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Facts About Tobacco
Expert leaf processing optimizes tobacco's
potential locked in its seed ... but can't improve the tobacco
from inferior seed.
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"No amount of knowledge or meticulous care in
leaf processing ... curing, fermenting, and aging ... can
improve the quality of tobacco. One can only ruin good tobacco
by incorrect leaf processing." The speaker is John Vogel,
geneticist and director of the farm and factory of Tabacos de la
Cordillera, in Puriscal, Costa Rica ... the world's only
producer of cigars using tobacco from pre-Castro seeds.
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Over 45 years of cigar smoking has
dealt me my share of havanas, both pre- and post-Castro. Most of
the latter have been excellent examples of inadequate leaf
processing. Castro must be in a hurry to get his product to
market, because his cigars assail the upper throat with a rasty
irritation, cause queasiness and occasionally even a spinning
head. Sometimes, with Cuban and other cigars, I notice a slight
burning at the corners of the mouth from impurities in the
resins, which have collected in the saliva. I've cut plugged
havanas open and seen tell-tale blotches of olive green on the
filler, evidence of inadequate curing or fermentation. |
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Curing |
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We are standing in Vogel's warm and
dry curing barn, as the annual monsoonal rains pound the farm
outside, now devoid of plants. Thousands of harvested leaves
hang in the curing barn, slowly changing during the 6 weeks or
so of the first of the three stages of leaf processing. Tobacco,
from seed to the point where it's ready to be prepared by the
factory workers and handcrafted into cigars, needs anywhere from
two to three years to create flavorful and aromatic cigars with
good burning properties. |
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Up, maybe 20 feet to the top of the rafters, the
leaves are in various stages of curing, depending on when they
were "primed" (cut), over a period of a couple of weeks. When
the tobacco is harvested, workers run needle and cord through
the stems of pairs of leaves, and hang dozens of these pairs
astraddle broom-handle diameter, 15-foot poles. Agile workers
then scale the precarious wooden rafters to hang the poles
horizontally, tips of the leaves pointing downward. Workers open
or close the windows, depending on the temperature in the barn,
to aid the chemical changes in the leaves during curing.
Sometimes in cool weather, charcoal fires are stoked in
containers on the barn's floor to elevate the temperature. |
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Changes During Curing |
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Proper, complete curing, according to Vogel,
involves two stages. He explains: "During the initial stage, the
severed leaf actually remains alive, but undergoes a slow
process of starvation. At first, the leaf is rich in starch. The
starch converts to sugar, some of which is respired during this
and succeeding stages, in the forms of carbon dioxide and water.
Green chlorophyll disappears, leaving the leaf yellow greenish
yellow. Changes occur in the nitrogenous compounds present. |
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"Next, the leaf dies. The consumption of starch
and sugar is checked. Products of the changes in nitrogenous
compounds which occurred while the leaf remained alive are
further broken down. Ammonia forms and there is a considerable
loss of nicotine. The color changes to brown as a result of
oxidation processes. Throughout the curing, the leaf undergoes
gradual drying, finally losing most of its water, as well as a
considerable amount of dry matter. Curing completed, the leaves
are tied in bundles of about 25 leaves, and transferred to a
specially constructed building for fermentation. At this time
the tobacco is raw, rather bitter, lacking in aroma, and
relatively high in nicotine." |
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Aging |
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Freshly cured tobacco is unsuitable for
manufacturing cigars. Aging is necessary to complete its
development. This is essentially a process of fermentation
accompanied by chemical change. This curing fermentation is
customary with cigar tobacco, and may be hastened by suitable
procedures in handling the tobacco before storing. It takes
advantage of the fact that stored tobacco actually undergoes
spontaneous annual fermentations. As a rule, 2 to 3 years of
storage are required to accomplish this aging by natural
fermentation. |
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Fermentation |
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Some types of cigar tobacco ... wrapper
tobaccos, for example ... are fermented by "bulk sweating."
Workers arrange the tobacco into "bulks" ... stacked layers of
tobacco bundles, arranged in varying shapes and sizes, according
to local custom.. In northern latitudes the buildings are heated
to facilitate fermentation. In warmer climates artificial
heating is not necessary. |
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The workers build the tobacco bulks up with
great care ... layer after layer of bundles of leaves ... up to
about 4' high. The tips of the leaves point inward toward the
center of the bulk. Fermentation by bulk sweating is the same as
composing, which gardeners know how generates heat
spontaneously. Thermometers are inserted in tubes that penetrate
to the center of bulk, and workers watch as the temperature in
the bulk reaches what is considered a safe maximum for the type
of leaf. Because of the impurities mentioned above, inadequately
fermented tobacco is undesirable, while excess fermentation
causes "spent" tobacco that tastes like straw. Upon seeing the
optimal temperature,, workers immediately disassemble and
reconstruct the bulk, moving tobacco that previously formed the
outside ring of leaves to the interior. Workers gently but
vigorously shake each bundle of leaves, which Vogel explained as
a way to shake out loose leaf particles and more importantly, to
aerate the leaves and release the gaseous waste products. The
bulk construction and fermentation process are repeated perhaps
2 or 3 more times, with the peak temperatures gradually
lowering, until the fermentation has been completed. Workers
them sort the tobacco ... leaf by leaf in the case of the more
expensive wrapper types ... sizing, retying, and packing them
into bales. The bales are then allowed to sleep for months,
until they are ready for sale, or to make cigars, both of which
Tabacos de la Cordillera engages in. Growers pack some
cigar-filler and binder tobaccos in bundles and deliver them to
the buyers. The leaves may then be bulk-sweated as above, or
table sorted and packed in wooden cases for sweating. |
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Changes During Curing and Fermentation |
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In many respects the fermentation of tobacco may
be regarded as an extension of the curing process. This is
illustrated by a brief statement of some of the changes in
shade-grown cigar wrapper tobacco during curing and
fermentation. Though these changes are not fully understood, it
is known that there is a further loss of nicotine ... 10-15
percent in shade-grown, and as much as a third in cigar filler.
Volatilization as well as decomposition of nicotine takes place
throughout the curing, fermentation, and aging of tobacco, but
most rapidly during those stages of fermentation when the
temperature in the bulk or bale is highest. The reduction of
nicotine has an important relationship to she smoking quality of
the tobacco, reducing pungent, biting, taste and unpleasant
aroma. |
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Other changes occur during fermentation,
including further loss in weight and some change in color.
Tobacco tinged with green usually loses its greenish cast; and
colors tend to darken and become more uniform. The texture of
the tobacco changes. In the case of shade-grown wrapper tobacco,
the leaves become more pliable and elastic ... necessary
attributes for wrapper purposes. Some physical changes are
adverse, as when the tobacco has been packed too densely, has
fermented too much, or sweated too hard. Then the tobacco is apt
to be harsh and rough to the touch, or in extreme cases to show
evidence of mold, must, or rot. |
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© Unastar, SA, 2005
Reprinted from Smokeshop magazine, December, 2005, with
permission from author Dale Scott. |
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