Page 145 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Cuba

WESTERN CUBA  143

Cuban Tobacco

The tobacco plant (Nicotiana tabacum) grows from small, round, golden seeds.
Cuban tobacco seeds are in demand throughout the world, because their quality is
considered to be so good. The plant reaches its full height in the three or four months
from November to February. Like cigar-making (see pp36–7), tobacco growing is the
result of age-old expertise handed down from generation to generation. Tobacco
plants are quite delicate, and need skilful handling. There are two types: Corojo, grown
in greenhouses, which has the prettiest leaves and is used as wrapper leaves for the
cigars, and Criollo, which grows outdoors and provides the other leaves.
Criollo leaves are
separated into three
grades: ligero, seco
and volado. The first,
which is the best, has
the most aromatic
leaves, which absorb
most sun and are
harvested only when Floating cultivation is a technique of
completely mature. experimental hydroculture in which the
seeds germinate ten days earlier than
those grown with traditional methods.
Poles for transport Traditional cultivation
and drying in rows
Tobacco Harvest
Harvesting tobacco is a
delicate and laborious
operation. The leaves are
tied in bunches, hung on
horizontal poles and then
transported to curing barns.
In the case of the Corojo
plant, the harvest is carried
out in various stages, at
intervals of several days.

Humidification is a
hydrating process
carried out after the
drying so that the
leaves do not dry out
and become brittle.
Once sprayed, the
bunches of leaves are
suspended in order to
Drying takes from 45 to 60 days. The leaves, eliminate excess water.
hung on small poles in storehouses known
as casas de tabaco, gradually turn from
bright green to brown.

By establishing a tobacco monopoly in 1717,
the colonial authorities obliged farmers to sell
all their tobacco to Spain. Although the Cuban
government allows private tobacco growers to
have 17-acre (7-ha) plots, the state, along with
the UK’s Imperial Tobacco, is still the sole
manufacturer and distributor of cigars.

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