Smokers unhappy with the price rise on tobacco are turning over a new leaf and growing and cultivating their own.
Tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum) can be sold without restriction in garden centres and an increase in customer inquiries has prompted one Havelock North centre to stock the plant.
Demand for tobacco plants
has been steady at Oderings Nurseries in Havelock North since it began stocking the plant this spring. Owner Daniel Hart said customers were choosing to grow their own tobacco for multiple reasons. Most were sick of paying the high price of tobacco, while others wanted to avoid added chemicals, he said.
He speculated smokers may also find the same satisfaction that home vegetable growers got from growing their own produce.
Palmers Gardenworld in Napier previously sold tobacco plants but had not been able to source them from South Island stockists this year. Palmers continued to sell non-smokeable varieties of the Nicotiana species.
Owner Graeme Campbell said people more often bought Nicotiana plants for its ornamental flowers and scent.
"It's very stunning, big flowers and it's scented," he said. "There's heaps of varieties that are used. I've got some in my garden.'
Mr Campbell said there were always a few customers asking for the tobacco plants and they were unlikely to buy the non-smoking variety by accident. "The people that do come in and ask, they know their onions," he said.
Not all garden centres saw a demand. Jervoistown Garden Centre Janiel Phillips said only one customer in about 10 years had asked for tobacco plant, and they wanted to grow it for chewing. Mr Campbell said Hawke's Bay had favourable growing conditions for Nicotiana plants which preferred hot sunny weather.
It was legal to grow up to 15kg of tobacco for personal use, but illegal to manufacture tobacco for sale without paying excise.
