Curing Tobacco and Making Plug

[MarkTK36thIL]

Perhaps someone's done this before with success so I don't have to decipher rambling posts from other boards.

Boot Plug Tobacco

In an effort to make this, would the leaves need to be harvested, dried, then steamed to give them play before putting them in the log?

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

[gilham]

Re: Curing Tobacco and Making Plug

I have made both plug and twist tobacco. FOr both of them I used filler tobacco that came with cigars I ordered online and was already cured. For the twist I mixed up some honey,molasess and a little water and soaked the tobacco in it for an hour or so. Then I let it dry a little and rolled it and twisted it. For the plug it was water,honey,whiskey and molasess. Soaked the leaves then pressed them in a small wooden box I made just for the occaasion. I pressed the plugs in my bench vise for several days. Both turned out well. They were sold at the suttlers tent at an imersion event. No one got sick and every one said they came out well

[MarkTK36thIL]

Re: Curing Tobacco and Making Plug

Thanks for the advise. I have about 30 plants to harvest this fall and wanted to try the boot plug description I posted. Two questions-
1) Can you post the link to your source?
2) Were the leaves already cured, and then you just had to pull the stems, soak, and twist/press.

Thanks!

[MissouriStateGuard]

Re: Curing Tobacco and Making Plug

Eugene Ware, The Lyon Campaign in Missouri, page 212:

"I forgot to tell about a new kind of chewing-tobacco that wc got this afternoon. A man came into camp selling "boot-heel" plug. It was a very fine tobacco, and made without machinery. Around Springfield is a very fine tobacco country, and the way ''boot-heel" plug was made is as follows: The tobacco was carefully selected, dampened, and a trace of molasses given to each leaf. A two-inch auger was used in boring holes into hickory or walnut logs, into which a strong, loose-fitting, flat-ended plug was fitted to act as a ramrod ; then each leaf was rolled up into a wad and put into the hole, and it was pounded down, leaf by leaf, with this plug driven by a heavy maul. After the hole was mauled nearly full a new tight plug was driven in to hold the tobacco down, and it stayed there all winter until needed for use. It was chopped out with an axe as needed. And when taken out it could be broken up into disks, whence its name of "boot-heel." We all liked "boot-heel" very much, and I do not know that I ever saw better."

[MarkTK36thIL]

Re: Curing Tobacco and Making Plug

Hi Kip,
That's the exact source I'm referencing for my experiment.

[Tyler Underwood]

Re: Curing Tobacco and Making Plug

Mark, please let me know how this project turns out for you as I would be very interested in trying this myself. What kind of tobacco are you using? Where you able to find a period variety to grow?

[MarkTK36thIL]

Re: Curing Tobacco and Making Plug

Will do Tyler. It's currently curing in a friend's basement before I try dampening it, and then pressing it into a block mold. I used yellow orinoco tobacco, which is suppose to be the first type grown in the country. By no means am I an expert, I just hope to make something the guys will enjoy!