Some advices in Tobacco-preparation for Mapacho/Rapé...

[donfoolio]

Finally I started to regrow some Nicotina rustica this year and I am wondering about proper
preparation. What I would like to do is some kind of a smokeable Mapacho and information on the net is really hard to find. I have already experimented with Tobacco-cultvation but there are so many ways to achieve, that I would be happy about some advice.

I came about this site:

Growing Tobacco, Making Mapacho

Since I've found no written resources for making mapacho -- the powerful black tobacco of the Amazon -- I've documented my own process here.

placesintheforest.com

I tried making rapé one time from homegrown tobacco and the result wasn't that bad - I only wholegrinded dried Tobacco-leaves and passed them through a T-shirt. This year, I would like to get some real good dried Mapacho, so I have several questions.

The Tobacco starts to flower now, and after all that I have read, it is a good advice to cut the flowers, because they tend to pull on alkaloid-content and start harvesting by the bright leaves from downstairs at several moments. But how to dry the leaves correctly and slowly and how to get them in a suitable form? I like those big cigars from the Amazon; where you cut only a few bites at one moment.

The variety is "Ancient", sown in March and starting to flower right now. The plants are maybe 50 cm's tall, but "Ancient' seems to be a really small variety, whereas the leaves are really fullsize already at the bottom.

Some pic's:

 

[RoundAbout]

I've cured rustica in the manner of ordinary tobacco, not sure if that's what you're curious about though.

Just handling the soaked leaves made my heart race, the room spin and reality dance and glow.

Be somewhat careful about transdermal absorption. I've had some restless nights I attribute to handling tobacco.

I've made chimo but it isn't terrible healthy for my mouth (perhaps it is too basic). I really like snuff but it's not terribly great for the nose either.

 

[twitchy]

I wouldn't worry a bit about alkaloid content with rustica and flowering, once it starts flowering your best bet, in my experience, is to let it do it's thing. Rustica is incredibly potent, dangerously so, and flowering isn't going to effect the potency in any appreciable way unless you're growing it for insecticide or something. Also once it starts flowering, you might want to consider staking it up as the seed heads can get really heavy and will sag to the ground. I tried to remove flowers one year thinking it would up the yield but as soon as you do, it will simply flower at every node beneath the one you removed and good soil and insect control seem to be the only real magic involved.

I have a curing process I use for rustica and other tobacco that works really well and will produce a perfectly fine usable product in a matter of several days. I talked this over with some other tobacco farmers and they told me I was crazy, but it works for small scale production and really well for rustica. Harvest the leaves when they get as large as you want them to be, don't worry about waiting for the yellowing on the stalk. With Rustica, once I get a pretty good stack of leaves, I get a needle and thread and string them up with a little space between them to allow air flow and hang them in a shaded area with good circulation. Let them hang until they start to yellow and curl up, but way before they get brittle (this takes some experience, but 'moist' is better than 'damp' and 'wet' is ruinous).

Once you have them off the string, stack them up in neat piles, alternating as you lay them on each other, i.e. front to back, then back to front, and press them flat. Put them in a large ziplock bag, press the air out of it, and seal it up and put that bag on a heating pad with a towel for insulation and a fairly heavy weight like a thick book on top of it and set the heating pad on medium. Make sure you keep the heating pad on, the new ones suck for this as they shut off automatically.

Check them once a day, if you see water in the bag then you've put them in there while too moist and will need to take them out, separate them out and let them dry a little before replacing them in the bag and make sure you absorb the water in the bag itself. You will develop an eye for perfect moisture for this over the years. Over about two or three days, the smell of the tobacco will transition from a grassy smell to a sweet cured tobacco smell that is unmistakable if you're familiar with it and the color will give over to a deep chestnut color. When that happens, you're done and have cured tobacco in a few days as opposed to worrying about hanging in in a barn for months and trying to keep it in case etc.
Store it as you would normally, just watch the moisture levels as tobacco is prone to molds.

 

[twitchy]

Funny story, sort of...
The first year I grew rustica, I completely underestimated it's potency. I used my heating pad method to cure it that year, and once I got it into a smokable form, I sat down on my porch and packed myself a rather large briarwood pipe full and lit into it. Within four or five draws, I immediately knew I had smoked WAY too much. My stomach rolled, eyes watered, and I literally had to crawl back into the house and lay down for a couple of hours. Be careful, I'm sure you know this already, but don't underestimate this plant, it's tobacco's wild assed, big burly cousin, just looking to kick gringo ass and boy it sure can do that.

My neighbor is an elderly full blooded Cherokee and we were talking about tobacco one time. She told me that they used to use a sacred tobacco for ceremonies, and I smiled and told her I had a couple pounds of it. She shook her head and said, 'No, this is not regular tobacco this was...' I could see her trying to recall the name, and I said 'Rustica, I've got a bunch of it this year. It nearly killed me.' We've been great friends ever since

Edit:
Your rustica is beautiful by the way, OP. It makes for an incredible 'blunt' wrap if you haven't thought of that already, honey is the best glue. :thumb_up:

 

[donfoolio]

Thank you, twitchy for theses ideas! I harvested first leaves from the lower stem and put them
to start drying. I will give a try to your téchnique, sounds logic. I have the impression that tobbaco-leaves dry faster in my area with its hot and dry summers, so I put the leaves really closely together, so that fermentation already seems to start in the first step on the thread.

I will harvest further leaves soon when they start yellowing. They become quite huge now,
such a beautiful plant.

 

[twitchy]

Good luck, watch for molds and keep an eye on that moisture content, it's the key to the whole process and it takes some practice. Definitely let me know how it turns out. I've got my rustica strung up as we speak