My memory, in Tennessee, we only "fired" Dark Tobacco. Burley was air-cured. Our Dark barn was just a dirt floor and after we got it hung in the barn on the tier poles we fired it by covering the floor with five or six inches of saw dust then making furrows or ditches in the sawdust and laying wood slabs in them. Set the slabs on fire and when they got to burning good, a couple of us younger boys would take our deepest breath and hold our breath while we went, quickly, through the barn with a corn scoop covering the burning slabs with the sawdust and the smoke came a rolling out. Run out from the barn, get a fresh breath of air and close both barn doors on each end. Then repeat the next day and until the tobacco was cured (the right color brown). Then wait for rain to bring the tobacco leaves in order so you could strip the leaves off the tobacco stalks as not to crumble them. Seems like we stripped it - graded or separated it - into three groups---Bright, 2nds, and Lugs. Then "booked" it and took it to Clarksville and sold it in the tobacco warehouses. Often an overnight trip if we delivered it the 30 miles on mules and wagons. Then get our money in December and start over in the spring with seed beds (plant beds). About 35--45 cents a pound was average price we got paid for the tobacco.
Chazmo:
Your father was a very good man, Shelby. Thanks for sharing that. Brought a little tear to my eye. I miss my dad even though he's been gone a long time.
You had a smart doctor who was also wise. And your friends supported you. Great story.What a clever way to stop a kid smoking before it was too difficult
I was lucky, too. At about 12 i started to smoke now and then - peer pressure - and never liked it - but a kid has to be "tough" . . .
We had annual health inspections at school - including blood tests. Then one fine day the doctor showed me my card - pointed the row with diminishing values of red blood particles. He said : " I believe you have started smoking. Here you can see what it does to you. My advice is to stop - the sooner the better. " And he was nice - never even slightest word about it to teachers or my parents.
So i just quitted on spot - what a relief. My friends were all very good about it, too. When someone tried to tease me for not smoking the others would explain that I can not, because it ruins my health. Message was always delivered and accepted.
And while they were busy explaining how it would ruin my health - they all kept puffing along . . .
Yeah, most of my reaction to these guitars has to do with my nostalgia connected with living in that area for 35 years. I too probably wouldn't buy one. For me these guitars are representative of what was once a rural area which has now been taken over by urban sprawl. Of course, driving by tobacco fields always made me wonder just how many deaths an acre of tobacco represented.