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I've noticed several vendors selling tobacco plants at the Maku'u market. Some of my ohana have been growing and propagating them with great success also.(They use the dried leaves to roll joints).
I've tried an internet search (google) to find out the legality of growing your own tobacco in Hawaii. From what I can determine (with dial up) it's legal to grow your own for personal use, but if you cure and process it, you should report it for taxation.
My question: Is it illegal to sell the
live tobacco plants commercially? In other words; Not for your own personal use?
punatoons
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How would you cure,dry & store tobacco in large quantities in this climate I cannot imagine it.
Aloha au i Hawai`i,
devany
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There was an article about this in one of the newspapers a few weeks ago. It's legal to grow tobacco for personal use and it's legal to sell tobacco plants. However, it's illegal to sell harvested tobacco.
Aloha,
John S. Rabi, GM,PB,ABR,CRB,CM,FHS
808.989.1314
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Typically Tropical Properties
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Thanks John. It's the legality of selling live plants I was concerned with. They grow really well here and are not unattractive or difficult to propagate. I have a "dry" room that will handle small amounts, but still don't know much about curing.
punatoons
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Be aware that tobacco mosaic virus can be transmitted fairly easily to over 100 different plants (inc. tomato, peppers and many ornamental flowers) from infected plant material. The virus remains viable even after crystallization, so infected material that has been dried & cured can still be infective to other plants. check any tobacco plants/materials for signs of mosaic virus infection.
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This is a very stimulating topic. I thank Greg for bringing it up, and Devaney for input. Bottom line is that if you want to smoke tobacco, leave the growing, harvesting, and processing to the professionals and buy the finished products from legal sources, where there is quality control and taxes can be collected. Like alcohol, if you want to do it for your own consumption, that's your business.
