Harvesting is easy enough, put your hand on top of the leaf at the base of the stem and push down, it should make a satisfying cracking sound. Make sure you keep your leaves in separate piles so you know which ones are which. Tobacco leaves are very sticky so wear gloves.



to dry them you need to hang them in a warm place out of direct sun light, a shed or a barn would be good for this. I used a shed.



put 2 leaves back to back and punch a hole through the stem, feed through some string, i found it easier to tie one end off to where i was hanging them and just pull the leaves across. make sure the leaves don't touch as this could cause them to go moldy. I had this one some of my Adonis leaves which was fine as I only grew them because they were extra seeds i got with the batch.



the Samsoun I put together in batches using a rubber band, you can bind 2 of the big leaves together with a rubber band and hang them over the string, I started to do this once i realized it was easier, make sure the rubber band is tight, it should keep a grip on the leaves while they shrink as they dry.



check on them every few days to make sure they are drying evenly and not too quickly, if they dry too quickly they will be green.



once they are dry take the band off and put them in a cardboard box for a couple of months to cure.



when they are cured they will be brittle so be careful, to rehydrate them a little, put them a few leaves in a plastic bag and using a spray bottle spray a little water in the bag. Wrap the bag over so its air tight and put it in a warm place overnight like an airing cupboard.



now you can chop them up, you can buy tobacco shredders or you can make your own, or compress the leaves in to a block and use a very sharp knife to take fine slices off the block, when you have cut it up, fluff it up and put it in a air tight container. People have tried to use things like paper shredders and pasta shredders to varying degrees of success, but honestly you are better off using a proper shredder or a good sharp knife. at some point i hope to make my own tobacco shredder I am thinking of making one based on an old Victorian design, which i will write an instructable on when I have done it.



if you want to make cigars then you will need to ferment the tobacco and this is a very good instructable on making a fermentation box.



https://www.instructables.com/id/Tobacco-fermentation-curing-chamber-for-cigars/