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!
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.
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.
@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.
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.
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.
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.
@@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.
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.
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.
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
@@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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
@@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.
@@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.
@@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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. :)
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.
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.
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.
@@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.
@@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.
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.
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!
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).
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.
@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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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!
@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
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!
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. :)
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
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?
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.
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.
@@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?
@@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.
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.
All the plants are going to go to flower about the same time.. He forgot to mention you have to "top" everyplant which means to cut the tops off and the sucker leaves.. That is to help the plant start groing out and broaden the leaf! I know this because I grew backer with my family for 20 yrs! I could do it in my sleep.. Hated it as a kid but would love to grow it now! Lots of memories in the backer patch and backer barn!
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.
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.
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Townsends are amishes are close with the tridition of the 18th centery?
I love the 18th centrey
Im 15 years old and i loce history :)
I'm waiting for my catalogue! Very excited!
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!
Jon, as a former tobacco worker I just *had* to post this... ua-cam.com/video/AD6cQO4CWdk/v-deo.html
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.
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.
@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.
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.
@A1 had more of a hospital taste to me
@@fabrisse7469 if you want to keep anything alive, giving it cancer isnt the way
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.
Good story. Fermenting? I’m growing some now…north of NYC. 😂
Отлично сынок👍
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.
Alice the Gmaw thanks for your valuable input.
Pretty much how they used to harvest tobacco here in south Italy! I've some nice pics of what you described!
First job I had at 12 was in a tobacco field. Hard work.
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.
@@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.
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.
Lol history is very interesting
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.
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
@@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.
@@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 =)
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.
Wait, is there some sort of rivalry between cigar and pipe smokers?
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.
As an American history teacher and pipe smoker, I absolutely loved this video! Thanks for all your interesting and informative content!
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.
Holy cow $35 a day in the 1990s? I was getting $100, that's too much hard work in the hot sun for 35.
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.
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.
@@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.
@@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.
@@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.
@@life_of_riley88 isnt nicotine in tobacco as is
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.
But there’s beauty in that and we all appreciate the hard work that goes into it thank you
Can you do a fishing video? And possibly a shaving video? You have an amazing channel and it is very unique! Keep it up
Townsend could do a video about napping in the 18th century and I'd probably still watch it.
Shaving hasn't changed. Look up the straight razor technique, it hasn't changed in centuries.
@@polaroidsofpolarbears365 That's not what they asked.
Now those are two not oft spoken of aspects of the past
I would love to hear about 18th century fishing
Even though smoking is harmful, there’s no better smell than aged tobacco leaves
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.
Taste and eroma.
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.
@@bronsonshamsi1536 At least someone agrees with me! haaha
@@bronsonshamsi1536 thank you.
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.
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.
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.
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. :)
Super cool, literally answered all my questions! God bless
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.
loved this video...tobacco is actually an important crop for America...in congress there are pillars carved with the tobacco leaves
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.
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.
When he was discussing flavoring you failed to ask if they ever made nutmeg flavored tobacco. Smh
I've actually added spice to my tobacco 💚 including nutmeg.
Clove cigarettes were my inspiration...lol.
@@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.
@@MasterMichelleFL how good are indonesian kretek clove smokesssss
@@euckb They have inspired me...
@@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.
I really like reading the comments...this video seems to remind people about their childhood memories
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.
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!
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.
... Sounds like Washington knew the most important rule of narcotics trade - Never take it your self.
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).
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.
@1234 I agree with Ryan, because caffeine is addictive AND socially accepted and promoted.
Don't get high on your own supply
@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.
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.
Good questions and good answers.
Quality!
thank you, I love you channel to get away from the daily grind and learn in an easy peasy way. I love your channel.
18:50 "Come to Mount Vernon... check out this tobacco problem."
lol Freudian slip!
Good catch tohopes
Hahaha I laughed so hard when I heard that too. Hahaha
I'd love to see this type of discussion about the hemp that was grown before 1839ish...
Thanks again for bringing history to LIFE!!💚
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.
All that knowledge has been lost to history, recently people only had old patents to go off of how they processed hemp fibre
@@InfiniteWonderz2 That's sad, and a perfect example of suppression of nature, for profit.
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.
@@arthas640 I'd watch that!
LMAO
💚
I love this episode. Great replay!
Thank you for making these videos☺️
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
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!
I'm A Tobacco Pipe Smoker & Enjoyed This Video! Thank you & Good Job!
@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
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!
This was amazing, thank you. Could you do an episode on Indigo, another important early crop?
I'm from near Charleston SC and there were indigo plantations near here.
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.
The flower on top should have been removed. This sends the nutrients to the leaves, not the flower. This is called topping.
Not on all plants, if you want seeds to replant.
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?
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.
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.
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.
John Smith Could not have ships at sea without sturdy hemp ropes!
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.
Spent many many days when I was a teenager working in a tobacco patch
Thank you for re uploading this
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!
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.
I'm from Rhode Island, and the Gilbert Stuart Museum is a great historical site. Coggeshell Farm Museum in Bristol RI is also amazing
What a very intersting insight about the production of tobacco in that period. Thanks for this!
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.
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.
Great interview!
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.
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.
Great video.Hope you do an. Episode on music and musicians
Was the tobacco Nutmeg flavored?
Mike Hatley That sounds terrifying.
Everything was nutmeg flavored. Even water, clothes, candle wax, furniture, horses and sunlight.
I’m a pipe smoker so this video was very informative. I always wondered if they flavored the tobacco back then. Cool!
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.
Always so informative and entertaining.
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.
LOVE YOUR WORK & VIDEO'S JON !!! THANKS !!!
Really enjoyed this, has a personal resonance
This is GREAT history!
the 1st shipment from Jamestown Va in todays dollars was around 800 million
Thank you for this!
Great content! Can you cover the George Washington hemp farm now?
we all know he separated some of the females.
Great information thanks I've been growing it for a couple years and filtering through a Ton of confusing info 🖐🖐
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.
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.
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.
probably burley variety?
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.
I still remember when this first came out
Very interesting, great interview. Thanks
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. :)
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
I think we should see on hemp next.
awesome educational videos I love it!!!
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?
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.
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.
@@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?
@@maxgilbert18 That's hilarious. Freud smoking a cigar every waking hour of the day.
@@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.
Good video! Enjoyed.
Add Deer Tongue and other fragrant herbs as well as dampen and let ferment under weight pressure
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."
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.
"Check out this tobacco problem... program"
Legend
You're a cool man my dude. This is an interesting, intertaning, and informative. 👍
Awesome and very thorough history!
“Clearly an inferior tobacco”
Hank Hill
I'm going on a trip!
Heat and humidity! The DMV's leading export!
All the plants are going to go to flower about the same time.. He forgot to mention you have to "top" everyplant which means to cut the tops off and the sucker leaves.. That is to help the plant start groing out and broaden the leaf! I know this because I grew backer with my family for 20 yrs! I could do it in my sleep.. Hated it as a kid but would love to grow it now! Lots of memories in the backer patch and backer barn!
Why where all use the long white ceramic pipes so popular, just curious ?
This is fantastic!!
Very nice video.
I raised Tobacco every year in East Tennessee.
Great video. Very educational
Great show really enjoyed it!😉💚👍
Jon did a great job too, very knowledgeable.
Ah tobacco growing. Part of my childhood I don't miss at all. So glad my grandfather decided to quit growing it.
aisuru113 Taking off school to pole tobacco, hanging it in the barns, some areas having festivals and Tobacco Queens :)
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.
I didn't miss it from 5 years old until 58 years old , 3am in the morning until late at night, memories
I fxxking Love Tobacco.
I know everything about growing tobacco in NC, did it for 58 years, work and plenty of it ,all y'all need to know.
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.