CR CIGARS


 


 

"Vegas de Santiago" Costa Rica Cigars

"The New Standard of Excellence"

 

 

 

 

 

Cigar Tobacco Growing
in Costa Rica!


Vegas de Santiago "Cigar Tobacco" Plantation
in Santiago de Puriscal in Costa Rica.

 

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

 



Vegas de Santiago
Manufacturer of Premium Cigars
in Costa Rica

We are the  Largest Manufacturer
of Fine Cigars in Costa Rica!

Continue to Part 2
Tobacco Growing in Costa Rica

 

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Revised: 04 May 2010 13:33:28 -0500 .