Tagged: tobacco

Kate Lochte speaks with western Kentucky native and author Bobbie Smith Bryant on Sounds Good. Bryant was born in the Black Patch of Calloway County and shares her family's heritage in a new book titled, "Passions of the Black Patch: Cooking and Quilting in Western Kentucky." Black Patch is the region in western Kentucky and northwestern Tennessee where a specific type of tobacco, which has distinctly dark leaves, is grown.

Learn more at bobbiesmithbryant.com.

Last November, a new documentary about raising dark-fired tobacco titled “Farming in the Black Patch" debuted in Murray. The film starts its first run on KET at 8 p.m. Central tonight, with shows scheduled through March on both KET and KET KY. The name Black Patch comes from the dark leaves of the kind of tobacco that's smoke-cured in barns and used for pipe blends, chewing, and snuff. Kate Lochte has more with the filmmaker and writer. 

While state lawmakers ponder a statewide smoking ban, a coalition of health care groups is sponsoring an advertising campaign urging Kentucky to go smoke-free.

A new survey of retail tobacco outlets in Kentucky shows more than 94 percent are compliant with the law barring tobacco sales to people younger than 18. The Cabinet for Health and Family Services says Kentucky's average since the program began in 1997 is 9.5 percent violation, which was below the national average of 15.8 percent in that time.

Burley tobacco farmers in Kentucky and Tennessee are seeing their best paydays since plunging into the free market. Tight leaf supplies and a quality crop that bounced back after this summer’s drought are bringing burley growers nearly $2 per pound.