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Growing Tobacco In Early America

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  • Опубліковано 7 лют 2018
  • Today Justin Filipowski from George Washington's Mount Vernon sits down with Jon to talk about the tobacco trade in early America.
    Mount Vernon's UA-cam Channel ▶ / historicmountvernon ▶▶
    Help support the channel with Patreon ▶ / townsend ▶▶
    Twitter ▶ @Jas_Townsend
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 599

  • @townsends
    @townsends  6 років тому +72

    Get your Townsends merch here! ▶ www.townsends.us/merch-store.html

    • @theholypootischurch
      @theholypootischurch 6 років тому +1

      Townsends are amishes are close with the tridition of the 18th centery?

    • @theholypootischurch
      @theholypootischurch 6 років тому +3

      I love the 18th centrey
      Im 15 years old and i loce history :)

    • @point6acre
      @point6acre 6 років тому +1

      I'm waiting for my catalogue! Very excited!

    • @charlesredmond5958
      @charlesredmond5958 6 років тому +3

      Another Outstanding addition to this video collection. Mr. Townsend you are fast becoming (if not already) the popular interpretive "voice" of 18th century Anglo North America!

    • @Pygar2
      @Pygar2 6 років тому

      Jon, as a former tobacco worker I just *had* to post this... ua-cam.com/video/AD6cQO4CWdk/v-deo.html

  • @fabrisse7469
    @fabrisse7469 5 років тому +337

    As a girl (1960s-early 1970s), I remember driving into southern Virginia to visit my grandfather. In the autumn, you could smell the tobacco in the drying houses, and in the spring, you could smell the tobacco flowers. They have a gorgeous scent.

    • @Chebva
      @Chebva 4 роки тому +15

      I wish I could have experienced that so much. I starting smoking pipe tobacco over a year ago now. This year I started chewing tobacco. These are beautiful things that made the USA so unique. I hope I keep the tradition alive.

    • @fabrisse7469
      @fabrisse7469 4 роки тому +2

      @s One of the most poisonous ever. Agatha Christie used nicotine in several plots, usually from a garden store, but also from soaking the tobacco from a cigarette.

    • @prairiepatriot2162
      @prairiepatriot2162 4 роки тому +5

      That smell sounds amazing. I love the smell of a freshly opened tin of pipe tobacco, I can only imagine it curing in the barns.

    • @MardiKivMusic
      @MardiKivMusic 4 роки тому +1

      @A1 had more of a hospital taste to me

    • @Ottophil
      @Ottophil 3 роки тому +2

      @@fabrisse7469 if you want to keep anything alive, giving it cancer isnt the way

  • @albertbingemer7224
    @albertbingemer7224 4 роки тому +51

    Helped my uncle cut and hang tobacco from mid 70’s til the early 90’s. Hot,humid,sticky work. Dad had me grow just a 1/4 acre of burley like he and my grandfather did in the 30’s. Hand plant with a peg is back breaking. Suckering and pulling tobacco worms the size of hotdogs. Cutting,spiking,hanging,drying,and sorting for auction. If you’ve never been to a tobacco auction it’s a whole other world. Made $350 and suddenly it was all worth it.

    • @johnnyxmusic
      @johnnyxmusic Місяць тому

      Good story. Fermenting? I’m growing some now…north of NYC. 😂

    • @derevenskyi_live
      @derevenskyi_live 25 днів тому

      Отлично сынок👍

  • @Swearing0000
    @Swearing0000 4 роки тому +66

    My Grandad farmed tobacco. You could get hail insurance on your tobacco crop. If you had a claim, the adjuster pulled a number of leaves and counted the holes to settle your claim.

  • @GmaAlice
    @GmaAlice 6 років тому +420

    I'm so glad that it had changed by the 1950's when I worked in it. It was hard work but easier that that period of time. Here in the south the extremely hot summers made for tacky skin after a long day of cropping. I disliked cropping what we called the sand lugs which were the bottom 4-5 leaves due to the sand on them. We strung the leaves on a stick and then hung them in tobacco barns. Working in tobacco for others earned me the money to but my school clothes until I was 18 and left home and the farm. Thanks for the memories evoked by watching your video.

    • @oliviagomez815
      @oliviagomez815 6 років тому +33

      Alice the Gmaw thanks for your valuable input.

    • @a.g.580
      @a.g.580 5 років тому +19

      Pretty much how they used to harvest tobacco here in south Italy! I've some nice pics of what you described!

    • @djmankiewicz1000
      @djmankiewicz1000 5 років тому +14

      First job I had at 12 was in a tobacco field. Hard work.

    • @robertl.fallin7062
      @robertl.fallin7062 5 років тому +8

      Add how it took 5 days or more keep a propper tempture to dry the leafs of moisture turning the green leaf golden yellow or brown . The barns were heated by oil burners but wood fired heating was common, all of which could and did burn the barn down at a loss of about five thousand dollars. Im glad tobacco is dieing.

    • @arthas640
      @arthas640 5 років тому +7

      @@robertl.fallin7062 the crazy thing is to keep prices down alot of cigarette companies use so many additives and such that only around 35% of a cigarette is fresh tobacco, the rest is a combination of recycled tobacco from stuff they clean out of machines and stale tobacco, food products, miscellaneous additives, and pieces of paper that are soaked in juice from the stems, stalks, and roots of the tobacco plant.

  • @stenchtrench9554
    @stenchtrench9554 4 роки тому +86

    As a pipe smoker I loved this. I really really wish there could be a video that goes in depth on flavoring tobacco the old way. I bet those recipes are really interesting if there are any.

    • @matthewgabbard6415
      @matthewgabbard6415 2 роки тому +9

      Us and cigar smokers seem to be the ones who actually know the most about tobacco varietals and curing methods. I would be interested to know if the varietal of Virginia grown in the Tidewater regions and around the James River are still grown. I believe it was air cured back then which is different from the majority of Virginia leaf now, which is flue cured

    • @life_of_riley88
      @life_of_riley88 2 роки тому +3

      @@matthewgabbard6415 Interesting how pipers know way more about REAL tobacco than anyone else. I would also like to know your question, though I am not a big Virginia fan.

    • @digitalspecter
      @digitalspecter 2 роки тому +5

      @@life_of_riley88 It's probably because most of us smoke because we like the flavour and aroma of tobacco.. not just to get a fix =)

    • @englishmanpipesmoker3425
      @englishmanpipesmoker3425 2 роки тому +2

      I don't think they flavor it there. When Washington grew it he had his "hired hands" just grow, tend then harvest. They they packed them in the Hogsheads and shipped them out. I know Samuel Gawith and Gawith Hoggarth in England bought tobacco grown in the colonies and produced their signature "1792" Flake. Supposedly SG is still using their same toppings and casing plus the cake presser they used in the 1700s.

    • @fosty.
      @fosty. Рік тому

      Wait, is there some sort of rivalry between cigar and pipe smokers?

  • @clayford7039
    @clayford7039 2 роки тому +31

    Here at Ft. Vancouver, back during the fur trade days, Tobacco was grown for not just smoking and chewing, but to interleave between the furs in a bale to kill the pest that could ruin the quality of the pelts.

  • @skyhigh6
    @skyhigh6 5 років тому +93

    My family ( father' side) farmed tobacco from late 1600 until late 1990. When I was a boy, (1950's) I help my father plant tobacco seedlings using an L shape pointed stick, mounding the dirt up and planting the plants. Later in the season we often walked through the fields and picked tobacco worms off the plants. My Father's family farmed tobacco in Middle Tennessee packing the tobacco into hogshead barrels and flat boating it New Orleans. in the early 1800s. My late great aunt was still striping tobacco leaves in 1990 for $35 a day.
    Thanks for the memories.

    • @heidimarchant5438
      @heidimarchant5438 5 років тому +11

      Holy cow $35 a day in the 1990s? I was getting $100, that's too much hard work in the hot sun for 35.

  • @polaroidsofpolarbears365
    @polaroidsofpolarbears365 5 років тому +65

    Even tho I was addicted to smoking cigarettes at one point in my life, I still have respect for the tobacco plant. It's a huge part of why our country was successful.

    • @dr.realityresearcher2096
      @dr.realityresearcher2096 2 роки тому +7

      It's a shameful success. Every year many people dying because of tobacco, just because some people want to earn money and higher status. The people make those people rich. Wake up people and let us support each other for a healthy life.

    • @life_of_riley88
      @life_of_riley88 2 роки тому +17

      @@dr.realityresearcher2096 The cigarette industry is a shameful one, but the cigar and pipe tobacco industry is so much more focused on quality, and purity.

    • @pkx_phant0m456
      @pkx_phant0m456 2 роки тому

      @@life_of_riley88 @Dr. Reality Researcher (thats an ironic name given ur comment lol) dont forget the vape industry, its being destroyed by irresponsible sellers and teenagers sadly, but its all mostly medium size business in search of offering nicotine in a similar way to cigarettes with almost none of the risk or harm. the additives in Cigarettes are what cause the cancer and addictive qualities. Nicotine by itself is as destructive as daily caffeine usage. we know for a fact that vaping is 94-96% less harmful (whatever that means) than combustible tobacco thanks to the multiple long winded studies done by the Yorkshire Cancer Research institute and London's Royal College of Physicians. its strange how Every form of Tobacco other than Smoking comes with significantly less risk and addiction and people know the additives and poisons in cigarettes, but when it comes to Vape Juice, Premium Cigars, Pipe Tobacco, Snuff, Snus, Chew people want to blame Nicotine as the root cause and not the Arsenic (Rat Poison), Ammonia (Windex), Hydrogen Cyanide (do i even need to explain?) etc in Cigarette Tobacco. but thats my two cents.

    • @life_of_riley88
      @life_of_riley88 2 роки тому +9

      @@pkx_phant0m456 I completely agree. Tobacco was smoked or enjoyed by so many men and women throughout our western history long before cigarettes and their nasty additives came along. So many of our great authors, politicians, hell just great Americans enjoyed pipes and cigars. These men lived long lives and weren't "addicts" like you see cigarette smokers today.

    • @jansalomin
      @jansalomin Рік тому +1

      @@life_of_riley88 isnt nicotine in tobacco as is

  • @aaron3890
    @aaron3890 5 років тому +67

    As an American history teacher and pipe smoker, I absolutely loved this video! Thanks for all your interesting and informative content!

  • @deereating9267
    @deereating9267 6 років тому +46

    2017 was the first time tobacco had not been grown on our farm since the 1830's. It is very labor intensive and backbreaking work with much of it still done by hand.

    • @searchforthetruth1998
      @searchforthetruth1998 Рік тому +1

      But there’s beauty in that and we all appreciate the hard work that goes into it thank you

  • @samfulwider3882
    @samfulwider3882 6 років тому +234

    Can you do a fishing video? And possibly a shaving video? You have an amazing channel and it is very unique! Keep it up

    • @arthas640
      @arthas640 5 років тому +40

      Townsend could do a video about napping in the 18th century and I'd probably still watch it.

    • @polaroidsofpolarbears365
      @polaroidsofpolarbears365 5 років тому +4

      Shaving hasn't changed. Look up the straight razor technique, it hasn't changed in centuries.

    • @TheBlarggle
      @TheBlarggle 4 роки тому +11

      @@polaroidsofpolarbears365 That's not what they asked.

    • @starlight4649
      @starlight4649 3 роки тому +3

      Now those are two not oft spoken of aspects of the past

    • @5dancingisraelis535
      @5dancingisraelis535 3 роки тому +4

      I would love to hear about 18th century fishing

  • @tessat338
    @tessat338 6 років тому +22

    Anyone wanting to go to the Whiskey and Cigar night needs to get there reservations in as soon as it is announced. They sell out right away. Might be worth a membership to get the info.

  • @claytonpaisley9721
    @claytonpaisley9721 5 років тому +5

    All of my ancestors worked in 'tobacca' in eastern NC. Both my parents put in tobacco in the summers as high schoolers, and my grandmama who would have been in her 90's today did it her whole life, her daddy was a share cropper. She remembered being a little girl as her daddy would put it in the barns her ma would do all the canning for the year in jars, she would pack them and line them up and leave them for days by the furnace in the barn. I remember at family reunions in september as a kid playing tag between the rows of huge yellow tobacco.

  • @bronsonshamsi1536
    @bronsonshamsi1536 5 років тому +50

    Even though smoking is harmful, there’s no better smell than aged tobacco leaves

    • @robertgreen6027
      @robertgreen6027 5 років тому +14

      Only cigarettes are bad really, because you're inhaling other none tobacco toxins that aren't actually originally in tobacco. Pipes are better, in case and eroma.

    • @robertgreen6027
      @robertgreen6027 5 років тому +6

      Taste and eroma.

    • @bronsonshamsi1536
      @bronsonshamsi1536 5 років тому +12

      Robert Green True, a pipe smoker smokes far less, that is on an absolute level, than a cigarette smoker does. A pipe smoker goes through maybe a tin a month whereas someone who prefers cigarettes finishes a pack every 1-3 days.

    • @robertgreen6027
      @robertgreen6027 5 років тому +6

      @@bronsonshamsi1536 At least someone agrees with me! haaha

    • @robertgreen6027
      @robertgreen6027 5 років тому +3

      @@bronsonshamsi1536 thank you.

  • @gurgy3
    @gurgy3 6 років тому +247

    When he was discussing flavoring you failed to ask if they ever made nutmeg flavored tobacco. Smh

    • @MasterMichelleFL
      @MasterMichelleFL 5 років тому +11

      I've actually added spice to my tobacco 💚 including nutmeg.
      Clove cigarettes were my inspiration...lol.

    • @gristlevonraben
      @gristlevonraben 5 років тому +13

      @@MasterMichelleFL tiny amounts of pure essential oils are less acrid and probably more safe. Just remember nutmeg and cinnamon need to be diluted to about one drop per cup of alcohol, pga alcohol. You could go as high as three drops but any more and you might get irritation, and higher amounts could cause burning of the tissues.

    • @euckb
      @euckb 5 років тому +2

      @@MasterMichelleFL how good are indonesian kretek clove smokesssss

    • @MasterMichelleFL
      @MasterMichelleFL 5 років тому

      @@euckb They have inspired me...

    • @azcochise
      @azcochise 5 років тому +10

      @@gristlevonraben If your'e making clove tobacco, use crushed cloves not oil. You want your smoke to pop and snap and get the numbing sensation of the cloves.

  • @MasterMichelleFL
    @MasterMichelleFL 5 років тому +61

    I'd love to see this type of discussion about the hemp that was grown before 1839ish...
    Thanks again for bringing history to LIFE!!💚

    • @therugburnz
      @therugburnz 5 років тому +5

      I also would like to learn about the amount of hemp grown for plantation/cordage use vs sales/tax to the Navy vs commercial sales for profit and medicinal tinctures or folk healing products. I'm not including recreational use. That is a different area of interest that I wouldn't seem to affect the commerce much. Could be wrong of course, those cats seemed to talk about freedom a bit. Dang Hippies.

    • @InfiniteWonderz2
      @InfiniteWonderz2 5 років тому +3

      All that knowledge has been lost to history, recently people only had old patents to go off of how they processed hemp fibre

    • @MasterMichelleFL
      @MasterMichelleFL 5 років тому +4

      @@InfiniteWonderz2 That's sad, and a perfect example of suppression of nature, for profit.

    • @arthas640
      @arthas640 5 років тому +5

      I know you're talking about hemp fiber production, but i'm picturing James sitting down with a Thomas Jefferson impersonator and smoking rope together like that scene from Futurama.

    • @MasterMichelleFL
      @MasterMichelleFL 5 років тому +1

      @@arthas640 I'd watch that!
      LMAO
      💚

  • @SD-jp9ww
    @SD-jp9ww 6 років тому +8

    Thank you for another great video as always Jon. This one was of special interest to me as my grandmother picked and processed tobacco as a child-young adult in Georgia. She would always say the leaves use to make her fingers a tint of yellow after working with them so much. Fascinating to find out a little more about the processes involved during president Washington's day. :)

  • @tohopes
    @tohopes 6 років тому +82

    18:50 "Come to Mount Vernon... check out this tobacco problem."
    lol Freudian slip!

    • @jkrause365
      @jkrause365 6 років тому +3

      Good catch tohopes

    • @therocketman321
      @therocketman321 6 років тому +10

      Hahaha I laughed so hard when I heard that too. Hahaha

  • @teresajenkins9056
    @teresajenkins9056 6 років тому +50

    loved this video...tobacco is actually an important crop for America...in congress there are pillars carved with the tobacco leaves

  • @randallhawkinson4727
    @randallhawkinson4727 5 років тому +6

    Wow! Great discussion! I don't smoke except at Civil War Reenactments and only during visitor hours, so that they get the sights and the smells of that time. Now, thanks to this episode I can speak to the process and it's history and the amount of intense work it took to produce.

  • @Ultrad321
    @Ultrad321 5 років тому +4

    Fascinating! I love it. Tobacco farming was a way of life in the upper south from this time well up into the 20th century, it is only the last few decades that things have changed. My grandfather farmed tobacco here in Guilford County, NC like his forefathers did from the 1920s until his death in 1984. My mother took a different route, and became a teacher, but I grew up hearing all the stories about life on the farm. Wonderful work!

    • @scott236
      @scott236 2 роки тому

      My grandad grew up on the tobacco farm in Reidsville NC. His dad was a tobacco farmer. My dad use to go up and visit.

  • @ToryuMau
    @ToryuMau 6 років тому +113

    ... Sounds like Washington knew the most important rule of narcotics trade - Never take it your self.

    • @ryand.3858
      @ryand.3858 5 років тому +28

      He probably did just not often. The decision not to smoke isn't always taking some kind of moral stand or conscious objection, sometimes it just comes down to not really enjoying the experience.
      The media makes it look like tobacco is so incredibly addictive that you'll be hooked instantly but in reality it's more akin to coffee drinking. Some people just don't like the bitterness of it and it's no big deal. Realistically I put caffeine all the way at the top of addictive substances (and that's coming from a major coffee drinker and occasional tobacco user).

    • @matthewdunphy8524
      @matthewdunphy8524 5 років тому +12

      Pipe tobacco is not really addictive. You would need to be either inhaling the smoke (which very few do) or smoking a pipe every waking hour of the day for a considerable amount of time to actually become addicted to it.

    • @thomervin7450
      @thomervin7450 5 років тому +7

      @1234 I agree with Ryan, because caffeine is addictive AND socially accepted and promoted.

    • @randylahey8434
      @randylahey8434 4 роки тому +6

      Don't get high on your own supply

    • @matthewdunphy8524
      @matthewdunphy8524 3 роки тому +2

      @we are already at war No, you aren't supposed to inhale pipe smoke. I suppose you could but you in no way need to and I can't imagine inhaling pipe smoke would be a great experience.

  • @elmerdyson309
    @elmerdyson309 6 років тому +3

    Grew up in Maryland and my family were tobacco growers, I remember being in the fields sun up to sun down and spending my nights in the winter stripping tobacco leaves from the stalks ,packing in hacks for market and in the spring selling it. Lot of good memories but very hard work beginning to end.

  • @timfrederick7983
    @timfrederick7983 6 років тому +39

    Hi Jion, How are you? Could you cover the distillery at Mt. Vernon in a future program? We here at Historic Schaefferstown, PA are working to restore the stills used in the 18th century in the cellar of the Schaeffer Homestead. The archeology is almost finished. Thanks!

  • @lesahanners5057
    @lesahanners5057 6 років тому +8

    Very nice interview Jon. The fellow seemed well versed in the history of the tobacco grown there and the trade as well. I would have very much liked to have seen the tobacco drying barns and some of the packing barrels.
    I did research some years ago on Virginia tobacco barns, and those of the Dutch & German tobacco barns built in Maryland. The difference in construction is quite marked. The Dutch and German barns, being much more sturdily built, seemed to have stood the test of time better, which is why I was very curious to see Washington's barns, and doubly curious as to who designed and built them?!
    Could you ever do a video on different type's of barn construction in the 18th century? Or an interview with someone who still builds them in the old way?

  • @EricAdamsYT
    @EricAdamsYT 2 роки тому +2

    I spent one fall of my late teens harvesting tobacco in Kentucky. The plants are gigantic, so tall that there is almost no air movement when you are in the field. We worked without shirts so the nicotine would absorb right into our skin. By the end of the day I would be woozy, both from the heat and the nicotine. I had to be careful to keep my mouth closed when I'd take a shower or the bitter taste would turn my stomach. I know it sounds like there wasn't anything enjoyable about the experience and that was probably true at the time but now I look back on it fondly and am glad I did it. I can assure you that it convinced me to pursue an easier line of work.

  • @brentlichtenberg
    @brentlichtenberg 4 роки тому +7

    This was amazing, thank you. Could you do an episode on Indigo, another important early crop?

    • @alsaunders7805
      @alsaunders7805 4 роки тому

      I'm from near Charleston SC and there were indigo plantations near here.

  • @charlesdriggers199
    @charlesdriggers199 6 років тому +5

    I remember when I was around 7 in the early 70's. They still grew tobacco in South Carolina, though not as much as North Carolina. You could smell the bundles in the tobacco barns.

  • @renadenison6759
    @renadenison6759 3 роки тому +2

    Super cool, literally answered all my questions! God bless

  • @marktaylor8659
    @marktaylor8659 6 років тому +4

    Thank you for a very interesting segment. It's nice to see something about tobacco particularly in light of all the negativity associated with big tobacco companies these days. Clearly it was a huge part of 18th century life.

  • @TheBootyman94
    @TheBootyman94 4 роки тому +2

    I'm from Rhode Island, and the Gilbert Stuart Museum is a great historical site. Coggeshell Farm Museum in Bristol RI is also amazing

  • @user-wv6tc9xk9m
    @user-wv6tc9xk9m 3 місяці тому

    I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, not far from the former Reynolds plantation in Stuart. The Reynolds are of course famous for their tobacco. I have never seen tobacco growing and never knew how it was processed. This crop had such an important and influential role in our nation's history, I would love to know more about it. Thank you for this presentation. I hope to visit Mount Vernon later this year.

  • @JohnSmith-td7hd
    @JohnSmith-td7hd 6 років тому +11

    Next episode: Everything about historical hemp/marijuana! It's place in society, who planted hemp, what it was used for, legal status, medicinal purposes?, financial situation (cost, profitability, free because everyone grew it?, etc), etc.

    • @healinggrounds19
      @healinggrounds19 6 років тому +4

      John Smith Could not have ships at sea without sturdy hemp ropes!

    • @MasterMichelleFL
      @MasterMichelleFL 5 років тому +4

      Until 1839, there was a law requiring anyone staking a homestead claim, to obtain and plant at least two tablespoons of hemp on the property they were claiming.
      The livestock ate the hemp leaves, enriching them with natural CBD and other good things, making our meat and milk healthier.
      Then big industry profit mongers came to be.

  • @DancingRain
    @DancingRain 4 роки тому +4

    Thank you so much for this delightful video. And thank you for making a video that celebrates a plant that was crucial to our history instead of demonizing it as so many do these days.

  • @jimdandytheboss
    @jimdandytheboss 6 років тому +106

    Was the tobacco Nutmeg flavored?

    • @dee5298
      @dee5298 6 років тому +11

      Mike Hatley That sounds terrifying.

    • @badarock177
      @badarock177 6 років тому +31

      Everything was nutmeg flavored. Even water, clothes, candle wax, furniture, horses and sunlight.

  • @teina123
    @teina123 5 років тому +5

    I really like reading the comments...this video seems to remind people about their childhood memories

  • @whilburn2
    @whilburn2 6 років тому +2

    Jon, i read a book called 'The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution' by Robert Middlekauff. It deals primarly with the political and major issues of the time period, and i know how we all feel about politics, but you might find the book interesting because it actually does a decent job of describing day-to-day life of the colonial people and soldiers of that day. Based on the book, which is all i have to go on, Tobacco was the form of payment which would ultimately make its way to england to be turned into real money. One of the issues they described was that the churches were pastored by men who were raised and educated in England, were essentially an advocate for the King and the people were required to pay a specified amount to them in Tobacco. When there became an issue with tobacco prices becoming so low, and for whatever reason, the Tobacco crops became thin, then the requirements of payment to the Clergy couldnt be met. This became one of the issues of separating Church and State because of all the legal issues steming from this. There was so much more and i know that a large portion of the book may not be interesting to you but there were alot of things that may tie some things together for your own research. Keep doing what you do and thanks for all the information :) Wayne

  • @Ben-Jamminalot
    @Ben-Jamminalot 6 років тому +9

    Great video.Hope you do an. Episode on music and musicians

  • @tonydevault3844
    @tonydevault3844 6 років тому +2

    I grew up on a tobacco farm. Tobacco remained a very important farm commodity until the 1990s when the government essentially killed the industry. I also lived for a time in Dumfries Va just south of Mount Vernon. Located there was Port Tobacco on the Potomac River where planters in the region would ship their tobacco. Thanks for the video. It’s very accurate. With a few exceptions that was the way Tobacco was processed into the 90s.

  • @jayg1438
    @jayg1438 6 років тому +2

    thank you, I love you channel to get away from the daily grind and learn in an easy peasy way. I love your channel.

  • @Mark-zu6oz
    @Mark-zu6oz 3 роки тому +2

    There used to be quite a few tobacco farms in central Connecticut, but most of them were absorbed buy the suburbs in the 70's and 80's. A few are still around due to demand for high-quality cigar wrappers.

  • @TheChaz2011
    @TheChaz2011 6 років тому +18

    The flower on top should have been removed. This sends the nutrients to the leaves, not the flower. This is called topping.

    • @garbleduser
      @garbleduser 4 роки тому +10

      Not on all plants, if you want seeds to replant.

  • @jusmeinia7
    @jusmeinia7 5 років тому +3

    I discovered while doing genealogy on my family my 5th great grandfather owned a tobacco plantation in north Carolina then in Virginia in the 1700`s. The 1790 census listed him as such. Not bad for an Irishman who came to the Colonies in 1750. His brother is listed as a Tatter of lace. Thank you for all your informative videos showing how my ancestors lived!

  • @artrozenbaum2367
    @artrozenbaum2367 5 років тому +11

    Great content! Can you cover the George Washington hemp farm now?

    • @jinlim6575
      @jinlim6575 4 роки тому +1

      we all know he separated some of the females.

  • @linkdude64
    @linkdude64 6 років тому +5

    Incredible how much was going on in those times - we think of history as stale and boring, but stuff like this really makes it seem interesting. I wish I was on the east coast where I could visit these places.

  • @buggyridge
    @buggyridge 5 років тому +1

    I manged a watershed project for Quantico Creek back in 2000 for USDA NRCS. During the research I did for the project, I discovered that the town of Dumfries had so much erosion surrounding it from tobacco production, the ships could no longer access the harbor due to all the soil erosion that filled in the harbor. The year was 1790.

  • @tworiversfolk923
    @tworiversfolk923 6 років тому +3

    Great video! As a pipe smoker, I'm interested how our ancestors made the crops and refined them for selling. If possible in the future, I think it would be great to see how the tobacco was blended by the tobacconists of the 17-18th century.

  • @tomasviane3844
    @tomasviane3844 4 роки тому +1

    Good questions and good answers.
    Quality!

  • @eatportchops
    @eatportchops 6 років тому +2

    The hogs heads were rolled to the river or bay port where they were loaded on ships. There are still many roads named Rolling Roads.

  • @Subgunman
    @Subgunman 6 років тому +4

    I wonder if this historical complex is exempt from the modern government controls on growing tobacco? From what I understand the government today issues allocations as to the amount of tobacco that can be planted for market to various farm families. I have experienced the whole modern cycle of white burly tobacco, from prepping the seed beds ( usually with anhydrous ammonia ) to the thinning and planting of the seedlings all the way to striping and baling the leaves. What I never had a chance to observe were the tobacco auctions that took place when all was said and done.
    Another fact is that you can get a nicotine buzz just by cleaning up the plants in the field, seems hot sweaty skin can absorb the nicotine in the sticky residue of the leaves.

  • @erich4388
    @erich4388 6 років тому +1

    I love this episode. Great replay!

  • @charlesmay8251
    @charlesmay8251 6 років тому +2

    the 1st shipment from Jamestown Va in todays dollars was around 800 million

  • @goneutt
    @goneutt 6 років тому +3

    My studies of various histories tell me most ancient cities that failed wore out the phosphorus content of their soils. Rome relied on distant imports, and when things got rough the place collapsed.

  • @mikebrooka9395
    @mikebrooka9395 6 років тому +2

    My folks grew up in the Dust Bowl days. According to history, Mt Vernon's soil should be stronger than Washington's best day... Heck, the top soil from the lower Midwest is up there.
    Take care from Oklahoma
    Mike and Vee
    P.S. I enjoy your content and refer people to your channel so they can spend the time to make something special and healthy (compared to fast food) for their family. Like something their grandparents/great grandma made. Some of your recipes I know by heart, some are new. Thank you so much!

  • @zandig666
    @zandig666 8 місяців тому +1

    Great information thanks I've been growing it for a couple years and filtering through a Ton of confusing info 🖐🖐

  • @jamwar764
    @jamwar764 6 років тому +2

    Thank you for making these videos☺️

  • @edmundblackadder2741
    @edmundblackadder2741 6 років тому +30

    I think we should see on hemp next.

  • @1976346
    @1976346 3 роки тому +2

    Spent many many days when I was a teenager working in a tobacco patch

  • @WILDCATSAM77
    @WILDCATSAM77 5 років тому +1

    I'm A Tobacco Pipe Smoker & Enjoyed This Video! Thank you & Good Job!

    • @WILDCATSAM77
      @WILDCATSAM77 5 років тому

      @elmer cook Everyone's taste is different but I like Sutliff's Heavy English & Lane Limited Very Cherry & Lane 1Q. Three different ones to try. But Checkout The UA-cam Pipe Community. We Have Alot Of Videos Out There. Muttnchop Is A Great Start, He Has Alot Of Videos & Alot Of Knowledge. Cheers! 🍻 👍 😎 Happy Pipetime

  • @anke8402
    @anke8402 4 роки тому +1

    When I was young we went to Lexington, KY and it was tobacco harvest time. Along one road we found some leaves that must have flown off the truck on the way to the drying Barn. My dad picked a few up and put some in his cheek. Said it gave him a buzz

  • @dgracia18
    @dgracia18 6 років тому +3

    For a little more perspective on the importance of tobacco to the colony of Virginia, bear in mind that tobacco was Virginia's #1 export to England until the start of the Revolutionary War.

  • @petepeterson4540
    @petepeterson4540 5 років тому +3

    now I have grown my own tobacco I sowed seed transplanted it weeded it cut the tops and suckers of picked the bugs off cut the leaves and yellowed them in the dark cured them in my own propane flue kiln at 90 degrees 80 % humidity with fans blowing sprayed them with my own anise extract shredded them rolled them in paper smoked them until ash great cheap but very labor intensive. my plants where six foot tall my leaves where almost the size of a med throw rug for the front door I had cops stopping asking what kind of plant it was perfectly legal to grow and use you just can't sell it.

  • @deepblue2
    @deepblue2 6 років тому +1

    What a very intersting insight about the production of tobacco in that period. Thanks for this!

  • @bimscutney1242
    @bimscutney1242 5 років тому +1

    I’m a pipe smoker so this video was very informative. I always wondered if they flavored the tobacco back then. Cool!

  • @asamusicdude
    @asamusicdude 5 років тому +6

    We have alot of wild tabbaco here in socal.(nicotiana glauca) but its poison

    • @anderander5662
      @anderander5662 3 роки тому

      So is regular tobacco...... nicotine is used as an insecticide

  • @thecelticforge
    @thecelticforge 6 років тому +6

    When I attended ALHFAM's farmer's boot camp at Colonial Williamsburg in the summer of 15, we greeted the sun each day by combing over every leaf of every plant removing every single hornworm and bud worm egg and critter. I have been a farmer for most of my life and I can honestly say that by far, 18th century tobacco is the most labor intensive crop there is. I hope Justin is able to spray the plants after everyone has gone home or before they open for the day. There are very few people that I would wish an 18th century tobacco crop on. :)

  • @charlesq7866
    @charlesq7866 4 роки тому +1

    Great interview!

  • @benwilliams3539
    @benwilliams3539 3 роки тому +2

    This would get you arrested in Australia :( God given right to grow a simple plant just taken away

  • @Babba08
    @Babba08 5 років тому +1

    I grew up in Southern Maryland and tobacco farms were ubiquitous. I knew many boys in high school who worked picking tobacco. In colonial times the tobacco grown in this region was generally shipped from Port Tobacco, MD. Unfortunately, the river silted up in the mid-late 1800s. Interesting video. Thanks.

  • @MrGrundle
    @MrGrundle 6 років тому +2

    Good video! Enjoyed.

  • @sameoldmphymel
    @sameoldmphymel 6 років тому +2

    South East Louisiana, specifically the river Parish area was known for producing a unique tobacco called perique. I have a historical text I'd like to send to you guys, covering the early history of the Acadian influx into Louisiana

    • @THall-vi8cp
      @THall-vi8cp Рік тому +2

      Perique is still produced in St. James Parish.

  • @CrossTimbersSon
    @CrossTimbersSon 2 роки тому +1

    Great video! Reminded me of a quote by C.S. Lewis
    “A pipe gives a wise man time to think and a fool something to stick in his mouth."

  • @MajesticMe429
    @MajesticMe429 3 місяці тому +1

    I raised Tobacco every year in East Tennessee.

  • @cyruskhalvati
    @cyruskhalvati 3 роки тому +3

    “Clearly an inferior tobacco”
    Hank Hill

    • @fosty.
      @fosty. Рік тому

      I'm going on a trip!

  • @tallyhawthorn8555
    @tallyhawthorn8555 6 років тому +31

    You're a cool man my dude. This is an interesting, intertaning, and informative. 👍

  • @tessat338
    @tessat338 6 років тому +6

    Heat and humidity! The DMV's leading export!

  • @ricksang31
    @ricksang31 6 років тому +65

    that dude looks like a dimestore russell crowe

    • @ryand.3858
      @ryand.3858 5 років тому +2

      What he does in life.. echoes in eternity.

    • @skycryztals
      @skycryztals 5 років тому

      @@ryand.3858 take a shot every time he says "uh" throught the video haha

    • @polkadottedpolak
      @polkadottedpolak 5 років тому +1

      I thought he looked more like a Polish Leonardo DiCaprio. Especially with the voice.

    • @antionesmith4615
      @antionesmith4615 4 роки тому +1

      Maybe a mix between Russel Crowe and Tom Hardy

    • @Monomakh
      @Monomakh 4 роки тому

      I thought the same thing!

  • @TylerTicklesTigers
    @TylerTicklesTigers 6 років тому +16

    Does anyone know how much a person would make from tobacco in the 18th century? I know tobacco itself was used in place of actual currency for a lot of people in that time period. I have ancestor who lived in Virginia who was the Sexton of Deep Run Episcopal Church for around 15 years from 1746-1761 I know he was paid an annual salary of 536 pounds of tobacco. Just trying to find a monetary value of tobacco back then.
    Also if anyone has any reading material on how the economy and related things worked in the colonies in this time period I'd greatly appreciate you sharing.
    Many thanks!

    • @mrdanforth3744
      @mrdanforth3744 6 років тому +13

      One online reference gives a price of twelve shillings and sixpence per hundredweight in the period 1730 - 1760. So your ancestor's salary would be about 60 pounds. Equal to about $8781 today's money. This is wholesale price, retail would be higher.
      Another web site gives a value of $12422 for 60 pounds in 1760.
      In George Washington's case selling his tobacco wholesale would work out to about 110 pounds sterling per hogshead. If Washington shipped 11 hogsheads in a year that would be 1210 pounds which would be worth 127100 pounds in today's money. That would be $177167 in US dollars. This was just one of the crops he produced. There would be a lot of expenses connected with running Mount Vernon, still this gives some idea of the income of an opulent planter of the period.
      Another web site gives the value of 110 pounds as $22,773. That would make Washington's 11 hogsheads worth $250,773.
      To come at it in another way - if Washington planted 71000 tobacco plants and made 11000 pounds of tobacco that would mean it took 6.46 plants to make 1 pound of tobacco. This seems plausible

    • @TylerTicklesTigers
      @TylerTicklesTigers 6 років тому +2

      Mr Danforth 374 thank you very much for this information. Very interesting!

    • @louf7178
      @louf7178 6 років тому +5

      Tyler Shoemaker I also have heard that the term "buck", for cash, is from the trading of a deer (buck) skin hyde. I also wonder if "cash" came from illiteracy of cache, as in an official note written against an amount of claim on the cache of gold (easier to carry) than coins.

    • @tonymontana7566
      @tonymontana7566 5 років тому +1

      Mr Danforth 374 great information very interesting and informative

    • @ryand.3858
      @ryand.3858 5 років тому +4

      Tobacco was apparently used to repay a large chunk of the US's debt to France after the revolution.

  • @nathancooper9932
    @nathancooper9932 6 років тому

    Very interesting, great interview. Thanks

  • @jupiterfive
    @jupiterfive 6 років тому +5

    "Check out this tobacco problem... program"
    Legend

  • @rememberthefallen1970
    @rememberthefallen1970 10 місяців тому +1

    Growing up in Kentucky (where the majority of Tobacco is grown) I always remembered driving by the various Tobacco farms when my dad would be driving us to grandpa's house. I used to ask every single time what vegetable is that and my dad being a cigar smoker said "that is the tastiest vegetable on the planet." 😂 of course I didn't understand it at the time but still I think it is pretty funny now.

    • @surfrat8884
      @surfrat8884 3 місяці тому

      probably burley variety?

  • @bigrev1601
    @bigrev1601 4 роки тому +4

    This is GREAT history!

  • @waltergolston6187
    @waltergolston6187 5 років тому +3

    Add Deer Tongue and other fragrant herbs as well as dampen and let ferment under weight pressure

  • @jessew5152
    @jessew5152 6 років тому +12

    I know that Washington suffered from severe tooth pain (tooth worms) for most of his life. I've read that this is why he has a grimace in most portraits. Maybe this is why he didn't smoke?

    • @Gemmabeta
      @Gemmabeta 5 років тому +8

      By the time Washington was president, he has already all of his teeth except for one. He had various dentures made (at great expense) but none of them worked too well. And those dentures were responsible for his pinched expressions in portraits.

    • @Monomakh
      @Monomakh 4 роки тому

      Freud had atrociously painful, devastating oral cancer, and complained that the disfiguring, agonizing surgeries made it difficult (but evidently not impossible) for him to continue smoking his pipe. Smokers gotta smoke.

    • @maxgilbert18
      @maxgilbert18 2 роки тому +3

      @@Monomakh Freud smoked cigars, often close to a dozen a day if I remember correctly. For reference, an average size cigar takes about 45mins-one hour to smoke. So Freud spent at least 6-8 hours a day on average smoking. Is it any wonder why he got severe mouth cancer?

    • @life_of_riley88
      @life_of_riley88 2 роки тому +2

      @@maxgilbert18 That's hilarious. Freud smoking a cigar every waking hour of the day.

    • @CaesarGB
      @CaesarGB Рік тому

      @@MonomakhFreud was an idiot who smoked constantly and had awful theories to boot. Of course he had oral cancer if he spent every waking hour of every day smoking. Most cigar and pipe smokers do not smoke to that extent. The most I will smoke is once a day and that is very rare. It’s usually once every few days with my pipe.

  • @RME1911
    @RME1911 6 років тому

    It’s good insight into that a lot of folks back then were farmers and with that comes with a very unique mindset and knowledge.

  • @graysmith264
    @graysmith264 5 років тому +10

    I know everything about growing tobacco in NC, did it for 58 years, work and plenty of it ,all y'all need to know.

    • @torque8899
      @torque8899 3 роки тому +1

      I’m about to plant some here in Italy, it’s very hot an humid where I am so if you have any advice I’d be very grateful. Hoping to make my own cigars and pipe tobacco. The soil is good here and I have plenty of water living next to a stream.

  • @goofyroofy
    @goofyroofy 2 роки тому

    by 0:30 already thinking of the old Bob Newhart sketch....to-bacc-o!!!! classic xD

  • @kenjett2434
    @kenjett2434 6 років тому

    Fantastic video alot of information packed in. Its sure special to me seing my family had a 600 acre platation near Leedstown VA IN LATE 1600'S AND 1700'S. Havnt learned much about it as well not many records seem to have been kept maybe destroyed. So this gives alot of insight thank you.

  • @surfrat8884
    @surfrat8884 3 місяці тому +1

    Virginia type tobacco has a high sugar content which gives it a sweet note when smoked.

  • @VIDYMAE
    @VIDYMAE 6 років тому

    LOVE YOUR WORK & VIDEO'S JON !!! THANKS !!!

  • @codyhamilton7822
    @codyhamilton7822 5 років тому +1

    awesome educational videos I love it!!!

  • @piscesrain8882
    @piscesrain8882 6 років тому

    I live in Cecil county Maryland , it used to be a huge county in tobacco growing. You can take tours of old tobacco barns (although there aren't many left standing). There's one Amish farm near fair hill nature center and horse track that grows tobacco , I trade with them for dried tobacco for burning offerings each year.

  • @TheRealJaded
    @TheRealJaded 6 років тому

    Thank you for re uploading this

  • @BadlanderOutsider
    @BadlanderOutsider 6 років тому +14

    Love me a good pipe smoke. Clay pipes work fantastically as well.

    • @dee5298
      @dee5298 6 років тому +2

      BadlanderOutsider I have only used wood.

    • @BadlanderOutsider
      @BadlanderOutsider 6 років тому +4

      Most of my pipes are briar, but clay pipes are quite cheap and certainly worth at least a try.

    • @tworiversfolk923
      @tworiversfolk923 5 років тому +1

      @@BadlanderOutsider I tried it last month and its a great smoker. An odd one if you're used to briar but I find it can compare to a corncob almost for dryness

    • @keithcraig9820
      @keithcraig9820 5 років тому

      I’ve got several clay pipes. after you wax or lacquer the bit they are awesome smokers, especially with English blends. IMO

  • @helmutprost9714
    @helmutprost9714 6 років тому

    Awesome and very thorough history!

  • @TheNewMediaoftheDawn
    @TheNewMediaoftheDawn 11 місяців тому +1

    Nice, I just finished a nice pipe of good “English Weed” before watching this, pipe tobacco…🎉. The barrel pressings also allow the tobacco to ferment and flavour.

  • @mitchellkimberly967
    @mitchellkimberly967 3 роки тому

    Always so informative and entertaining.

  • @aisuru113
    @aisuru113 6 років тому +14

    Ah tobacco growing. Part of my childhood I don't miss at all. So glad my grandfather decided to quit growing it.

    • @peshgirl
      @peshgirl 6 років тому +5

      aisuru113 Taking off school to pole tobacco, hanging it in the barns, some areas having festivals and Tobacco Queens :)

    • @aisuru113
      @aisuru113 6 років тому +2

      Yeah we dind't get school off for that. It was all packed into the weekend. Generally the hottest weekend of the summer. My area never had festivals for it either. It was just another crop.

    • @graysmith264
      @graysmith264 5 років тому

      I didn't miss it from 5 years old until 58 years old , 3am in the morning until late at night, memories

  • @jeffnelson2197
    @jeffnelson2197 3 роки тому +2

    Why where all use the long white ceramic pipes so popular, just curious ?