Coming soon to a cigarette near you!

[pjflan7]

Kentucky is not only known for its horses, its basketball and its bourbon, but also for its tobacco. So today, I'll show you a little of that business.....First off you have to have a viable crop and this year we had enough rain to have a decent yield.....The tobacco crop is about 4-5 feet high.....



Harvesting requires alot of bending and using a machete to cut the leaves at the base, near the ground and then picking up the whole bundle and thrusting it onto a wooden stake. I think there are about 4 to 5 plants per stake. The first bundle holds the stake up on a 45 degree angle and then the worker proceeds to cut and slam plants onto the point of the stake until full and then a new stake is started. They are paid by the stake.....the faster you cut and stake, the more $ you make. The worker in the bandanna is starting a new stake.



What the field looks like when the workers are done. The tobacco stays here for a couple of days and there is an obvious quick withering. They try to get as much moisture out of the plant as possible. They will lay in the field for several days before they are hand loaded onto two long flatbed trailers pulled by a pickup truck or a tractor and taken inside the black barns



Now we have arrived at the barn. Black barns are black so they can absorb maximum heat from the sun. I have a shot showing a barn with the trailers in front and I will post here in the thread when the rules allow. I chose this particular shot here because you can see that the plants are hung upside down and note that the side doors have all been opened. In this early stage, all of the doors will be open so as to get air movement for quick drying. If they close up too soon, the heat will combine with the moisture and the tobacco will develop mold and mildew. So, it must sufficiently dry and then they will shut all the doors and "bake" it very dry to where it is almost brittle like a very dry brown leaf off of a tree. When it reaches this stage, they take it down and pack it on the trailers (much lighter now) and transport it to the buyers' warehouses in Lexington. There the buyers will examine the quality of the leaves and assign it a grade and then combine that quality grade with its weight to generate a payout for the farmer.....the tobacco then ships to NC to the manufacturer plants for cigarette production. I don't smoke but if you happen to do so, then you might be smoking the leaves from my fields!

[FDCPR]

Nice series of informative shots, raising and harvesting tobacco is much more difficult than most people realize. You series is great for educating everyone, good work.

[ilookalot]

great story pjflan and nice shots .i reckon ive paid for one of those sheds lol. regards kym

[Chewys Dad]

Great Post Patrick, Very informative and wonderful supporting Photos.
We grow Tobacco in Thailand as well. My wife used to lead tours thru the Tobacco
factory not too far from Bangkok and I got to meet a Man who grows and process's the stuff.
Thanks for Sharing this
Michael.

[CatcherT]

for sure thanks for posting this, I had no idea how it REALLY worked. So, every year you must try for the "high" grade tabbacco!

[leonaashlee]

Thanks for this set Patrick

[Ella1267]

Very nice Patrick.....I am not a smoker, but like the information.

[pjflan7]

Originally Posted by FDCPR

Nice series of informative shots, raising and harvesting tobacco is much more difficult than most people realize. You series is great for educating everyone, good work.

I was hoping it might be interesting

Originally Posted by kym baddack

great story pjflan and nice shots .i reckon ive paid for one of those sheds lol. regards kym

think about all of the camera gear you could have had!

Originally Posted by Chewys Dad

Great Post Patrick, Very informative and wonderful supporting Photos.
We grow Tobacco in Thailand as well. My wife used to lead tours thru the Tobacco
factory not too far from Bangkok and I got to meet a Man who grows and process's the stuff.
Thanks for Sharing this
Michael.

To view a tobacco factory would be cool

Originally Posted by CatcherT

for sure thanks for posting this, I had no idea how it REALLY worked. So, every year you must try for the "high" grade tabbacco!

yep, live or die every year

Originally Posted by leonaashlee

Thanks for this set Patrick

you're welcome

Originally Posted by Ella1267

Very nice Patrick.....I am not a smoker, but like the information.

good for you, glad you liked it

[pjflan7]

here is a pic of a larger barn. It will be completely full to the roof.....3 or 4 levels of hanging tobacco....you can see the trailers here too. at this time of year you will see these on the farms and sometimes driving down the road to another farm which has an available barn

[Silverz]

Most interesting.

I always wondered how tobacco was made.