. For tobacco, you're competing with legal growers who don't need to pay a premium for moving it around in underground markets.
Pockysocks@reddit
probably not a lot of profit when folk can just buy it off the shelves.
Ambitious_Jeweler816@reddit (OP)
Agreed, not as much profit as cannabis, but less risk surely?
monkeyclaw77@reddit
I have smoked “homegrown” tobacco when I was on a jungle trip in the Amazon for a few days. It is not an experience I will ever be repeating.
Reedenen@reddit
Why
monkeyclaw77@reddit
It was as if someone had taken the contents of an ashtray, soaked it in water for a few days, then extracted all the soggy tobacco ashy mess and dried it and re-rolled it into a filterless cigarette. I wanted to vomit after the first pull.
WritesCrapForStrap@reddit
So, like, Cutter's Choice?
JavaRuby2000@reddit
Take a visit to Cuba and you can do a tour of the Tabacco farms. Growing the plant is the easy bit. Turning the leaves into something that can be smoked requires a lot of space and time. They usually age the leaves in massive drying housed for up to 7 years.
Random_Nobody1991@reddit
I imagine it’s far easier for people working where cigarettes and such are distributed to nab a few packets here and there and sell the cigarettes either in the pack or individually on the black market.
-Eat_The_Rich-@reddit
Usually due to tax it's treated as a far more serious crime
SheriffOfNothing@reddit
Isn't the fact that so few people do grow their own tobacco and there's no trade in homegrown tobaco a really good illustration of what would likely happen if cannabis were legalised?
negras@reddit
The humidity in the UK is not conducive to curing the tobacco leaf. You need 300 days of sunshine in a year not 30.
bbshdbbs02@reddit
Wut, my grandad grew tobacco in his allotments every year. It can definitely be grown here.
negras@reddit
You can but the quality.
Ambitious-Win-9408@reddit
Grown yes, but the rest of the process is hampered by uk weather conditions.
DiligentCockroach700@reddit
It's not Illegal to grow tobacco. My uncle used to do it years ago, then bake it in the oven. Made his whole house stink. Luckily he lived on his own.
OGSkywalker97@reddit
A 50g pouch if tobacco costs at most likely £20.
You can get the same amount of revenue for growing less than 2g of weed.
Or you can sell 50g of weed for like £400 - £750 depending on the quality.
Ambitious-Win-9408@reddit
It's about £20 for 30g of amber leaf mate, closer to £40 for 50g.
bbshdbbs02@reddit
50g pouch of legally bought uk tobacco is £36.50 at the cheapest.
DifficultConcept9832@reddit
People grow cannabis because it's illegal to buy. You can legally buy tobacco so what would be the point in growing it
bbshdbbs02@reddit
Obviously it would be significantly cheaper.
DifficultConcept9832@reddit
Significantly cheaper than buying dodgy backie from someone who has just been abroad? It's not like weed that you can just grow and smoke, you have to dry it, toast it, re moisturise it and keep it at just the right temperature and humidity.
bbshdbbs02@reddit
Yes the sacrifice obviously is time. It’s mainly grown as a hobby for that reason. Cheap dodgy baccy is crap and not worth your time.
DifficultConcept9832@reddit
No the sacrifice is all the money it costs to do all those things. Cheap dodgy backie is the same stuff you buy here just cheaper because it was bought in Spain on holiday and carried back here duty free.
NuclearCleanUp1@reddit
It is. My allotment neighbour grows it every year
bbshdbbs02@reddit
It’s perfectly legal as long as they don’t try selling it.
two_beards@reddit
It'd perfectly legal to grow, some people grow it as an ornamental.
I have known people grow it on allotments, dry it in greenhouses for smoking. They claim it is much, much nicer. As a non-smoker, I find that hard to understand.
bbshdbbs02@reddit
Home grown won’t have any of the additives that cigarette companies add to their tobacco.
OrganicPoet1823@reddit
There’s a solid market in smuggling in cheaper ones already made from Eastern Europe. Just look at the packets people have it’s often not English!
bbshdbbs02@reddit
I definitely know of multiple corner shops near me selling ones from turkey or Hungary, very cheap places for cigarettes in Eastern Europe as well. All the government does every time they increase the tax is just encourage more and more people to buy smuggled in packets.
Ok_Row_4920@reddit
I grew golden Virginia a couple times, dried it out and smoked it. I was pleasantly surprised with how nice and easy it was to do, but it definitely tasted stronger than commercial tobacco.
If I still smoked I'd definitely do it again.
JoeIsAMarbleBandit@reddit
I have quite a lot of experience with this.
So first of all, it's very easy to grow tobacco. Southern England has an almost perfect climate for some varieties. Burley would be your easiest if you're considering it.
Your issue starts with the curing. Burley is typically air dried. Your best best would be to hang it in your greenhouse until the moisture count is around 20-25% - then you can put it in paper bags in a room with a constant fan. That should bring it down to around 10-15%. Once your there, it's smokable. Small issue is it's not a nice tobacco to smoke alone. Burley is really a filler leaf that gets used at around 5-7% in your mix. The most smokable leaf is Virginia. This leaf is generally flue cured. They are hung in a room with a large flue running through them. The heat caramalises (sp??) the sugars giving a really mellow flavour. This is usually 65-95% of your shop brought tobacco. You can air cure Virginia leaf. It is similar to Burley, but isn't you want the moisture slightly higher (17-18%).
I could go on and on about this. I haven't even mentioned the oriental leaves or fire curing. If you're considering growing some, make sure your kids/pets can't touch the plants. They contain a huge amount of nicotine which can get into your blood stream via touch. Read up about 'green' flu. Wear gloves.
Seanacles@reddit
My mate grows it in his backyard it's not to bad
delicious_brains818@reddit
Illegal tobacco smells and tastes disgusting.
Entire-Emotion-819@reddit
As far as I know, it's perfectly legal to grow your own baccy in the UK.
The_b00bie_watcher@reddit
They did when I was in Australia because it was so expensive to smoke.
I was there over a decade ago and a pouch of port royal was like 50 bucks.
Just googled it and the same packs I use to buy are $130+ now.
dragonglassaxe@reddit
Family have grown tobacco before it is so different to tobacco from the shop. We dried the leaves out or waited til they fell off and grinded them in mortar and pestles. It is more comparable to flakes like artisanal salt that stringy like shop bought. I don't think people would like the different texture. Smoked nice though and was a nice experience each having a little cig from the bacci plant. Was a nice experience with the family but don't think it's a money making scheme
txakori@reddit
Because going from actual tobacco plants to baccy you flog to your mates in the pub is an utter ball-ache. You can't just let it dry out in your shed and chop it up, there's way more involved.
janusz0@reddit
Not really, hang the leves up in a warm draught over the winter. Then roll thwm into cigars. It worked a treat for me when i was a smoker.
Appropriate_Face9750@reddit
Bc it doesn't have all the other yummy cancer chemicals that makes them so lovely
insomnimax_99@reddit
You have to do all kinds of shit to turn tobacco plants into something you can smoke.
Not so much with weed.
With tobacco, it’s just a lot easier to smuggle it and make money by dodging the extortionate taxes than to produce it yourself from scratch.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crgg13z8nvlo
Embarrassed_Belt1692@reddit
Because it's worth nothing, it is only the tax that gives it any value or artisan made cigars
gerrineer@reddit
When i lived in Andorra there was a lot of half built houses with tobacco hanging up.
DirectDelivery8@reddit
You have to do some weird and wonderful thing to a tobacco leaf to make it actually palatable. I'm sure as prices increase it will become more of a thing (most country pubs have an old guy that has tried it and brings it in). But between soil conditions, blending multiple strains and styles that need to be blended to make it smokable and lengthy processing, raw homegrown tobacco taste like shit.
Outrageous_Ad_4949@reddit
Why bother? Nicotiana smells great, you can have them in your garden, it's not illegal.
shak_0508@reddit
Because most people would choose to buy it legally, so doesn’t make Sebastian from a cost perspective.