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The following process is specifically for our Costa
Rica “Signature
Brand”
cigar tobacco. The most
unique and excellent cigar tobacco in the world!
Cigars are a natural product, often compared to
wine,
and the quality of a
cigar is directly related
to
the type
and quality of leaves used in its
construction,
just as the quality of wine, depends
on the type and
quality
of
grapes used.
A "Distinctive Cigar", like great wine, comes from
very
special earth and very special regions in the
world.
Costa Rica being a unique country in all the world, creates
a
magnificent cigar with it's "signature brand"
cigar tobacco.
 Tobacco
seedbeds, have to
be in flat fields, so that the seeds aren't washed away.
After being planted, the seeds are
covered with cloth
or straw, to shade them from the sun.
This covering is gradually removed, as
they begin
to germinate, and after around 35 days they are
transplanted usually in the second half of October...into the tobacco
fields proper.
The leaves are watered both by mineral rain and
the
morning dew
and irrigated from below, with
special
"mineral water".
Three Parts of the Tobacco Plant
 The tobacco plant is considered in three
parts: the top or corona, the
middle and
the bottom.
As the tobacco leaves develop,
beautiful, flower buds
appear. These have to
be removed by hand, to prevent
them from stunting leaf and plant growth.
(They
make beautiful, wild bouquets!)
The quality of "wrapper" leaf, is crucial in any cigar.
Plants called Corojos, specifically designated to
provide wrapper leaves, for the very
best cigars,
are always
grown under gauze sheets, held up by
tall wooden
poles.
They prevent the tobacco leaves from becoming too
thick in a protective response
to sunlight. The
technique, called tapado (covering), also helps them
to
remain smooth and "velvety" to the touch.
When harvesting time
arrives, the delicate tobacco
leaves
are removed by hand, using a single
movement. Those selected as wrappers, are put in
bundles of five, a
manojo,
or hand.
Six
Harvesting Phases
The tobacco leaves are picked in six harvesting
phases:
libra de pie (at the base),
uno y medio
(one-and-a-half), centro ligero (light cente),
centro fino
(thin center), centro gordo (thick
center) and corona
(crown).
The "libra de pie" section isn't used for the wrappers.
A
week passes
between each phase. The finest
tobacco
leaves, found in the middle of the plant;
the
top
tobacco leaves, (corona), are usually too oily to
be
used as binder leaves.
The whole cycle, from transplanted tobacco seedlings,
to the end of harvesting,
takes some 120 days, with
each tobacco plant being visited an average of
170
times, making it a very labor-intensive process.
But for the
The Association of Tabacaleros, in
Santiago
de Puriscal, (Our Co-op, consisting of 200,
of the most knowledgeable and futuristic Tobacco
Growers,
in Central America), it is a labor of love
and
perfection.
"Wrapper" tobacco leaves grown under cover, are
classified by color as: ligero
(light), seco (dry),
viso
(glossy), amarillo (yellow), medio tiempo
(half texture),
and quebrado (broken), while
those grown
under the sun,
are
divided into:
volado, seco,
ligero and medio tiempo.
The "ligero" tobacco leaves from the
top of the
plant,
have a very strong flavor, the "seco" from
the middle,
are much lighter, and the "volado"
tobacco leaves
from the
bottom, are used to add
bulk and for their
burning qualities.
The art of making an excellent cigar is to blend
these,
along with our
unique Costa Rican "wrapper"
leaf, in such proportions, as to give the
resulting
cigar a mild,
medium, or full flavor, and to ensure
that it burns well.
The tobacco leaves, are
also classified by size:
(large, average, small) and by physical condition,
(broken leaves
are used for cigarillos).
If all of our tobacco leaves are good, each "wrapper"
plant,
can wrap 32 cigars. The
condition and quality
of our Costa Rican "wrapper" leaf is crucial to
the
attractive,
"golden
amber"
appearance... of our
Costa Rican Cigars, as well as
its enticing aroma
and smooth flavor.
The Costa Rican wrapper... is soft, smooth and
"velvety"
and has an "even" burn, it is a cigar that
you will
smoke till
the end.
The bundles of tobacco leaves are then taken to
a tobacco barn on the vega or
plantation, to be
cured.
The barn faces west, so that the sun heats
one end
in the morning, and
the other, in the late
afternoon.
The temperature in the tobacco barns is carefully
controlled,
if necessary, by opening and closing
the
doors at both ends, (usually kept shut), to
take into
account the changes of temperature
or rainfall.
 Once the
tobacco leaves reach
the barn, they are strung up on
poles
or
cujes,
using needle
and thread.
The poles, each holding around 100 leaves, are
hoisted up horizontally and the leaves are left
to dry
for between 45
and 60 days, depending on
the
weather.
During this time, the green chlorophyll in the
tobacco
leaves, turns to
a "golden amber" brown
carotene, giving them, their characteristic color.
The poles are then
taken down, the threads cut,
and the tobacco leaves
stacked into bundles,
according to
type.
Fermentation
The bundles of tobacco leaves, are then taken
to the fermentation houses and placed in piles
about three feet
high, covered with jute.
Enough moisture remains in the tobacco leaves,
to spark
the first fermentation, a process like
composting. Heat
develops, but the temperature
must be watched carefully,
so that it does
not
exceed 92 F during the 35 to 40 days,
that the
piles are left intact in the fermentation process.
The tobacco leaves develop a uniform color.
The tobacco leaf piles are then broken up and
the tobacco leaves
are cooled. The next stop
in their
journey, is at the "escogida", or "sorting"
house,
where they will be graded
according to
color, size,
and texture and where the cigar
tobacco fillers,
will have part of their stems
"de-veined",
to ensure
that our "long filler" is smooth and tightly
wrapped.
In preparation for handling, they are moistened,
either
under a spray of
pure "mineral" water for
our wrappers or
a mixture of mineral water
and
the juices from our tobacco stems for fillers.
Flattened onto boards (planchas), our
tobacco
leaves
return to the fermentation
area.
In dark rooms, they are built into stacks, called
"burros",
up to 6 feet high. The second, more
powerful fermentation begins within the damp
tobacco leaves.
A perforated
wooden casing has
been buried in the
burro, into which a sword-like
thermometer is thrust.
The temperature inside, must not exceed 110 F,
for around
60 days, longer for some tobacco leaf
types, shorter for others.
If it does, the bulk is broken down and the tobacco
leaves are cooled before it is rebuilt. (Because of
the
fermentation process, cigar tobacco is much
lower
in acidity, tar and
nicotine, than cigarette
tobacco,
making it much more palatable).
It is now time for the tobacco leaves to be sent
to the factories or
warehouses, square bales
wrapped with palm
bark, which helps to keep the
cigar tobacco, at a
constant humidity, and to
ensure that
it slowly matures, until it is needed,
sometimes for
as long as four years.
Vegas de Santiago
Manufacturers of Premium Cigars in Costa Rica!
Buy Online!
Wholesale & Retail
http://www.vegassantiago.com
Contact Us at:
vegassan@gmail.com
Continue to Part 2
Tobacco Growing in Costa Rica
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