Tobacco strain selection guide for minimal processing

[WisconsinLeaf]

Mine were seedlings from BigBonner. I didn't think to ask him where he acquired his seed from. Here's a picture of one of them I grew if it helps.

View attachment 2141

Seedman Perique in Wisconsin.

 

[hooyoo]

Does anyone have experience with growing Cuban varieties like Criollo or Corojo? I'd love to know if they need extensive curing/kilning/etc or can be minimally processed and still have good flavor

 

[deluxestogie]

Welcome to the forum. Feel free to introduce yourself in the Introduce Yourself forum.

I have grown a number of varieties of Corojo as well as Criollo. As with most Caribbean cigar varieties, they need to be fermented in some manner, which usually means kilning for a home-grower.

Of those, I have NOT grown Criollo 98, which is said to be superior in a number of ways to other Cuban Criollo varieties. Corojo 99 is by far the best Corojo I've grown, in terms of productivity, curing and kilning. The Criollos that I have grown required an additional year or so of aging after kilning, to lose a "raw" quality.

For cigars, really every variety should be kilned, to get the best smoking experience from them. Building a kiln is a $100 to $150 project that takes about 1 weekend for anyone to build. Constructing a kiln requires no special skills.

Bob

 

[BarG]

I believe this to be 100% true. The bottom line for a farmer is money. Tobacco is sold by weight. Burley harvested at 4-5 weeks is heavier than Burley harvested at 3 weeks. When you are growing acres of it, the weight difference really adds up. This does not mean harvesting at 5 weeks makes the best tasting tobacco, it means it makes the heaviest yielding tobacco instead.

If you want a smooth quick smoke right after harvest. Try this: Harvest some leaf at 1 week after topping, then 2 weeks etc. Once a plant is topped all kind of things happen, nicotine levels increase, nitrogen, potassium etc increase too. I harvested a large amount of my tobacco this year 10 days after topping. That was on the 13th of July and it is all mostly cured. I've been smoking a lot of it and it is very smooth and tasty. Over the winter I will reevaluate my grow from this year and make some changes. One of those changes might very well be harvesting 1 week after topping. I will wait till next spring to decide.

 

[Huffen'Snuff]

Is there any new Varieties one would suggest for this thread?

 

[ProZachJ]

My first and second priming of Staghorn has been good for pipe after only a month of hanging. I also have found Perique to be agreeable within a couple months.

 

[vorno]

Start here: http://fairtradetobacco.com/links.php?ab_s=1
Here: http://fairtradetobacco.com/showthr...-Date-When-Is-It-Really&highlight=frost+dates
Here: http://fairtradetobacco.com/forumdisplay.php?17-How-To-Grow-Tobacco

Turn in your report no later than Fri. Jan 11 to receive your new assignment. Each day late will dock you down one letter grade and no new green dots under your name.

I'm joking alot here but those are good places to start. Bob (deluxestogie, our resident egg head) (sorry Bob) spent alot of time and effort on the first two. The average frost date will help you determine when to start your seed indoors. You want to start them inside 4-6 weeks before transplanting outdoors. Just use your zip code and it will pull up average dates for your area. A week or two after your last frost date is transplant time. The tobacco FAQ will answer most but not all newbie questions. And I'm not getting on your ass I was just as eager when I joined. These links are where the old timers sent me before the actual hazing began. Oh yeah, did I mention the hazing? I hope you have thick skin brother these guys are rough!!

Looks like those original links are dead?

 

[deluxestogie]

That cited post is nearly a dozen years ago. The forum has been changed to different software in the interim. I don't even know what those links went to. What information are you searching for?

Bob

 

[vorno]

That cited post is nearly a dozen years ago. The forum has been changed to different software in the interim. I don't even know what those links went to. What information are you searching for?

Bob

Quite old indeed!

Oh I was just curious Sir Bob , making sure that there isn't some secret old-hidden threads to knowledge 'since-passed!'

 

[vorno]

There are two problems that I would expect from rolling un-aged leaf into cigars, then allowing them to age.

First, leaf loses 10% or more of its dry weight (solids) during the aging or kilning process. So a properly rolled cigar of unfinished leaf would likely end up too loosely packed after aging.

Second, the components (wrapper, binder, filler) of a rolled cigar held in a specific environment tend to take in and give up moisture at different rates. The wrapper will always dry more quickly than the rest, risking spontaneous splitting. With the filler, the open foot always dries more rapidly than the closed head. Although making humidity changes very gradually can minimize this risk, it's still a tricky business.

These are just my thoughts. Since it's just as easy to do the rolling once the leaf is properly aged or kilned, I'm not inclined to risk the time and effort to do it the other way around.

Bob

I listened to the kindle version of this book: The Ultimate Cigar Book: 4th Edition - in it, the author retells of a trip to Cuba, purchasing a box of Romeo Y Juliette cigars direct from the factory.
He lit one while still on his trip and immediately regretted the purchase - they were practically green in taste as I recall the book.

However, he left the box to age ~several months and then had a much more enjoyable cigar.
This has led me to believe that some factories can and do roll some of their cigars before they are intended for consumption?
Perhaps in a typical scenario there is some time between a factory-bought cigar box reaching a "retail" environment.

Though, I thought they only rolled cigars after they had already aged in pilóns'.

 

[Faltown]

My first and second priming of Staghorn has been good for pipe after only a month of hanging. I also have found Perique to be agreeable within a couple months.

I found staghorn a great one too! Rolled a bunch of puros and in general they were great, although I did find they'd get quite moist while smoking?! Think I read a mension of Burley's and something hydro?!

Although, not even sure staghorn is a burley?! Got two sucker crops off them also

 

[johnny108]

I found staghorn a great one too! Rolled a bunch of puros and in general they were great, although I did find they'd get quite moist while smoking?! Think I read a mension of Burley's and something hydro?!

Although, not even sure staghorn is a burley?! Got two sucker crops off them also

Staghorn is a “dark Virginia”.
Hydroponic tobacco is just something us hobbyists try on occasion. The commercial industry has never bothered. The excess water in the leaf has made curing somewhat hit-or-miss in my experiments with it.

 

[Faltown]

Staghorn is a “dark Virginia”.
Hydroponic tobacco is just something us hobbyists try on occasion. The commercial industry has never bothered. The excess water in the leaf has made curing somewhat hit-or-miss in my experiments with it.

Ah brilliant.

It might of been something else I saw a mension of, like a cellular aspect of it, rather than hydroponics. Then again, could of just been my bleary eyes!

Anyways, I found staghorn a really good fit for my climate. Being by the ocean we have crazy humidity at night, as well as mornings and evenings, and due to the topography alot of shade and sheltered from the wind. My crop's of Havana 142, Costello and yellow twist bud got decimated by blue mould/mildue, but the narrow more upwards swept growth of the staghorn leaves seemed to help with airflow, and it didn't affect it at all (gladly!)