Cigars: Tobacco Farming

Website design By BotEap.comtobacco everywhere

Website design By BotEap.comTo make cigars, tobacco is grown all over the world, from Poland to South Africa, from Argentina to Canada, and west from the Philippines to Mexico. But cigar tobaccos are grown mainly in the intertropical areas.

Website design By BotEap.comTobacco Origin

Website design By BotEap.comTobacco is known as a plant native to America. Some species were identified in the South Pacific. There are many species and varieties. Not all of them are used in smoking products. Many are grown as ornamentals, as they flower frequently and display colors from white to deep red to purple.

Website design By BotEap.comThese are some of the countries where tobacco is grown, to produce its cigars.

Website design By BotEap.comArgentina

Website design By BotEap.comArgentina grows black air-cured tobacco in the provinces of Misiones and Corrientes, and smoke-cured tobacco in the Salta area. Misiones also has a Burley-type production. These tobaccos are primarily for cigarettes, but Corrientes is prized for short filler cigars due to its mild flavor. Argentina used to be a large producer and exporter, but changes in economic and income tax policies have seriously damaged production, making tobacco too expensive to be competitive on the international market. Consequently, production volumes have decreased.

Website design By BotEap.comBrazil

Website design By BotEap.comBrazil is one of the largest tobacco producers in the world. The eastern central state of Bahia is a major tobacco growing area for cigars, about 100 miles west of the state capital, Salvador de Bahia, a busy port on the Atlantic coast. The northern state of Alagoas hosts a production around the city of Arapiraca where wrappers of mature cigars are grown. The southern states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina produce cigarette and pipe tobacco.

Website design By BotEap.comCameroon

Website design By BotEap.comCameroon cigar wrappers are grown in the eastern part of the country. The cultivation area extends over the eastern border, towards the Central African Republic. The wrappers are grown outdoors, without fertilizers or pesticides, by small farmers. The average plantation size is approximately one acre. The seed is native to Sumatra, introduced to the country just after World War II. First grown for the needs of the French monopoly, tobacco was offered on the international market when production was too large for this one use. Well-liked by European manufacturers and large American cigar companies, Cameroon’s wrapper production dwindled in the late 1980s due to mismanagement. Today the quantities are small and the quality could be better.

Website design By BotEap.comPorcelain

Website design By BotEap.comChina is by far the largest producer of tobacco, with approximately 5 million metric tons. The United States follows with around 1 million metric tons. Chinese tobacco is a smoke-cured type, non-aromatic and somewhat strong in taste. This tobacco is not suitable for cigars. It is mainly used for the local consumption of cigarettes. A small amount is exported. Cigarette industries import tobacco and use it as a cheap, neutral filler.

Website design By BotEap.comConnecticut, United States

Website design By BotEap.comThe Connecticut Valley in the northeastern US is well known for its bright yellow cigar wrapper. Due to a very hot and sunny summer, tobacco is grown in the shade. Anyone who has flown over Hartford, CT, sitting by the window, could not help but see the enormous white surface of land that rises up around them: the tobacco fields covered with white clothing to protect the plants from direct solar radiation. And the huge barns, big as cathedrals, ready for smoke curing. Awesome!

Website design By BotEap.comCuba

Website design By BotEap.comTobacco grows throughout Cuba. Their premium cigar has been made, I hope, with tobacco sourced from the western province of Vuelta Abajo, where some really good stuff is harvested. In the Center and East of Cuba, the provinces of Remedios and Oriente produce a tobacco that is not supposed to be acceptable for what everyone calls Havana!

Website design By BotEap.comDominican Republic

Website design By BotEap.comThe Dominican Republic is a traditional tobacco producing country. In the 1960s, a Cuban seed was introduced and the resulting tobacco (Pilot Cubano) became famous as a good substitute for Cuban tobacco that could no longer enter the US The exiled Cubans did a great job there. Piloto Cubano is a full-bodied tobacco, but perhaps it lacks some aroma. Mixed with a more aromatic Dominican type Odor, Piloto Cubano makes the 100% Dominican cigar a very decent cigar. Both of these Dominican types are good components for multi-origin blends.

Website design By BotEap.comEastern Mediterranean countries

Website design By BotEap.comThe eastern countries of the Mediterranean Sea are dedicated to the cultivation of oriental-type tobacco, which is cured in the sun. Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria are the main producers, but Lebanon, Syria, Macedonia and Romania are also growing. This tobacco has tiny leaves, sometimes only 2 inches long. Sun curing gives them a yellowish color and a high sugar content. The aroma is generally rich and a small proportion of oriental tobacco in a blend adds a lot to the flavor. This tobacco is not used for long filler cigars, but only in short filler cigars and cigarettes.

Website design By BotEap.comEcuador

Website design By BotEap.comEcuador is the perfect place to grow wrapper, because it is located on the equator! And it has rich soils too. The weather conditions, with an almost permanent cloudy sky, provide natural shade, protecting the cape plants from the sun’s rays and allowing the tobacco to grow thin and light. Ecuador supplies Connecticut and Sumatra type wrappers to many cigar factories in the world.

Website design By BotEap.comHonduras

Website design By BotEap.comHonduras has built a good reputation for manufacturing premium cigars. The country is a fairly small tobacco producer and cigars are made primarily from imported leaves. However, Honduras has quite good potential for growing tobacco, especially wrappers, and could become a major player in the future.

Website design By BotEap.comIndonesia

Website design By BotEap.comTobacco is grown on many islands in the Archipelago, but when it comes to cigars, Sumatra and Java are the only ones. Sumatran wrappers are known all over the world. Central Java (Vorstenland) and East Java (Besuki) produce casings and casings in abundance. Indonesia is a key country for cigar tobacco.

Website design By BotEap.comMexico City

Website design By BotEap.comDark air-cured tobaccos are produced in Mexico, mainly in the provinces of Veracruz and Tampico, on the East Coast along the Gulf. There is also some production in Yucatan. Previously a state operation, it is now run by individuals and cooperatives. Mexican tobacco is very dark and the best leaves can be used as a wrapper. In San Andrés de Tuxtla (Vera Cruz), there is a very interesting production of Sumatran seed wrappers.

Website design By BotEap.comPhilippines

Website design By BotEap.comIn the Philippines, tobacco cultivation is concentrated in the northern part of the main island of Luzon. Traditionally, dark tobacco was grown for cigars and Philippine cigars were very famous, under the powerful Philippine General Tobacco Company. They probably refused because they were too soft. Today, the Philippines still grows dark tobacco and has developed air-cured tobacco production for light cigarettes.

Website design By BotEap.comZimbabwe

Website design By BotEap.comZimbabwe is in the top three countries for high-quality air-cured tobacco (along with the US and Brazil). The embargo that hit the country, when it was still Rhodesia, did not harm production. It made Rhodesians more inventive and they continued to produce. At that time, Zambia and Tanzania, the neighboring countries, were selling a lot! When the embargo was lifted in 1980 allowing us to deal directly, we discovered a fascinating organization and team, the best in the world. Tobacco was the main activity in the country and getting a job in tobacco was a challenge for many young people. Zimbabwe’s current agricultural policy, which we will not discuss here, will probably remove this country from the list of tobacco producers. The cigar industry will not be affected, as it is mainly air-cured tobacco. Brazil should be the main beneficiary of this situation.