When an event occurs I’m looking at growing my own food. Because of this I want to get the kit together and start now. One of the areas I was looking at previously was hydrophonics so I could grow my food a tad more secure than sticking it in the ground where I couldn’t get at it before it was ready. To this end I was looking at container planting and hydrophonics. There is a guy just down the road who sells hydrophinics gear, gear that I will be buying under an assumed name and using cash. Don’t want plod searching my house looking for whacky baccy.
As part of this I was looking at what I could grow that would give me the best return on my kit. Sadly, it seems that for the best return on investment you really need to be a bad guy and grow illegal drugs. Drugs which will grow quite well in the UK btw.
I’m not ready to take the step from ordinary Joe to Ordinary Pablo mainly because I don’t want my house ripped apart by a bunch of heavy fisted morons looking to meet an immoral and impossible goal so I’m looking at what I can make legally. Basically, there are three high value legal products in the UK today; Fuel, Booze and Smokes. I haven’t got the land to make fuel so it isn’t worth trying, I’d hate to have someone blind on my conscience so that leaves smokes.
Tobacco can easily be grown in the UK. It can even thrive outside in the North of Scotland. It can be grown easily in an unheated greenhouse across the UK and the leaves are not very distinctive so that your nosey neighbours don’t turn you in. A good crop can keep a couple of smokers going for a couple of years so you can imagine how much that is even if it is from Mr White Van. Consider the benefits if you are paying UK prices, the savings over what you would get in the shops, the knowledge that it is not loaded up with crap and, most importantly, knowing you were not paying those extra taxes to the government.
No other crop even comes close to how much you can save. I’m starting my crop over the next few weeks. By the time it is harvested it will be worth even more as sin taxes increase.
You better watch out selling baccy…
When somebody dobs you in as they no doubt will in snitch Britain, HMR&C will come looking for their cut… AND
they’ve have the proceeds of crime crap now so say goodbye to ANYTHING that they think you’ve bought with your ill gotten proceeds of crime…
A very good post SD, Tobacco would be a great crop to grow especially in a survival situation. I used to have details of how to cure it. I will need to search for these and,when I find them, I will post them. Kenneth Eames.
SD,
You said you wanted to grow your own food.
You can’t eat tobacco (well you can but it’s not going to do you much good).
You want a herb garden and to grow some vegetables.
Bulk crops take up a lot of room.
I don’t smoke but I believe that tobacco (like coffee) is a blend of many types. A single plant is probably not that pleasant. However for those adicted you can probably name your price after SHTF, except they probably won’t have anything you want.
By the time a barter economy is set up the surviving (ex-)smokers will be out the other side of withdrawl.
I’ll stick to growing things that I can eat.
I grew tobacco for the first time last year and got a good crop, this year the plants have been very stunted and I’ll not get a crop I don’t think but will grow them on for seed for next year. You really should of planted your tobacco seed around May, though with the weather this year I’m not so sure. You do know your supposed to pay tax on home grown tobacco, the finished product is taxable. As for curing I’ve just hung mine to dry, takes longer but the smoke is surprisingly smooth. You can build cure boxes with a bulb and some water for humidity, or if you grow enough you can bale it and sweat it naturally.
great post SD! tobacco is at a tremendous premium in the uk, so much so its ridiculous, im only 18 but ive been smoking for 5 years, but in that time i’ve seen prices rise from just under 5 pounds to nearly 8 pounds!!
importing tobacco is a nice easy way to make money, smoker or otherwise, you can legally and almost always hassle free bring back a kilo of cigarettes or 800 pre rolled cigarettes, you can usually buy these for as little as 3-4euros a packet of 20 pre rolled and 3-4 euros for a 50g pouch of rolling tobacco 🙂 the straights will sell for 5 pound a pack happily! and the 50g pouches for as much as 8 pounds, but 7 is much more common, although as prices rise you can get more for them…..etiquette for selling imported tobacco is easy, as easy as goin up to a bloke on the street smoking, and saying you got some import for sale!…although its alot easier to talk a friend who smokes, usually he will tell his smoker friends that hes got a mate who’s got some import, expect to get rid of the lot in as little as 3-4days 🙂 not only will you probably make some of the money the holiday cost, but depending how cheap the holiday was you can even turn a profit! i know alot of people who dont buy english tobacco anymore, they just go abroad every few months to get a bunch of tobacco, the cost of the tobacco and the holiday is always negated by the savings they make!
anyway if anyone wants more advice on that sort of thing, or even if they just want a hassle free outlet for this cheap tobacco, just message me 😉
so growing your own tobacco is a good way to make money, but you will definately have to grow multiple varieties and its not very suitable for sale as rolling tobacco, pipe tobacco or homemade cigars will probably prove both more popular and depending on if you can make a decent cigar, more profitable.
but you’ll still need to grow multiple varieties of tobacco, of both light and dark types, including some nutty varieties for flavour, you could even cure it with some vanilla and things to make a nice flavoured tobacco, sun drying it will also add to the flavour, but proper drying and curing is an art form all to its own! learning about it will take a little while, but if you can do it right and find the right outlets you can certainly make yourself a good amount of coin 🙂
Hrusai, I have some formulae somewhere here on curing tobacco. I have so much material that it will take me time to find it. At least one contains honey and apparently honey gives a good all-round flavour. I shall keep searching. Kenneth Eames.
that would be awesome if you could share some of that kenneth! ive been thinking of growing tobacco as of late as well, so that would be brilliant if you did find it 🙂
I started growing some medicinal herbs this year after a pharmacy error made me realise the problems I, and others, will face post-SHTF. I aim to be able to treat my own ailments to a limited degree, though one family member is more problematic. There is also the possibility of treating others in the post-SHTF community; I already have certain medical training and experience so adding herbs to my knowledge seems like a sensible idea, though if all I achieve at the present time is taking less NHS prescribed medications I’ll be pleased.
I appreciate the return on tobacco would be good, but I’m sticking to good basic crops.
Spuds, onions, leeks, and toms.
We’re also growing medicinal herbs like moosedog for the same reasons.
If everything financial crashes like the experts keep on saying, it’ll be food and drugs we need.
Herbs such as Ginseng, Agnus castus, St. John’sWort and Valerian are worth growing. Ginseng is a male tonic, Agnus castus is a Female tonic. St. John’s Wort and Valerian are for stress, which will be very common in a survival situation. Should anyone have health problems, let me know what they are, in the Alternative medicine section, and I will recommend treatment when you can no longer obtain NHS medication. Kenneth Eames.
Thank you Kenneth, it’s good to get a few recommendations. Trying to research online or from books gets confusing with the sheer amount of information available so the four you mention could be added to my small collection without causing undue stress to my overworked brain!
ive actually been looking into medicinal plants lately, so ill probably put together a thread on it in the forums, or if theres already one, revive it :)….its certainly worth doing! it’ll also be useful to know how to extract and make aspirin from tree bark 🙂
I’m going to be planting Goji Berry plants in random, off the beaten track locations around both Bug In, Bug Out and en route locations. Goji Berries are packed with goodness, to me it is high value. To others at this time of plenty they may not seem of high value but after an event when vitamins, minerals and nutrition is poor, Goji Berries will be beneficial and in demand!
Hrusai, Just infuse the bark or grind it and take as a powder. You can buy empty capsules and fill the capsules, but I know you’re interested in Chemistry, so you will enjoy extracting Aspirin. Aspirin is useful in extracting explosive to, so something else for you to do. Kenneth Eames.
ill most definately be looking into that! thanks for the tip mate 🙂
If I remember correctly isn’t the bark willow bark (for the salicylic acid)
UKprepper88, Yes Willow Bark contains Salicylic acid. The name is derived from the Genus name Salix. Hrusai, mix a soonful of honey in two ounces of alcohol and soak your tobacco leaf in this. This is Hone dew tobacco. Smoke and enjoy. I’m still searching for other info. Kenneth Eames.