To fully understand the development of cigars (the art and the science) it is essential to understand the complete process of creating them.

To begin, we must look at the science of agriculture and the growing and processing of the tobacco which is carefully selected for your favorite cigars.

Growing the tobacco starts with the seed. The seed is planted in a flat bed and covered with straw. After the seed germinates, it is transplanted to a field. The plant will then begin to grow rapidly and produce buds. It is essential at this point that the buds be removed.

The process of debudding the plants is called desbotonar in Spanish. Once a plant has been desbotonada, it will focus its energy on growing lusher leaves. About four months later, the plant is ready to be harvested.

The harvest of the tobacco plant is done in stages according to the growth of the foliage. The harvesting is done in six phases from the bottom up (please see our diagram). The first phase is the 'libra de pie', then comes the 'uno y medio', 'centro ligero', 'centro fino', 'centro gordo', and last of all, the 'corona'. Each phase of the harvest is done about a week apart.

Do not forget the different parts of the tobacco plant because they become essential in the blending and creation of all premium cigars. We will get to that in a moment.

After the tobacco is harvested, the process of curing and aging the tobacco begins. Immediately after harvest, the tobacco must be dried. To do this, the tobacco leaves are generaly hung inside a thatch-roofed barn for 6 to 8 weeks.

After the leaves are dried, they are removed from the drying barn and sent to the fermentation house where they are placed in piles and covered with burlap. The remaining moisture in the leaves starts the fermentation. The fermentation process gives the leaves a uniform brown color and makes them less acidic and lower in tar and nicotine.

From the fermenting house, the leaves are moved to the sorting house where they are sorted according to color, size and texture. At this point, the leaves are flattened and have their stems removed. During this process, the leaves are moistened with water or a mixture of tobacco stem juice and water. Any leaves that are broken are discarded and used for cigarettes or machine-made cigars.

After the leaves are sorted, they are piled in stacks in a dark room to undergo a second fermentation process. The leaves are left in the dark room to ferment for two months at the ideal temperature and humidity which is monitored closely. After the final fermentation, the leaves are ready to go to the cigar factory. At the cigar factory, the tobacco may age for up to two years depending on the cigar and the manufacturer.

The process of curing the tobacco, of course, varies from one cigar manufacturer to another and they all have their own trade secrets. The general process, however, is the same and the distictive flavor and aroma of cigars comes more from the blend of tobacco and the construction of the cigar than from the curing process.

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