Thread: Any fellow brother of the leaf in here?

Originally Posted by Axeman556

Thats wild man!!! I can't say I've heard of anyone using that modolvan either ,new one on me for sure, the burly is somewhat rare in cigars as well as I've mostly seen that in pipe tobacco and blends their off, how do you age your leaves? And for how long?

Golden Burley and other Burley varieties have actually been used a lot for domestic cigar production, and Cuban strains are descended from various old North American Burley varieties, mostly. The Connecticut Broadleaf and Shade are descended from the Cuban strains that are descended from the Burleys. What goes around comes back around. Now Connecticut Shade is considered the world's finest wrapper by many people and it is basically a Burley twice removed. And you can just look at a leaf of almost any Burley variety and go "hmmm... that sure looks like it would wrap a great stogie!". I am pretty sure that the iconic Tampa Nugget that I was fond of as a youngster was wrapped in one of the mainstream North American Burley varieties, over a binder made from "tobacco paper" manufactured from scraps, still used today in many cheaper machine rolled cigars. I am guessing in retrospect that the filler was a blend of flue cured Virginia and a dark air cured Burley with maybe some imported Cuban seed filler mixed in.

Last year was my first grow year. I air color cured in the garage. Color curing, and aging, are two different processes. The color curing gets rid of all the chorophyll and excess water and makes the tobacco look and taste like tobacco, and burn properly. Aging takes 1 to 3 years and you can write books about aging cigar leaf. I won't. I put it all in tupperware type bins, and later I re-cased (adjusted the moisture in the leaf) and stuffed it all into big zip lock bags, where it is now. As it happens, the product has a very nice aroma in the leaf, and so far trial cigars have been pretty good. Trying to roll more than I smoke and build up an aging stock of stogies, and likewise I want to use my homegrown sparingly until I have some that is 2 and 3 years old. The plan is eventually to be rolling only leaf that is two or three years aged. Right now all I have is about 10 months old, and fresh cured, and still hanging, and some that I bought last year and haven't used up yet.

Another thing about last year's tobacco. I was very lax in labeling and my bakky got all mixed up. Kay serrah. It's just one variety, el producto de Finca Crescent City, for all practical porpoises. This year I am a little more diligent in labeling variety but I am not so much seggregating by grade. Low on the plant is Seco. It is characterized as mild and very even burning. Even lower are the "mud lugs" which are often used for rolling basically right off the plant, once they have color cured right on the stalk. Next up is Viso, a little stronger from more sun exposure. Near the top is Ligero, very hearty and flavorful, more nicotine, a little slower to burn. Finally at the tippity top is Corona, not often used in cigars. I just go by feel of the individual leaves anyway, as I roll. Next year I want to be down to two or three varieties, and I will seggregate by grade as well as variety.

The big industry movers and shakers in the premium cigar world get VERY technical and artsy fartsy on aging. Usually the leaf is brought up to case and then stacked in big piles, where it ferments and heats itself up. The piles are periodically broken apart and restacked so the aging is even. After this fermentation period it is stored in bales usually, in warehouses where the management controls the ventilation and thereby the humidity. Most say that you want periods of lesser and greater humidity for best aging. Many home growers construct a kiln where the fermentation process can be duplicated in only weeks instead of months. I can't be bothered at this stage of the game. Whatever it was I did, seemed to work good for me.

First step is to watch the videos and learn, then buy some quality leaf and roll a good stogie. Smoke some and age some. When you can do that, plant some bakky. Growing can be a little complicated but there are forums and youtube channels where you can learn all about it. When you can grow it and color cure it, then worry about aging. When you have aged product ready to smoke, roll it up and stop or reduce buying leaf from Whole Leaf or Leaf Only or whoever.