Can someone educate me about home-grown tobacco, please? Is it safer to smoke than the pre-packaged cigarettes? Is there a process to making it smokeable from seed to finished product? We've been having a discussion about this but no one knows the answers! Thanks! (as I'm a confirmed EX-smoker, it's really ironic that I'm the one asking about this! :)

-- Nancy (nannyk58@yahoo.com), November 16, 2000

Answers

Nancy, I was considering this also. Homegrown tobacco, while legal for personal use is a very difficult crop to maintain. I spoke to a freind in TN that had checked into it. It takes constant tending, curing can take up to 2 years and if you are rolling cigars, a leaf from the northern regions must be purchased for the wrapper. He found it was cheaper and easier to buy "natural" commercial products.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), November 16, 2000.

Kinda like asking is it saver to shoot yourself with a .38 rather than a .45! Don't know about natural tabac, but the chemicals the cig companies add for sure are bad for you. Even chewers of natural tabac get mouth and throat cancer. Remember: SMOKING CURES LIFE

-- JLS in NW AZ (stalkingbull007@AOL.com), November 16, 2000.