Anyone tried "Little Cuba"

[Plöjarn]

I've been looking around Northwoods seed list looking for small cigar fillers that will mature early. I had a hard time curing my Vuelta Abajo last year and I think I might have better luck with an earlier variety since my growing season is really short. "Little Cuba" seems to be the earliest cigar tobacco in the list.

Anyone tried it? How does it grow, cure and taste? High/low nicotine? Can it be used as a bulk filler for cigars?

 

[deluxestogie]

I can't recall any discussions of Little Cuba on the forum. Here are the US seed bank (ARS-GRIN) pages on Little Cuba accession (Pi 405669), as well as its detailed analysis.

https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail.aspx?id=1305601
https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/AccessionObservation.aspx?id=1305601

You should note that ARS-GRIN describes the Market Class as "Primitive".

Skychaser's photos (on Northwood Seeds) are the first I've seen, and probably document the largest non-seed bank grow of the variety in the 50 years since the original accession. It sure looks like an Oriental (?Basma) to my eyes.

Bob

 

[Plöjarn]

Nice resource. Thanks Bob.
I couldn't find any information about what the market class "Primitive" actually means. But I guess it means the variety has not been refined to achieve taste and smokeability?

The table says: Nicotine: 13.9... But there is no unit. I guess it is not % since other cuban varieties seems to be much higher in their database. So it seems like this is quite low in nicotine. Am I getting this right?

 

[deluxestogie]

Hover over the word, "Nicotine", to see the units. It is in mg/g, so 13.9/1000 = 1.39%

"Primitive" means that the variety has apparently undergone no agronomic development (i.e. nobody has attempted to make money growing and developing it). Typically the yield is lower than "developed" varieties. Of the "Primitive" varieties that I've grown, some were quite tasty, others not as good. Nicotine was high in some varieties, low in others. But the yield was comparatively low. This is also true of Oriental varieties, which are densely planted, and produce small leaves. Primitives may sucker more aggressively, blossom earlier, and otherwise show aspects that could be improved by several years of selecting only the most ideal individual plants from which to collect seed.

Bob

 

[skychaser]

Bob, didn't I send you some Little Cuba leaf about 4-5 years ago? Or maybe it was Costa Rica 589 ?? I grow so many strains even I can't keep them all straight sometimes. All I remember for sure is that what ever I sent you was from a rather small plant that had a mild but somewhat woody flavor and was quite nice.

 

[deluxestogie]

You definitely sent me Costa Rica 589 (Iztepeque), which was a medium height plant with average cigar leaf size and a nice cigar filler taste, but a somewhat low yield due to a long inter-nodal distance on the stalk. If you sent Little Cuba, I did not grow it.

Bob

 

[skychaser]

Yes, You are correct. I remember now that you found the name of Iztepeque and sent it too me.

 

[Hasse SWE]

Nice resource. Thanks Bob.
I couldn't find any information about what the market class "Primitive" actually means. But I guess it means the variety has not been refined to achieve taste and smokeability?

The table says: Nicotine: 13.9... But there is no unit. I guess it is not % since other cuban varieties seems to be much higher in their database. So it seems like this is quite low in nicotine. Am I getting this right?

Bob I can be wrong but didn't Jessica from GRIN explan the different classification's pretty good here at FTT a few years ago?

 

[deluxestogie]

Have a look on the WLT Wiki page of tobacco jargon. The classes themselves (Market Class) were established by the US Department of Agriculture well over a hundred years ago, based on market usage at the time. The ARS-GRIN database on tobacco names the classes, but provides no definition for each of them. For newer accessions, the assigned Class is often no more than a guess that it is similar to a previously assigned accession.

Whole Leaf Tobacco - Tobacco Jargon

Bob

 

[Hasse SWE]

Have a look on the WLT Wiki page of tobacco jargon. The classes themselves (Market Class) were established by the US Department of Agriculture well over a hundred years ago, based on market usage at the time. The ARS-GRIN database on tobacco names the classes, but provides no definition for each of them. For newer accessions, the assigned Class is often no more than a guess that it is similar to a previously assigned accession.

Whole Leaf Tobacco - Tobacco Jargon

Bob

I can't find her post right now but she also told that Primitive variant's often also had/have problem with the seedpods, they often opens very easy and early.

 

[Hasse SWE]

Plöjarn: it is possible that I have Little Cuba in my seedbank. If I have can I send those seed to you because it is a Variant that I don't think I going to grow again. I found nothing special with it. It is possible that I just had bad luck when I grow it but the truth is that I have to small grow to have all variant's (even if I grow 10-13 variant each seasons). So some variant's need to move to someone who perhaps like them better than I do.

 

[deluxestogie]

problem with the seedpods, they often opens very easy and early.

When humans collect seeds to replant, they naturally collect them from the instances of a plant that have not already dispersed their seed. So one aspect of any agronomic development is the unconscious selection, over many generations, of seed from plants that don't spontaneously burst their seed pods. This is as true for tobacco as for grasses, such as wheat.

Thank you for offering to send me the seed for Little Cuba. Since Skychaser already sells the seed, there would be no value in spending the postage.

Bob