Little Dutch, Anyone ever grow it?

[deluxestogie]

The cigar marketeer hype is that oscuro is produced by longer, more intense fermentation. That has not been my experience.

I sort my cigar leaf (the primings) into more or less 4 groups:

• sometimes mud lugs
• lugs
• leaf
• upper leaf
• sometimes tips

I kiln all of my leaf for 4 weeks at the same temp (125 degrees F, give or take) and same humidity range.

Progressing from bottom of the stalk to the top, the leaf comes out of the kiln ranging from thin and light brown (natural or claro) to thick and dark (maduro). Some varieties (some years) produce deep oscuro leaf from the upper and tip leaves. The bottom leaf burns best, while the upper leaf burns more slowly. So an oscuro wrapper usually needs a lug as binder, in order to get an even burn.

Bob

 

[Chicken]

kinda glad this thread popped back up....

ive got some little dutch seeds sprouted for this year,,

ive actually got a couple different cigar strains. up

im gonna plant all my cigar bacca kinda close and tight.

since the majority of the plants arent going to be big monsters....like my normal cigg. bacca plants are.

 

[Brown Thumb]

I never grew it, I Thought it would be Little?

 

[ArizonaDave]

Dave, you're making me anxious to get my crop growing. I have Little Dutch seeds . We're still looking at another snow coming soon. Best weather coming right now is 40* on Tuesday. Maybe another one like it Saturday.
I have been contemplating where at in the tobacco plot I should plant this. Common sense tells me since it is short that it needs to go in the southwest corner to get the most sun as other varieties will surely be taller and throw shade on the little guys. My varieties that make decent wrapper I'm planning for the easternmost part of the garden since it gets a longer shade period in the morning and the ones planted to the west of it will provide natural shade.

In some ways, it could be considered the "runt of the litter", but once it takes off, it will be well worth it! Knucklehead just sent me some fantastic seeds for Cigars, and so did DGBAMA. I will grow several of the little dutch this fall. Yes, some leaves get very dark in the Oscuro range, and many in the dark dark brown range.

When I made my corona, I mixed the brown leaves (seco) in as filler with a little of the dark. I thoroughly enjoyed it! My only regret is that I should have grown more of these little guys. Top that off with my wife thinking I should grow Little Dutch the most.

 

[Chicken]

well i dont have '' many'' of them up but i got a few... sort of the way my luck has been with these cigar strains.. i may have bad/old...seed,????

but some strains i planted had '' 0 '' germination, just empty pot's.

but thats why i planted everything. to '' refreshen the stock ''

 

[Smokin Harley]

Oscuro is a wrapper color, darker than Maduro:

View attachment 14724

ok, well then something can't be right ...when a BOTL sent me a stash a couple months ago...in it was Aleman Oscuro (packaged from WLT)...and its color is consistently more like Colorado. Not in any way darker than Maduro.

 

[Smokin Harley]

In some ways, it could be considered the "runt of the litter", but once it takes off, it will be well worth it! Knucklehead just sent me some fantastic seeds for Cigars, and so did DGBAMA. I will grow several of the little dutch this fall. Yes, some leaves get very dark in the Oscuro range, and many in the dark dark brown range.

When I made my corona, I mixed the brown leaves (seco) in as filler with a little of the dark. I thoroughly enjoyed it! My only regret is that I should have grown more of these little guys. Top that off with my wife thinking I should grow Little Dutch the most.

well then, lets not disappoint the wife. How much did you plant this year ? I haven't made my planting plots yet ...snow delay.I haven't even started my trays yet,not for another month or so anyway. Maybe I can grow a few more Little Dutch .

 

[deluxestogie]

The name of Little Dutch can be misleading, and has inclined many folks to regard it as a small version of "real" tobacco.

Little Dutch is not little. It's stalk is short. If planted with full (standard tobacco) spacing, it grows abundant, generously long leaves, with very close spacing on the 3' stalk. Also, with standard spacing, the stalk itself is thick (1 to 1-3/4"), and the root system more robust than many taller varieties.

As with any tobacco variety, if you plant it closely, or in a pot, it will not grow as vigorously.

Bob

 

[romanko]

How well does this strain air cure?

 

[deluxestogie]

Little Dutch air cures easily. I have cured it as primed leaf as well as stalk-harvested. Both methods work equally well, though the stalk-harvested approach requires less tedious work. Little Dutch is one of the few varieties (along with PA Red) that makes a smokable filler when only aged a few months. It really comes into its own after kilning.

Bob

 

[Smokin Harley]

I really liked growing Little Dutch. I think for the home grower it is one of if not THE easiest to grow. I planted seed in hopes to get 9 good plants of each variety and came out with mostly the desired numbers to go to field. Dutch I ended up with 7 or 8 and it really took off nicely. Not one disappointment . It is an extremely hardly plant ,has beautifully long leaves, nice wind resistance and the aroma of the curing leaf is just amazingly chocolately. It suckers quickly and prolifically once topped. Makes a wonderful cavendish after 9 hours of solid steaming. A staple in any tobacco field. I have enough harvested to fill the kiln all by itself. Can't wait to get it finished out to use.

 

[Ben Brand]

Never disappointing me!!!!

 

[AntSmokingPipe]

Hello, sorry if I re-up this post, but I'm interestend in plant Little Dutch as first tobacco growing in the next spring. I'm a pipe smoker, so I would ask someone had smoke it stright into a pipe? If yes how it taste? Wich kind of cure/fermenting/aging? thanks and sorry for noob question

 

[deluxestogie]

Little Dutch is an American-type cigar leaf. It is smokable with just color-curing and a few months of age. It is much better after kilning. It is a hardy plant that should be easy to grow. The flavor is not like Caribbean cigar leaf, but is more of a deep, dark, woody aroma.

Bob

 

[docpierce]

I grew some Little dutch last year. A small vigorous, Danny DeVitto kind of plant. Longish thin leaves. I chose it for pipe and cigar filler. When set ablaze, it reminded me of Semois. Now that I think on it, when growing it grows like the Semois i grew this last summer. Imo, I nice plant for the pipe man. I may plant it again in the spring. Could be interesting for Perique making.

 

[Charly]

A Danny DeVitto kind of plant.

indeed !

 

[Petzi]

I take information here and there about some variety of tobacco for my next crop. I want like many of you to plant Little Dutch.
I would like to know what you do with the leaves?

Air-cured? Fire-cured?
Can replace burley in a cigarette mix?

In the pipe, how do you use it? Perique? Cavendish? only air-cured?

I read that it is also used to make cigars after 1 month of fermentation? Can we use it for Filler? Blinder? Wrapper? Can we make it a puro to the American taste?

I try to have another vision. I have a variety of tobacco plant. What can I do with?

Thank you for your valuable information!

 

[docpierce]

I simply air cured mine. Sun cured is also fine. I have even read that it can produce some very nice perique. It seems a versatile plant.

 

[Ben Brand]

No nonsense plant, one of my favorites. Easy to grow, great taste.

 

[ArizonaDave]

I grew some Little dutch last year. A small vigorous, Danny DeVitto kind of plant. Longish thin leaves. I chose it for pipe and cigar filler. When set ablaze, it reminded me of Semois. Now that I think on it, when growing it grows like the Semois i grew this last summer. Imo, I nice plant for the pipe man. I may plant it again in the spring. Could be interesting for Perique making.

It's listed as Cigar/Pipe. Could be an interesting flavor as Perique, as it has a slight floral taste, could be good.