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Learn > Cigars
The following summarizes how good cigars are grown, primed, wrapped and aged.
The tobacco plant is approximately five to seven feet and each tobacco plant has six primings or “pullings” when the tobacco is collected. Generally, a tobacco plant grows to maturity in 80 to 90 days in the regions of Connecticut River Valley, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Cameroon, Indonesia and Mexico.
The first priming is the lightest and sweetest. This leaf is normally used as a binder. The second priming is harvested approximately seven days after the first priming and is often used for the binder and filler. 70% of the primings collected during the third session will be used for wrappers.
The fourth priming collects tobacco with more body and weight because of its exposure to the sunlight. Sometimes the fourth priming is used for the wrapper. During the fifth priming, one of the most robust leaves on the plant is collected and used as a binder. If you see a very dark-wrapped cigar that is not a maduro, it may also come from the fifth priming, but it will need extended fermentation and processing to lighten its texture and reduce its strength if used for a wrapper.
During the final, sixth priming the slowest burning leaf of the tobacco plant is collected and usually only used for long filler. It is very flavorful, but not suitable for wrappers because the leaves are too small.
After being harvested the cigar tobacco enters the fermentation stage where they are tied together and hung to dry in wooden barns called “casa de tobacco” for 45 days. Then, the tobacco is slightly moistened and piled in huge bales or stalks. Temperatures inside the bales reach 140°F as the tobacco “sweats” during the early stages.
Some tobacco may be “turned” up to three or four times and re-moistened before fermentation ends. This process releases ammonia from the tobacco and reduces the overall nicotine content.
The fermented tobacco is then wrapped in bales surrounded by burlap and aged for 18 months to two years. Some keep inventories of tobacco as old as ten years.
