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Home Made Chewing Tobacco

58K views 12 replies 10 participants last post by  Mountainstories 
#1 ·
Hey Everyone
This is my first post on Survivalist Boards, and I thought I'd make it about something near and dear to me. I am going to be growing tobacco this upcoming spring and i would like some advice on the topic if anyone has any to offer. I would also appreciate recipes on how to create flavored/unflavored chew, or how to make chew.
*Any and all advice will be much appreciated*
Thanks Everyone,
Matt
 
#4 ·
Do you want a "plug" or loose chew?

Making a plug - Use a form press or a press box. We used a 1x6x24" with a 1x1" nailed around the edges to form a box on the board. You also need a 2x6x24" as a top weight and a 5 gallon bucket of water for weight. Now, take clean, in case tobacco and try to mix a bit of color using darker and lighter leaves after placing a light brown leaf to make the liner in your press box (this maye lake a few leaves depending on size). Now place a lot of prime leaves on the liner and gently press them down so you don't rip the liner leaf. It will press down a lot so you need a LOT of good tobacco, but they can be smaller or ripped leaves. Press them down occassionally to make sure you have a smooth top. When the press is full and ready to set fold the liner edges over the top and take more brown leaves for the top liner. Prior to placing them you can sprinkle a layer of molasses or pure apple juice over the inside, place the liner leaves on and use the 2x6x24 as your seal. Place a 5 gallon bucket of water on top and wait for 3 days to 4 weeks. The cooler the weather the longer it can wait. The top seal shouldn't sit on the wood right away. If it does you need to open it and place more filler leaves inside! The seal plate will be on the wood after about 12 hours if you have it right.

The press takes a LOT of filler leaves so make sure you press it down firmly.

The plug when set will be quite firm and all you need to do is cut in to convienient sizes and place in foil then a ziplock bag till you are ready to use it. If you want a fruity flavor you can add fresh fruit inside the ziplock and use as it seasons.

Loose chew I'll have to think on as I can't remember how we made it.
 
#5 ·
For Loose leaf chew - I recall Pap had some small wooden kegs, Plastic would probably work too, where as we stripped the tobacco off the stalks he'd choose the leaves and pin them on small nails about an inch down from the top of the keg. When he decided he had enough tobacco in one keg he'd place a small bowl of cut fruit, usually apple as we had plenty of those, in the middle and he'd sprinkle some juice on the leaves, place the lid tightly and wair about 3 days before he took the fruit out. He'd sprinkle the leaves with more juice and close it for a week or so.

In a 2 quart old pan he'd thin out molasses with some whiskey ( a cheap whiskey is OK here) and soak a lot of tips and "roughage" tobacco (this was the partial leaves or tips of the plants with very small leaves). This was covered and waited for a week also. If there was a lot of unabsorbed juice he'd add more roughage.

Now as he used his chew, he'd take a large handful of his fruited tobacco and then add in enough of his molasses to make it moist but not wet. This stood for a week or so closed in a foil pack, then he'd give us our chew. Normally we'd just mix it all at the same time as we only used apple for the most part but if you want a variety mix them seperately.

You can also burn a cinnamon stick in the apple keg to effectively "smoke" the tobacco and it's quite nice. I'm sure there are many other things you can do as well.

When tobacco is "in case" it is lightly sticky and doesn't crumble as you handle it. It should feel like it is damp but not wet. The better your tobacco cases the better your plug and chew will be.

If you start making your chew and the weather turns hot, simply place it in a cool place like a root cellar to hold the case.
 
#6 ·
Pap normally chose leaves that were really small ot just the finers leaves so veins were not an issue for the most part. He saved the thick veined leaves for his pipe tobacco. We normally stripped the tobacco after a couple days of heavy fall dews or a nice rain. We didn't go to school til it was all done either.

We usually just layered in the young leaves and edges or tips. We didn't shred it as it was going to be cut up into avout 1x1 cubes for your mouth or smaller. Pap would cut a 1/4" x 2" slip and carry it all day under his top lip.
 
#9 ·
I have been considering homemade too, for healthier option. But I read that tobacco leaf itself has the carcinogen in it. This true? And then I wondered if anyone has tried it with any other plant leaf? With some of your recipes here, it seems you could dry, soak & flavor anything. Thoughts for experiments?
 
#11 ·
There is a neat piece of info from the mountains of Kentucky I remember from childhood. First of all, my Great Uncles didn't use the big lower leaves for chew.The top leaves weren't as bitter. They would find a sweet gum, sugar maple or even a big sassafras tree (sassafras usually does grow to be very big in the trunk). They would bore all the way through the tree with an auger and whittle a wood plug for each side. They then stuffed the tobacco leaves into the hole and plug each side. As the sap went up and down it would sweeten the tobacco. At some point (I don't know how long they left it) they would remove the plugs and use a stick to push the tobacco out and would then use it to chew. They claimed this is where "plug" tobacco came from.
 
#13 ·
I probably wouldn't use a plastic bucket or tub when doing this. The wood would breath some, would not be air tight and also absorb some moisture. Another important part for someone who is starting to grow their own is curing and allowing the tobacco to come into "case" as mentioned. Too high humidity and you'll get moldy tobacco. Too dry and you will have brittle leaves. "Dry to low case" is about 65% to 70% humidity. Old tobacco farmers could tell by feeling it when it was time to strip it (off the stalk), grade it, tie it into hands and press it.

Not a smoker or chewer, but it would be fun to grow some and do all this again. Stripping, grading and tying was a family affair and enjoyable as we stood together in the stripping room, talked and worked.
 
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