It's time to take stock and review the fruits of my labors for 2018. Over all I think this years grow was a success. I learned quite a bit about how tobacco behaves in my yard/environment, and also about priming, harvesting, and curing. There were trials and tribulations (hornworms, storms, mold) and also many successes. As a recap, I grew the following Cigar varieties:
Comstock Spanish (Binder / Filler)
Lancaster Leaf (Binder / Filler)
Florida Sumatra (Wrapper)
Glessner (Wrapper / Filler)
Little Dutch (Filler)
Havana 263 (Binder / Filler)
Ct. Long Leaf (Wrapper)
I got the most leaf out of the Lancaster, Little Dutch, and Havana 263, and decent amounts from the rest. Some of my shade grown plants designated for wrappers / binders received too much shade, and did not generate thick enough leaves to be useful. Though a few plants appeared to be in the goldilocks zone and made some very nice wrapping leaves, just not as many as I had hoped. Live and learn!
One nice surprise is that based on some early sampling, while my Glessner did not make many good wrappers (my fault!), it's developing into excellent pipe tobacco.
I learned I prefer to harvest Little Dutch as a whole plant and dry on the stem. With it's very thick central vein when hand primed they were prone to mold. Whole plant harvesting solved this issue. Primed leaves I learned to spread out thinly and turn daily to prevent mold.
After color curing, all leaves were "kilned" by storing in the attic for 3 months in Rubbermaid tubs, then aging in the garage. It's been 6 months since harvest, so I got everything out of the tubs last night to review and rolled 2 puro's of each variety to sample this weekend for initial flavor profiles for blending. All have a light, pleasant tobacco and raisin smell, with the Little Dutch and Florida Sumatra having a deeper tobacco and chocolate aroma.
Here's a pic of the harvest and some of the best wrappers.