FM's somewhat less ambitious grow plan

[FmGrowit]

Some of the old reliable varieties will be grown again this year.

Yellow Twist Bud; An early maturing Burley that will be primed a couple of weeks after maturing until only the top third is left. The top will be stalk cured for a premium ligero filler.

Havana 142; A premium binder that makes great cigar and cigarette filler. I'll try to grade out some binder/wrapper quality leaf this year.

R.S.E.; Another premium cigar filler that is best primed, but takes stalk curing very well.

Orinoco Blanco; Not really sure what this is because the seed was purchased from an online vendor and there is no GRIN listing for it. It makes a very good cigar and cigarette filler though.

TI 469; A wrapper from Columbia known only as No. 50. This is a new one for me this year.

TI 577; A wrapper from Ecuador. Another one with no name other than No.83. Another new one for me.

Pennsylvania Red (Ohio); Cigar filler, first time growing this variety.

Long Red; Cigar filler, another first.

Now for the fun stuff...

Cuban seed No. 1 and No. 2; These were sent to me from a customer in Florida who said his neighbor grows a field of these every year. His neighbor is a Cuban who came over after the revolution and brought the seed with him. My customer acquired the seed by means not known to me and all questions about the seed have gone unanswered. I'll probably just grow a few hundred of these to see what they turn into, but my guess is they are just filler varieties...which is fine with me.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

wonder how the cuban will taste? Did you get a sample of the leaf with the seed? I've never had a cuban cigar, I wonder if their being illegal in the US is what grants them such high esteem though or if they really are that good?

 

[FmGrowit]

I plan on harvesting the Cuban leaf at (as near as I can tell) the same time it's harvested in Cuba. Cuban leaf is pretty small compared to most of our leaf. It's harvested well before the leaf starts turning yellow. This might be the way wrapper is harvested, but I got some new [FONT=&amp]Besouki [/FONT]leaf in and the veins are very small...even in the filler grade.

I didn't get a sample of the leaf with the seeds.

My guess is there is some mystique that goes along with the Cuban cigar, but that there is some legitimacy to the claim as well. From what I hear, Cuban cigars are most noted for their mildness...thus the early harvesting.

 

[deluxestogie]

Looks like an interesting collection of varieties. I'll buy a pound of each of the two Cuban varieties, to see what you've got.

My first box of Havana cigars was in 1975. Davidoff Chateau Latour (back in the days when they were 100% Havana tobacco). Zino Davidoff shipped them from his shop in Geneva. The customs sticker said "Indonesian Cigars. Unsolicited gift. Value $5." They cost me $42 at a time when a Honduran Hoyo de Monterrey or Punch went for $16 a box. The box, an unmarked, slide-top Cuban cedar box, bore a bright orange sticker that said, "Indonesian Cigars." These were wrapped in a flawless, blond wrapper, with dark filler, and would today be considered medium to full bodied. They were the mildest Havanas I've ever smoked.

While spending 3 years in Germany with the USAF, and during later deployments to the Middle East, I probably smoked a couple of dozen boxes of various brands of Havanas. Some were super strong, though most were simply strong. The Havana Montecristo is a full bodied smoke. Most others are stronger.

Havana cigars differ in their taste by brand, but every one possesses a subtle, distinctive taste found in no other cigars. I've smoked a few counterfeits, and can easily tell the difference. If that unique flavor is from the leaf variety, rather than the growing conditions, then you may have a gold mine.

Bob

 

[NRustica]

All I have to do is smoke them around my wife and I know if they're real. She allergic to the real ones. And yes, they really are that good.

 

[CoralReefs]

wonder how the cuban will taste? Did you get a sample of the leaf with the seed? I've never had a cuban cigar, I wonder if their being illegal in the US is what grants them such high esteem though or if they really are that good?

I am not going to admit to ever having a cuban cigar, and I am not going to admit to having 3 of them in my humidor right now that have been aging for about 5 years (getting more and more spanish cedar style yummy!).... but I will say I have it on good authority that cuban cigars are definitely not all hype

 

[SmokesAhoy]

It'd be very curious then if those flavors are produced on american soil.

 

[CoralReefs]

It'd be very curious then if those flavors are produced on american soil.

Thats a good question. I wonder if anyone has studied the soil in Cuba.

 

[deluxestogie]

All of the so-called "Havana Seed" tobacco grown in Central America is Cuban, but we never quite get to see what variety of Havana seed. One would think that the soil in the Vuelta Abajo wouldn't be all that different from the soil in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Bob

 

[FmGrowit]

You guys are making me rethink the number of plants I'm putting in.

How about some of our Canadian members see if Cuban seed is available to import. I think that's about the only real way to compare what I grow and what first generation Cuban seed produces...but then again, there's that variety issue.

Whoever succeeds in getting Cuban seed could make a nice buck. They would have to call it "Island tobacco" or something clever to disguise it's place of origin. Of course, second generation Canadian seed would be completely legal in the States.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

Maybe find a pen pal in cuba and have them stick some seeds on to the back of the postage stamps

Just dust

 

[Chicken]

i know people that have relatives living in cuba,,,

getting seeds,?

if they even know someone who grows baccy, is a ?

shall i try???

me living in florida, the cuban influence is huge here,

i got a internet friend that lives in miami, perhaps she could do something,??

 

[wazzappenning]

if you need seeds and are worried about them coming from cuba, you could try getting them from canada

http://www.seedgnome.com/

i hope its ok to post that in here?

if you click on cuban cigar seeds there is a note there for usa customers saying its legal this way.

 

[deluxestogie]

Wazz,
In reading the info on SeedGnome, I would be uncomfortable with the purity of the Havana seed. "They are planted in a different garden to avoid cross pollination with other tobacco plants." That is simply not adequate, unless the separation is greater than 1/2 mile. Maybe it is.

Another issue is that there is no indication of the variety. Yes, it likely originated in Cuba, but which of the many Cuban varietals is it? The vendor also seems to have no notion about seed production, suggesting that it needs pollinating insects (bees, he specifies) in order to produce seed. Seed is amply produced without access by insects. The primary pollinating insect is moths, rather than bees.

Bob

 

[wazzappenning]

yeah im not too sure of the variety. keep in mind im still a newbie so what i read is what i know. now how about that, honeyacco, dark honey with nicotine. that would keep the kids busy all day. lol

now that i think of it, pm lakota, he smokes cigs, but has ordered from him. maybe he wanted to play around with some cuban for kicks. if you really want them from cuba, the other alternative would be to have them sent to a member in canada, then back to you. dont know if thats cool or not but it gets you your seeds.

 

[deluxestogie]

Without going to too much trouble, the FTT seedbank offers:

• Vuelta Abajo TI 1453 (mis-categorized as "Oriental") [long considered the premier cigar variety of Cuba]
• Remedios TI 1452 (mis-categorized as "Oriental") [also a well recognized Cuban cigar variety]

From the German Tabakanbau site:

• Tabaksamen Havanna Z992
• Tabaksamen Havanna Dunkelrot (dark red)
• Tabaksamen Havanna Corojo [a well recognized Cuban cigar variety]

Bob

 

[Jitterbugdude]

:

• Vuelta Abajo TI 1453 (mis-categorized as "Oriental") [long considered the premier cigar variety of Cuba]

• 
  
  I'm growing Vuelta Abajo this year. I've smoked enough real and fake Cubans that I think I'll be able to tell if this is the real deal or not.
  
  Randy B

 

[FmGrowit]

I'm growing Vuelta Abajo this year. I've smoked enough real and fake Cubans that I think I'll be able to tell if this is the real deal or not.

Randy B

Where did you get the seeds? I just started germinating the last 8 seeds from a GRIN package and I'm test germinating 3 year oldd seed from my crop.

 

[FmGrowit]

Germination times and rates. All seeds were germinated on a damp coffee filter sealed in a plastic bag and stored at 75° F

Yellow Twist Bud, 4 days, about 75%

Havana 142, [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/FONT]4 days 90%+
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT] R.S.E, 3 days 90%+

Orinoco Blanco, [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/FONT]5[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] days 70%

[/FONT] TI 469 No.50, 4 days 50%

TI 577 No.83, 3 days 75%

Pennsylvania Red (Ohio), 3 days 30%

Long Red, 2 days 75%

Cuban seed No. 1 and No. 2;[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] less than 2 days 95%

[/FONT]Vuelta Abajo, 2 days 90%
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]Remedios, NA 0%

I'm not giving up on the Remidios yet. I never realized how different the sprouts are from one variety to the next. The Havana is almost hair like while the Vuelta Abajo was short fat and stocky. The root was only 1/32" and it was 4 times the size of the seed in 3 days. On the 4th day the main root was covered in root hairs. I'll bet these are going to be some tough plants.

 

[FmGrowit]

After reading DeluxeStogie's status report on his Long Red, I'm going to verify my notes. I'm guessing I got the PA Red and Long Red notes mixed up.