THROWBACK: Understanding The Different Parts Of A Tobacco Plant (EP29)

2 Comments

1. Rob
   June 25, 2016 @ 10:23 am

   Love your site guys but there are a few incorrect data points here I’d like to correct for you and other viewers.

   The earliest seed varietals according to carbon fossil dating came from the foothills of the Andes mountains in what is now Peru. From there the seeds migrated by way of man to other areas of the world. There are five orginal criollo seed varieties and every seed varietal of black tobacco know today are hybrids from these orginal five strains:

   1. The aforementioned original strain from the area of Peru/Brazil – all the ‘mata’ strains – mata fina, Mata norte, etc.

   2. From there the seeds were brought to Mexico and became the second crillio which are the San Andres strains.

   3. Those seeds were then brought by boat by the local people to the carribean islands including Cuba and grown there they became the third criollo which are the Habano strains.

   4. The same San Andrés seeds were also taken by land through North America as far as Canada. Grown there those seeds grown in those different climates became the Broadleaf strains.

   5. The fifth orginal crillio strain came from the then “new world” explorers who brought the broadleaf seeds from there to the orient, initially landing in the South Pacific islands, specifically Indonesia.

   So those are the first five seed strains which were all from the same orginal seeds but became starkly different via natural hybridization. By natural I mean they weren’t purposefully crossed with others, they just naturally hybridized from the various differences in climates. The various Corojo, Habano, broadleafs, even Cameroon varietals all originated from these original crillio strains.

   Regarding the plants and primings – wrapper, binder and filler can and do come from all parts of the plant. There are slight differences in terminology between Cuba/DR and Nicaragua. In Cuba the lowest leaves are called volado, the middle seco, and the highest ligero. In Nica the lowest leaves are referred to as seco, the middle viso and the top sharing the name ligero with Cuba. The very topmost leaves are universally referred to as the Corona and on some plants but not all there can be two proportionally much smaller leaves on each side of the corona called Medio Tiempo. Since they don’t always occur they are in short supply obviously. These leaves were virtually never talked about until the Cubans made them famous as the marketing angle and what made special the now iconic Behike blend.

   I’m sure this is review for many cognoscenti of the leaf but I thought it might be of interest to some. Cheers.

   Reply

   • Will Cooper
     June 25, 2016 @ 11:54 am

     Thank you so much for the clarifications.

     We have a video with Steve Saka on Cigar Coop (pre-Stogie Geeks) who also talks a little about what you mention too. Appreciate you keeping us honest.
     http://cigar-coop.com/2012/06/feature-story-origins-of-criollo-seed.html

     Reply

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