I've seen this mentioned in other forums, but a BOB search did not yield what I was looking for.

My question is, do you use the microwave on any regular basis to dry tobacco prior to smoking? If so, are there any "rules" or suggestions? Is using the microwave for this purpose even a good idea?

I haven't done it. Doesn't sound like a good idea to me. Mr.Pease has written (somewhere on the board...the search engine here rarely helps me) that he doesn't care for using such means for even getting a jar to seal. Some have said that they throw the open jar in the microwave for a moment or two and then tighten the cap, creating pressure at it cools. He wasn't keen on it. I don't have any particularly good reason to not like it, but I'm in agreement with him. It isn't necessary, either. That alone makes it undesirable to me.

I don't think that a microwave would do the job of drying tobacco very efficiently. Not to bore you with the science of microwave cookery, but the gist of it is:

A. It's bound to alter the tobacco in other ways, like boiling off essential oils or caramelizing sugars.
B. As you liberate water vapor, the tobacco will be sitting inside a hot, steam-filled box.

I don't dry my tobacco any way other than exposure to air--and not even that, usually. But I'd go with a low, slow dry heat, which is the opposite of a microwave. (Put a piece of bread in slow oven, and another in a microwave, and see which dries first.)

It does sound like it will end in tears, but if you are so lucky that you have some tobacco you can afford to experiment with, why not give it a shot? Do it in small batches and keep an eye on it, of course. Go ahead and pursue that slender chance of something good coming from your heresy.

No Nukes!
I use a desk lamp.

I've never ventured into the microwave realm to dry tobacco. Although I don't know the science behind the microwave, I think that anything that can heat so rapidly is probably a bad idea.

But then again unless it's very wet or not burning correctly, I don't dry it. I rub a pinch between my fingers if I have any concern about wetness, and dry the tobacco in the open air.

I think a high-intensity bulb such as found in a desk lamp would be the most light concentration that I would ever use.

If you were cold and wet and had the options of stepping into a human sized microwave or into a nice toasty sun room, which would you choose?

I grow and dry a lot of herbs. Experimentation with the microwave came to an end very quickly. If you insist on drying or cooking your tobacco, do it on a low setting and check it frequently. I'd recommend the prementioned lamp method, Alfredo and Hermit provide excellent advice. If you want to get all scientific, you can build a dessicator. It's a plexiglas box with a layer of anhydrous compound. In a half hour, that will suck the moisture out of your tobacco. You can find the dessicant at any business that supplies water traps for air systems, or at most any scientific supply.

Good luck on the project.