d the "Magic Sixes." A tobacco fermentation practiced from General Cigar named Nunez said, "You take six weeks to germinate the seeds, six weeks to grow the plant, six weeks to harvest, six weeks to dry and cure, and six weeks to ferment for the first time. We call it the magic sixes."Cigar tobacco is grown in a lot of regions today. The most prominent ones being the Caribbean, and Central America. Outer surface of these areas, major cigar tobacco growing countries include America, Cameroon, Ecuador, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Philippines, and South Africa.The Caribbean countries include Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. The rich, red soil of Vuelta Abajo in Cuba is acclaimed as the most excellent tobacco region in the world, and is one of Cuba's five main tobacco areas. Dominican Republic tobacco is mostly grown in the Cibao river valley, and is a major rival to Cuba's acclaim for growing the finest tobacco.In Central America, the prime tobacco growing nations are Honduras and Nicaragua, who also believe that their tobacco is as good as any produced in Cuba.America produces the finest wrapper tobacco in the world, at least outside of Cuba, which is all grown in Connecticut. Connecticut-shade wrapper tobacco is in constant demand and garner's premium prices. In the growing of wrapper tobacco, Ecuador, Indonesia, and the African nation of Cameroon, have become serious contenders in the trade.Firstly growing in importance in both growing cigar tobaccos and the making of cigars are the nations of Mexico, Indonesia, and Brazil. You will find many premium cigars today using tobacco from these nations in their fillers, binders and wrappers.Cigars commence as tiny tobacco seeds, grown in nurseries for about 45 days, then hand planted in very straight rows. Shade-tobacco has the addition of being covered like a tent by cheesecloth or mesh. It takes another 45 days, about "six weeks," for the plants to mature. Leaves are picked alone, and at different times, to ensure the best quality. A plant normally has sixteen to eighteen leaves. Leaves of the tobacco plant progress from the mildest flavor at the bottom to strongest at the top. These various leaves are classified into three groups. "Valdo," is the mild leaves from the bottom of the plant. The middle section leaves are known as "seco." While the top layered, stronger flavored leaves are known as "ligero."After picking, leaves are tied together in pairs and hung on poles, or bundled, usually according to texture and size, and placed in barns or curing sheds to be dried, where they change in color from green to a variety of shades of brown. They remain here anywhere from thee to eight weeks.After this first curing, the leaves are then again sorted and graded by size, texture, and now color. The sorted leaves are then stacked in bundles of twenty leaves, called "hands" and begin their first fermentation process. The hands are then stacked in groups three to six feet high and are ready for fermentation.During the fermentation the stacked leaves begin to increase in temperature. Moisture, sap, nicotine and ammonia are released during the process. Monitoring the temperature is an on-going process. When the temperature reaches a desired point, the hands are restacked, changing their position in the group so that all are fermented uniformly. This rebuilding of these groups can be done as many as ten times over a period of up to three months, with leaves such as maduro taking as long as six months.After this fermentation, tobacco leaves are dry and brittle. They are lightly sprayed with water and steamed. The leaves are then again graded and separated into filler, binder and wrapper leaf. Usually the leaves will go through a second and sometimes even a third fermentation process.After fermentation, tobacco is aged for up to three years, and in some cases even longer. Only then is tobacco ready to be made into cigars.THE MAKING OF CIGARS:
A cigar has three parts: the filler, binder and wrapper.T
he filler is the heart of the cigar, its center, around which the binder and wrapper embraces. In premium cigars, only long filler tobacco is used, long-leaf tobacco that runs the entire length of the cigar. Two or three, and sometimes four different tobaccos are blended together to make the filler. It is the combination, or "recipes," of these blends with various binders and wrappers that distinguish the various brands of cigars, giving them their characteristic flavors. Short-leaf, or cut tobacco, is used primarily for machine-made cigars.The binder is what holds the filler together. The binder affects the taste, burn, and aroma of the cigar and is part of the brand's "recipe." In premium cigars, the binder is specialized leaf, while mass-market, machine-made cigars use a homogenized binder made from tobacco parts.The wrapper is the outer layer of the cigar. Not only are they judged for their looks and texture, but also for the taste added to the cigar they provide, which can account for up to 60% of the cigar's taste. The hand rolling of a cigar wrapper around the cigar requires the most skilled craftsmen of a cigar factory, called the roller, and it takes years to become a master roller.Cigars can be handmade, machine-bunched and hand rolled, or totally machine-made. Handmade cigars are just that, handmade from start to finish. Machined-bunched cigars are formed by machines, but the wrapper is applied by hand. Machine-made cigars have every stage of their structure done by a machine.Handmade cigars begin with the "buncher," who blends and forms the filler into a cylindrical shape by crimping them together like a fan, creating horizontal air spaces for a good draw, and to ensure that each puff of a cigar fuse together all the tobacco in the blend. The filler is then rolled in a binder leaf and is known as a "bunch."A Buncher takes the bunches and place them into molds, which are stacked into a bunch press, which applies enough pressure to squeeze the bunches into the shape of cigars, which takes about fourty-five minutes, during which time the individual bunches are rotated to create a good cylindrical shape.The bunches are then taken to the Roller, the most skilled craftsmen in the factory, who apply the wrapper. The Roller trims the wrapper leaf to size and encircles the cigar with its outer layer. The Roller then cuts a small piece of wrapper leaf for the cap, affixing it to the head with a sticky, tasteless dab of natural tree gum. Finished cigars are then cut to the desired length. A master roller is called a "Torcedor."Nevertheless, this "finished" cigar is not truly finished. The tobacco was first moistened for handling in their production. Now the cigars must be dried, and are done so in a temperature-contolled cedar room. This drying time is also meant to allow the various blends within the cigar to meld together. This process can take several weeks, months, or, in special instances, even years. The cigars are then graded one last time by color, banded, boxed and shipped out.
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