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I noticed quite a few tabac fields in France which I haven't seen for a long time.
Maybe it's booming again. I doubt they feed it to the cattle. Are you sure it's not sugar beets?
I spent a few summers when I was a teenager picking up leaves in tobacco fields. Back-breaking, low-paying (obvs undeclared by the local slavedriver of a farmer) tough job.
The dark nicotine residue on your finger nails after a week's work is enough to get anyone never to take up smoking.(hourly rate paid to us at the end of the season was something like £1.35 c. 1987-88)
EagleEyez-
Definitely.
The crop it by regularly trimming the tops with a machine.
Crazy smell when it was going on.
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The dark nicotine residue on your finger nails after a week's work
When I picked it we got a layer of tar on the backs of our hands and our forearms. It was so thick that it was crumbling at the knuckles. When we passed the plants the hairs on our forearms would get pulled out, so we shaved them.
hugo7
nick_h.
I noticed quite a few tabacco fields in France which I haven't seen for a long time.
It got me wondering why more people don't grow their own? I mean if people indulge in ridiculous practices like growing tomatoes or looking after chickens, then surely growing and shaving your own backie must be trifling.