Maryland tobacco

[BigBonner]

I raised alot of Maryland tobacco this year . What is the best uses for this type of tobacco . I have heard wrapper , light cigs and filler .
Big long wide leaves that seem thin .
What has others on here used Maryland for ?

 

[FmGrowit]

This is from various sites. Some of it has been copied several times

It's most commonly used in Swiss cigarette blends...not sure what that is.

At one time, it was a component in almost all American blend cigarettes, going right back to the first American blend, RJ Reynolds’ Camel.

The burning ability of Southern Maryland leaf, which is very thin, made it appealing to domestic companies. But in the last 20 years or so, they seem to have found some other means to achieve that end.

Maryland cigarettes One of the main types of blended cigarettes, which are those made with a mixture of tobacco varieties. As their name suggests, Maryland cigarettes are made almost entirely of Maryland tobacco and are mild in taste.


Maryland tobacco Used primarily in American-blend and Maryland cigarettes, this type of tobacco is light air-cured and has a neutral taste. Although first grown in the U.S. state of Maryland , this type of tobacco is now grown in other regions of the U.S. and in various other countries.

 

[deluxestogie]

As I was reading this thread, I was half-way through smoking a cigar with filler mostly BigBonner Maryland plus a single leaf half of FmGrowit's Hungarian Colon (both compliments of FmGrowit), wrapped in a medium-brown leaf of my own Comstock Spanish. Only the wrapper went through the kiln; the filler is as received. The MD leaf, by itself (I smoked a MD puro yesterday) is mild, has only the mildest flavor and nicotine, and burns very well. Straight Colon will make you see stars. (I kilned some Colon a few months ago, and it tamed it a bit, but it was still pretty strong stuff.) The two blended make a wonderful, medium strength smoke. (Since the wrapper provides the taste on the tongue, the wrapper leaf really needs to be kilned.)

So, in addition to its obvious use for cigarettes, as discussed above, it makes a mild-flavored, mild-strength blending component for both pipe and cigar, particularly when blended with heftier companions. The MD can allow me to roll a truly fat cigar that burns well, while keeping the total nicotine of stronger filler components from making my head spin. An all MD cigar with a single, 1/4" wide strip of processed Perique yields a mild-to-medium cigar with generous flavor.

I'll be growing two MD varieties next season (Catterton and Keller), and I'm now looking forward to it all the more.

Bob

 

[Jitterbugdude]

I have mixed feelings about Maryland tobacco. I grew some MD 609 (via plants from BigBonner) this past year and was planning on using them for cigar wrappers. They have a very large thin leaf but the problem is the veins are very pronounced, making for a lousy sun grown wrapper. I made some cigarettes out of some (100%) and gave to my wife. She did not like them. It makes an OK pipe tobacco though but would probably be best suited for what it has always been used for.. blending

Randy B

 

[BigBonner]

I think that the same type of tobacco may be different in texture as to the part of the country it was grown in . I think that one variety grown in Florida may be totally different as the exact same plant grown in Maryland . We may have to start swaping samples to find out .

 

[FmGrowit]

They have a very large thin leaf but the problem is the veins are very pronounced, making for a lousy sun grown wrapper.

I think that one variety grown in Florida may be totally different as the exact same plant grown in Maryland.

I think it a combination of a lot of things.

For a wrapper, it should be grown far south where the leaf can develop nicotine earlier than leaf grown in the north. Early nicotine development can lead to the leaf being harvested earlier so the veins don't have time to develop.

I think the northern grown leaf would develop a full flavor when allowed to fully mature, but on the same note...it would make a super mild wrapper if harvested before the veins became over developed. Only question is...would early harvested northern leaf develop enough to hold itself together?

Maybe a clear canopy or even green house grown northern leaf could simulate southern grown wrapper?

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Only question is...would early harvested northern leaf develop enough to hold itself together?

That's the problem with me being from Maryland... not really north, and not really south!
The Maryland I grew last year was harvested at 2 weeks, 4 weeks and 6 weeks after topping. They all had the same characteristics, a very thin large leaf with big veins.

 

[BigBonner]

Randy B

There is a difference as to our curing and harvesting . I cut mine whole stalk at 3 weekss after topping .I stalked cured mine .
This maryland has some of the best evenest color to it as any tobacco I have grown .It sure does take alot of spacing with the large leaves and thick mid rib .

 

[SmokesAhoy]

Oooh lightbulb clicked on after reading FM's post. Maybe that's why all my tobacco has no nicotine, even the primitive. Maybe I need to let it go more than a month after topping. I wonder if a non user would nnotice anything.