Cigar Guide – Cigar Production From Seed to Store - Part 1
13th Apr 2020
What's going on everybody? This is Gerard, Mardocigars.com and today we are going to talk about everything that is involved in making cigar from seed to shelf. Before we get started, I need you to click on that "Subscribe" button, click on that bell to be notified every single week with Mondays with Mardos.
Planting the Seed
Before we get going, I want to let you know that this is a three-part series video. Today's part one, where are we going to talk about the farming aspect of creating a cigar. It all starts with the seed, which is collected from a strong and healthy plant. These are taken into greenhouse for about 25 days until they sprout, which is then transported out into the field. Once they grow into a large enough plant, they're going to cut off the coronas, which is also known as the flower. There's two reasons why they want to do that. Within the corona is where the seeds are. If these fall into the ground, they're going to rob the soil of all the nutrients that we want the actual plant to get and the roots to spread out and get all the nutrients. Another reason why we cut off the coronas is because that's where the seeds are. Therefore, we can capture those and get more crop.
Harvesting
Now, we're going to talk about harvesting, which is down the road about 3 months to 12 weeks after the seed is planted. Tobacco plant has 14 to 16 leaves, and only two leaves a week are harvested at a time. Starting at the bottom of the plant and working to the top, allowing the top of the plant to further develop and produce stronger tobacco. When all this tobacco leaves are gathered, it is then brought into curing barns, where they process and hang the tobacco throughout the barn. These assemblies are called [saltas 00:01:40], which is twined around with plantain leaves and hung to dry, going from green to golden color. It will be kept there for about six weeks. At about 70 to 75 degrees, and 65 to 75 humidity to remove the moisture from the tobacco, which gives you that color from green to brown.
Fermentation
We're going to talk about the fermentation process. This is where we take all the leaves and we stack them on top of each other. About a size of a bed, and this is going to be called a pilon. A pilon allows the ammonia to be removed, making sure that the leaves are being rotated ever so often, up to about six weeks. In this stage also is where all the flavor develops. After six weeks, you can either double or triple ferment the process if you want.
Aging
Once the fermentation process is concluded, all these are taken into bales. These bales we replace into a room that has climate control of humidity and temperature and it ages tobacco for months, up to even years before rolling. This process allows more ammonia to be removed, and a lot more flavor to be had.
Come Join Us!
This concludes our first part series. Tune in next week, where we're going to talk about blending and rolling cigars. Before you go, follow us on Instagram, like us on Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube channel. My name is Gerard, I'm signing out.