Where there's smoke, there's usually fire.

Fire is not always a bad thing, not when it's a smoldering fire intentionally set on the dirt floor of a brand-new tobacco-curing barn.

A new metal barn was built for that purpose this summer at the University of Tennessee's Research & Education Center on Allens Bridge Road.

In that new barn, center director Rob Ellis is curing dark fire-cured tobacco grown on the premises. The tobacco is hung in the rafters to cure and dry, and heat from the fire speeds the process. Ellis uses wood covered with about six inches of sawdust.

The fire drives out some of the moisture and imparts a smoky flavor and aroma to the tobacco that Ellis said makes it more desirable for some smokeless tobacco products.

Ellis said that when he started curing the tobacco in the new barn, several people reported the barn was on fire.

He said he appreciates everyone's concern and good intentions, but in the case of fire-cured tobacco, smoke coming from the barn is normal, as a small sign along the road now points out.

Ellis said he decided to grow and fire-cure the tobacco after being asked to consider it by a group of tobacco buyers.

Dark fire-cured tobacco is used to make "moist snuff," marketed as Skoal, Copenhagen and other brands.

"That segment of the tobacco industry" is relatively small, Ellis said, but it has been steadily increasing in recent years.

Burley, along with "flue-cured" tobacco, is used primarily to make cigarettes. The whole "smoking" segment of the tobacco industry has been steadily declining for a number of years, Ellis noted.

Current prices reflect both trends. Ellis said the average contract price of burley has been between $1.60 and $1.65 per pound this year, while the average price of dark flue-cured has been about $2.40 per pound.

"I think there's a real opportunity" in dark fire-cured tobacco for local growers, Ellis said, because of the price differential, and also because growers "in this part of the state" already have the skills and experience needed to grow it.

Traditionally, most Greene County tobacco farmers have raised burley, which Ellis explained is prized for its flavor and its ability to absorb other flavorings. Dark fired tobacco is typically grown in Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky.

Ellis said fire-cured tobacco "looks different growing in the fields," but burley and fire-cured tobacco are grown much the same way, and share many of the same disease and management problems.

"You top it lower," Ellis said, "and the harvest takes a little bit more labor, but the big difference is the curing," a process that takes four to six weeks.

Even with all that, Ellis thinks fire-cured tobacco represents a real opportunity for at least some growers to realize more income per acre than from burley.

Ellis grew up growing burley as well as dark fire-cured tobacco and dark air-cured tobacco in the Spring Hill area of Middle Tennessee.

Buyers concerned about being able to obtain as much fire-cured tobacco as they need had approached UT, Ellis said.

He said his own background in the various types "and the experience I have with dark-fired made it a good fit."

Two acres of "type 22" dark fire-cured tobacco was grown for the test and demonstration. The curing barn is a demonstration project that is a "work in progress," as well.

When he started curing several weeks ago, Ellis had trouble keeping the fire burning. "Every barn is different," he said.

For more information, call the Research & Education Center at 638-6532.