I am a dedicated non-smoker, but it occurred to me that liquor is regulated by the ATF and you are not allowed to make your own and sell it. Does the same hold true for tobacco? If I grow a plot out back, can I dry it and make smokes for sale? Or cigars? Why are there no tobacco moonshiners? I mean, a carton is like $100 these days, so you would think there would be a market.
Its all about the taxes.
There is a mega huge black market for buying in low tax states and reselling on the black market in high tax states.
My wife has a friend that grows a couple of acres of tobacco for high end cigars. He sells his to someone who rolls them though so I'm not sure how it works. If you're a broke smoker you can already buy loose tobacco and roll your own. I'm pretty sure that anything rolled has to have a tax stamp or something, but I could be getting that information from Eddie Murphy before one of the best car/truck chases of all time.
There are so called "Tobacco Moonshiners" they're called Native Americans.....They'll sell you cartons of cigarettes at really really cheap prices, but the kicker is, when the Excise Police show up, you are the one liable for the taxes that haven't been paid.
pinchvalve wrote: I but it occurred to me that liquor is regulated by the ATF and you are not allowed to make your own and sell it. Does the same hold true for tobacco?
You do know what "ATF" stands for, no? 
mazdeuce wrote: If you're a broke smoker you can already buy loose tobacco and roll your own.
With the last tax change a few years ago loose tobacco for rolling started being taxed at the same rate as rolled cigarettes so it's not as cheap as it used to be. Still cheaper than buying a pack but not by that much.
Dang Revenooors!
Ian F wrote:pinchvalve wrote: I but it occurred to me that liquor is regulated by the ATF and you are not allowed to make your own and sell it. Does the same hold true for tobacco?You do know what "ATF" stands for, no?
Autotragic Transmission Fluid?
JThw8 wrote:mazdeuce wrote: If you're a broke smoker you can already buy loose tobacco and roll your own.With the last tax change a few years ago loose tobacco for rolling started being taxed at the same rate as rolled cigarettes so it's not as cheap as it used to be. Still cheaper than buying a pack but not by that much.
I know people who use much less taxed pipe tobacco to get around this.
logdog wrote:Ian F wrote:Autotragic Transmission Fluid?pinchvalve wrote: I but it occurred to me that liquor is regulated by the ATF and you are not allowed to make your own and sell it. Does the same hold true for tobacco?You do know what "ATF" stands for, no?
Context, my friend... context... 
To the OP. You most certainly can make your own liquor and sell it. But you better pay the taxes.
I have no idea about growing tobacco for personal consumption today. I suspect US is going to want his tax revenue.
Back when tobacco was grown under an allotment system, you could grow no tobacco without an allotment (either owned outright or rented). I once ran afoul of the USDA for growing test plots of tobacco and peanuts for pesticide research, even though I told them it would all be turned under once the data as collected. But to make it even more obtuse, farmers could grow two acres of peanuts to sell as green peanuts even if they had an allotment of peanuts. Talk about a great system. The allotments and quotas are gone now.
Ian F wrote:pinchvalve wrote: I but it occurred to me that liquor is regulated by the ATF and you are not allowed to make your own and sell it. Does the same hold true for tobacco?You do know what "ATF" stands for, no?
…it just occurred to me that if we include “R” for rides and “S” for sex, we could rename the department FARTS as in the agency that farts all over everything men enjoy in life.
Please accept my apology for hijacking this thread with sophomoric ramblings.
JThw8 wrote: With the last tax change a few years ago loose tobacco for rolling started being taxed at the same rate as rolled cigarettes so it's not as cheap as it used to be. Still cheaper than buying a pack but not by that much.
I don't think so. The guys I know who roll their own are saving a bundle still. But, I think they are smoking home made cigarettes from pipe tobacco.
my smoking coworker and I had some conversations last week about this. I asked if he considered making his own cigarettes.
He stated he would get a part-time job to pay the extra money for his smokes than make his own - he also mentioned something "beneath him"
foxtrapper wrote:JThw8 wrote: With the last tax change a few years ago loose tobacco for rolling started being taxed at the same rate as rolled cigarettes so it's not as cheap as it used to be. Still cheaper than buying a pack but not by that much.I don't think so. The guys I know who roll their own are saving a bundle still. But, I think they are smoking home made cigarettes from pipe tobacco.
Yes, pipe tobacco is still cheap(er) Actual rolling tobacco, as I said is cheap but not like it used to be. You used to be able to roll a pack for under a buck, now its more like 2-4 dollars depending on what your chosen methods are.
Pipe tobacco is being taxed at a pretty high rate out here in California, to stop people from labeling cigarette tobacco and using one of those roll your own stores that kept popping up. Just like you would expect the state to do. A 2.0 once packed tin of the better brands is 24$ and change out here which is just drop dead nuts to me. Somehow and I don;t understand the specifics pipe tobacco can be bought online and sent in from out of state so that's what I do. I only go through 1.5 lbs or so a year.
I have grown a few tobacco plants in the backyard when I want to make my own pipe tobacco, and so that I could try rolling a cigar. Unfortunately its no where near as tasty as the high end store bought stuff and you can only buy flavor/filler tobacco in very large amounts.
I got some odd looks from the neighborhood but found that one of the crusty old guys up the street has been hand blending for years. I walked off with ~1/2 a lb of his home blend and my lord is it good.
spitfirebill wrote: I have no idea about growing tobacco for personal consumption today. I suspect US is going to want his tax revenue.
I'm pretty sure that a small plot for personal consumption isn't that bad......otherwise sweet corn growing wouldn't happen.
Homegrown!
not sure how a grow your own would work, but it seems like a good idea. If you can brew your beer and make your own wine.... then again you can't make your own hard liquor
spitfirebill wrote: To the OP. You most certainly can make your own liquor and sell it. But you better pay the taxes.
But you can make your own liquor for personal consumption and not pay any taxes on it as long as you stay below a certain volume/year (although certain areas do not allow distilling). I think his idea is to grow just for his own consumption.
Whether that is legal or not, I have no idea. I would start by looking for tobacco plants for sale. If tobacco is legal to grow on your private property, I'd say you're fine doing whatever you want once you cultivate it, provided you are not selling.
Gearheadotaku wrote: not sure how a grow your own would work, but it seems like a good idea. If you can brew your beer and make your own wine.... then again you can't make your own hard liquor
you can ... just not for sale
or as someone earlier said ... yes you can sell if you comply with all the regulations
edit: beer baron beat me to it
In California, you can not (legally) distill your own lard liquor. I think that is something controlled differently by different states.
As I understand, it's not the alcohol itself that's the issue, it's the distilling thing. Done wrong, stills can explode. They can also produce alcohols besides ethanol that will do some bad things to you. I think there may also be the concern of distilling other controlled substances too.
Edit: Actually... that can't be right. Stills aren't controlled here, just hard spirits. I've been to homebrew shops with nice, professional stills for sale, making it clear that they absolutely were not to be used for distilling spirits (wink wink). I'm guessing it's a health thing for if you do it wrong. Also, the best Gin I have ever had was some home distilled gin someone brought in to a homebrew shop to share.
wearymicrobe wrote: I have grown a few tobacco plants in the backyard when I want to make my own pipe tobacco, and so that I could try rolling a cigar. Unfortunately its no where near as tasty as the high end store bought stuff and you can only buy flavor/filler tobacco in very large amounts.
That's because you didn't add all that great extra stuff into it, like extra nicotine/tar/carcinogens. Without that stuff it might actually be easier to quit and Phillip Morris won't like that...
Cone_Junky wrote:wearymicrobe wrote: I have grown a few tobacco plants in the backyard when I want to make my own pipe tobacco, and so that I could try rolling a cigar. Unfortunately its no where near as tasty as the high end store bought stuff and you can only buy flavor/filler tobacco in very large amounts.That's because you didn't add all that great extra stuff into it, like extra nicotine/tar/carcinogens. Without that stuff it might actually be easier to quit and Phillip Morris won't like that...
Pipe tobacco tends to be pretty filler free actually same with cigars.
I cannot stand cigarettes.
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