Scott Byars of Corinth, Miss., snaps the tops of his homegrown tobacco plants in his garden beside his home, in Corinth, Miss. Byars says by snapping the tops of the plants the leaves grow larger and it prevents the plant from flower and pollinating.
Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. -- Something unusual is cropping up alongside the tomatoes, eggplant and okra in Scott Byars' vegetable garden -- the elephantine leaves of 30 tobacco plants.
Driven by ever-rising tobacco prices, he's among a growing number of smokers who have turned to their green thumbs to cultivate tobacco plants to blend their own cigarettes, cigars and chew. Byars normally pays $5 for a five-pack of cigars and $3 for a tin of snuff; the seed cost him $9.
"I want to get to where I don't have to go to the store and buy tobacco, but I'll just be able to supply my own from one year to the next," Byars said.
In urban lots and on rural acres, smokers and smokeless tobacco users are planting Virginia Gold, Goose Creek Red, Yellow Twist Bud and dozens of other tobacco varieties.
The movement took off in April when the tax on cigarettes went up 62 cents to $1.01 a pack. Big increases were also imposed on other tobacco products, and companies upped prices even more to compensate for lost sales.
Some seed suppliers have reported a tenfold increase in sales as some of the country's 43.3 million smokers look for a cheaper way to get their nicotine fix in a down economy. Cigarettes cost about $4.35 a pack; home growers can make that amount for about 30 cents.
It's the latest do-it-yourself movement as others repair their own cars, swap used clothes and cancel yard work services to save money.
"Cigarette smokers say, 'Yeah, we're going to die of cancer, but do we have to die of poverty as well?' " said Jack Basharan, who runs The Tobacco Seed Co. Ltd. in Essex, England. Virtually all of his increased tobacco seed sales have been in the U.S., he said.
Provided the tobacco isn't sold or traded, the Food and Drug Administration doesn't regulate homegrown tobacco.
