One of the most unique things about the tobacco plant is how big and how fast it grows compared to the minimal size of the seeds. They are tiny. You can fit about 1,000 seeds inside a thimble. That’s how small they are. But tobacco plants grow to be extremely tall and large, taller than even some of the biggest humans out there.
Tobacco cultivators often talk about hearing the stalks of the plant expanding and cracking as it grows. They take about 90 to 120 days to grow to maturity after being transplanted in the fields. So, they do grow fast, as long as there’s a frost-free and weather-friendly period.
Let’s take a quick look at the tobacco plant up close to see how they’re prepared for use in cigars.
Understanding the great tobacco plant
When fully grown, the tobacco plant is divided into three parts:
Ligero is the topmost part of the plant and gets the most sunlight exposure. Because of that, it has the strongest taste out of all the leaves, with Medio Tiempo being the boldest and most rare.
Seco is the middle of the plant and is used most often for cigar wrappers. They are a balanced mix of thick and thin leaves, offering a bold taste and a more malleable format.
Volado is, interestingly enough, more powerful than Seco, yet less powerful than Ligero leaves. It’s thinner, breaks easily, and is often used for filler.
Be sure to readwhat’s in a cigarto learn how the individual leaves are used.
How is the tobacco plant cultivated for cigars?
While the process is a bit more complex, from seed to ash, the tobacco plant essentially goes through this before being rolled into a cigar:
The tobacco plant is grown from seed, first in planting trays or potters in a greenhouse and eventually transplanted into rows within tobacco fields.
As the plant grows, its leaves are harvested in what’s called “primings,” where they are trimmed. They follow the same principles as the leaf names: Volado and first priming, Seco and second priming, Viso and third priming, and finally Ligero for the fourth priming.
The harvested leaves are moved to the curing barn where they are tied or bundled and hung from sticks called cujes. For months, the leaves dry out, with the natural chlorophyll breaking down — this results in the leaves turning brown.
After being cured, the leaves are graded and separated by size, color, and condition. The tobacco is stacked, usually in dry piles or bales, sometimes bundled in boxes, bins, or wooden barrels.
They are left to undergo fermentation which slowly removes ammonia and other impurities in the leaves. Exposed to heat, the tobacco leaves are rotated and adjusted occasionally to aid in the fermentation process.
The dry, fermented bales are taken and moved into the rolling rooms, or made available to rolling pairs. Usually, before being used, the leaves are rehumidifed so they’re more pliant and less prone to damage.
Rollers will take the dry tobacco, using a Chaveta to slice it accordingly, and then work them into the various shapes or vitolas of the cigar.
Briley has over 16 years in the publishing and content marketing business. He's been writing about cigars for nearly half that in various forms. What makes him a tour de force is he also smokes them.
Source: Briley Kenney / The BS Lounge
