I'm a smoker. I would appreciate hearing if it is legal to grow tobacco for
self use.
Thanks
Peter
"peter" <pax...@optusnet.com.au> wrote in message
news:428adfc1$0$10306$afc3...@news.optusnet.com.au...
> But the bigger problem might be that I might release some tobacco
> virus into the environment. Is this true?
What a tragedy THAT would be!
The tobacco virus can spread to other plant species.
Hi,
I considered the same option and discovered that seed is available in
Tasmania on a fairly regular basis and only rarely in other states.
I then spoke to dept agriculture and discovered that it is *not* an
importation problem (ie. agriculture in WA don't care if I bring in seed or
not!). I checked with customs who also didn't particularly care.
After going through every agency that I could think of I was convinced that
it would be legal. However ... the last dept that I spoke to suggested that
I might want to discuss the matter with the tax dept!
That's the "gotcha"!
It's illegal, under the excise laws, to grow tobacco for any purpose
whatsoever unless the proper permits have been applied for, granted and
paid for. *One of the many conditions* for granting a growing permit is
that you must operate a bonded warehouse. There are also regulations
concerning sale and supply even if it is to yourself.
On the upside, if you can get seed and grow it then it's unlikely that you
will be caught - not many people know what a tobacco plant looks like and
even fewer people would think of it as being illegal - even if they had
this suspicion and rang the police, the police would say, as they said to
me when I was making enquiries, "it's not a prohibited drug in this state,
who cares?"!
Having grown your tobacco you need to be sure to process it properly - it's
perfectly smokable just dried but, I am told, it is rough and takes a lot
of getting used to!
The way it is processed commercially is that the leaves are stacked in a
temperature and humidity controlled barn and turned regularly - I'm not
sure what the period between turning is. The idea is to let the leaf
ferment as it partially dries rather than letting it rot.
There are over 600 compounds approved for use for addition to tobacco so,
apart from the curing process, if you want to replicate the taste of your
favourite brand you could be in for a *lot* of experimentation (and some
difficulty in obtaining the various chemicals many of which require
transport under a hazardous load certificate!)
You will find plenty of information on curing tobacco through google :)
Good luck, I hope this helps
Ivan.
ps. If you have too much seed, don't forget your good friend :)
The biggest problem is tobacco mosaic virus and that is already *rampant*
throughout the world.
Be aware that any food gardeners near you will probably string you up
though because tobacco mosaic virus affects tomatoes badly and your
neighbours could easily lose their entire crops :(
Ivan.
Google?
??
;-)
--
Stephen Oakes
Well. I did not expect so much info. Thanks heaps.
I live on a fairly isolated block, and no other houses for about a km. I
don't grow tomatoes. but I do grow heaps of other plants and vegies.
I'll google about how the virus might be a bad thing. There is a lot of
wild tobacco growing about other properties, ours is ok.
Like I said, it's for self use, so I'd like to get the curing part right.
I've got 1 seed pod that is about three years old. I tried a few plants a
couple of years ago and it grew strongly, like a weed.
Again, thanks Ivan, (& all).
Peter
I also read somewhere that if its not processed correctly, you can poison
yourself, so be very careful and do your homework first
>
>
What you don't poison yourself smoking anyway ?!!!
> "peter" <pax...@optusnet.com.au> wrote in
> news:428adfc1$0$10306$afc3...@news.optusnet.com.au:
>
>> Hi all
>>
>> I'm a smoker. I would appreciate hearing if it is legal to grow
>> tobacco for self use.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Peter
>>
>>
>
> Hi,
>
> I considered the same option and discovered that seed is available in
> Tasmania on a fairly regular basis and only rarely in other states.
>
> I then spoke to dept agriculture and discovered that it is *not* an
> importation problem (ie. agriculture in WA don't care if I bring in
> seed or not!). I checked with customs who also didn't particularly
> care.
>
Customs might not care, but quarantine do. If you can get your tobacco
seed from Tassie, and WA aren't concerned with it in terms of state
quarantine, that's fine. However, if you want to bring in tobacco seed
from overseas, you'll need an import permit from AQIS. You'll find the
import conditions database at the following link, and if you type in
tobacco you'll find the import conditions for tobacco seed.
http://www.aqis.gov.au/icon32/asp/ex_querycontent.asp
Rhonda Anderson
Cranebrook, NSW, Australia
http://www.greenpatchseeds.com.au/ ,
http://www.coffinails.com/curing_tobacco.html
http://www.jti.com/english/tobacco_corner/making_cigarettes/curing.aspx
http://www.lsc.org/tobacco/farming/growing/curing.html
p.s. Life's a beach!
God help us seashells.