blending 101

before i get to far into this id like to say that this is incredably basic. Its such a hard topic to tackle that i had a hard time sorting out what info was right for this and what was not. Ive re read this thing a million times and i know it isnt where i want it to be but im not sure how to improve it without doubling or trippling how long it is. I hope it helps

Blending 101
How does it all begin?
Does it start with an Idea? Does it start with a featured leaf? Yes. Either you have an idea on what the taste you want to be or you have a leaf that you want to showcase. At this point you roll your first test cigars using the knowledge of tobacco that have gotten you to the point of being able to blend cigars. Even with this knowledge, without fail, your first attempts at a blend will not be exactly what you want. If your cigar is too strong you must add a bit of lighter tobacco (or take out the stronger, or both). If it has not enough spice you need to add a bit of tobacco that has spice to it. Depending on what kind of changes you want to make in the flavor profile you can change different factors.
For example, taming down the power of a cigar is a common issue. You can make a cigar milder in many ways: You can get tobacco from a different country. You can get tobacco that is shade grown. You can get tobacco that has more age on it. You can get tobacco that is a lower priming (maybe the seco or viso). You can also have any combination of the just recently listed options. There are so many options out there its mind boggling.
The best way to learn how to blend is to become very familiar with all aspects of tobacco and how it is made into a cigar. With this thread I will try and bring to light some of the basics of what needs to be known to blend a cigar. Keep in mind that I am by no means an expert blender. In fact, I am a novice cigar smoker with too much passion and too much time on my hands. Some of this info you have seen before. Some may be new.

Wrapper/Filler.
Of course, how much and what kind of tobacco you use will impact the flavor. It is widely understood that a good percentage of the flavor comes from the wrapper leaf. Depending on the strength of the wrapper leaf it can be about 40%-60% of the flavor. (If not more) That means that 60%-40% of the flavor still comes from the filler. Within the filler itself, having the right amount of different leaves is critical. Most of the strength of a cigar comes from the filler. Much of the complexity is in the filler. The filler is the chance to take the focal flavor in the wrapper and give it some life.

Some of the first decisions in making a blend will probably have to do with what country or region the tobacco will come from based on your tastes and what you are looking to get out of the cigar.

Country/Region

Let’s start with the biggie: Cuban tobacco.
Cuban tobacco is usually described as spicy and more full bodied. It is highly aromatic, and usually complex. In my opinion there is nothing amazing about the tobacco itself, it’s just a very good version of tobacco. the leaves are heavy and supple. there a flavor that many describe as a "twang" but i feel that "sharp" does a better job of describing the flavor. The "forbidden fruit" makes it more tempting. it is a bit over rated. But don’t get me wrong, if Cubans weren’t so hard to get id smoke way more often than i do now.

The DR:
this country produces a lot of tobacco and it seems that many of the strains from the DR originated in Cuba. This combo tends to yield some very complex cigars. I find Dominican tobacco to be not as spicy or as full bodied as Cuban. Historically, the D.R. produced relatively mild Filler tobaccos, but the last decade has seen this country develop fuller and heavier bodied tobaccos as well as Wrapper leaf. some of the best cigars I have had were Dominican puros.

Ecuador: this region's tobacco is usually a bit on the mild side compared to the same strain grown in other areas. this is mainly due to the consistent cloud cover in this region. the clouds act like the shade when fields are actively shaded for shade grown tobacco. the size of the veins is smaller and the leaf itself is thinner. Personally I find cigars with primarily Ecuadorian tobacco a bit on the "simple" side. Not to say it isn’t good, because it is (the 5 Vegas Limitada uses it as a wrapper) it’s just a touch mild. i also find that there is a woody and maybe salty taste to it as well.

Honduras: this is one of my favorite areas to have tobacco from. The tobacco is full bodied and round in flavor. Spice is hit or miss. The aroma is usually strong. this tends to stray to the nuttier side of tobacco.

Mexico: Not usually known for its amazing tobacco. The leaves are strong and stand up to fermentation well. They are also used as binder because of the heartiness. Mexican Puros have a distinct taste that most either love or hate. there is very little middle ground here. Much of Mexico's wrapper leaves end up being maduros. the flavor is a mild peppery sweet

Nicaragua: This tobacco is very close to Honduran tobacco. I find it less "round" than Honduran but don’t get me wrong, it’s still some of the best tobacco in the world. it is rich and spicy and highly aromatic. Nicaraguan tobacco has a woody pulpy texture to the smoke itself. it is very distinct. some of the most complex tobaccos in the world come from Nicaragua.

Connecticut: one of the widest used wrappers in the industry. Usually on the mild side. Connecticut shade is more elastic and Connecticut broadleaf is heavier and has more veins. Connecticut broad leaf is of Cuban descent. it was brought here after a strain of sumata tobacco was tried and failed to yield decent results. the combination shade and less fertile soil than Cuba gave this Tobacco its own unique and light taste. the veins are small and the leaves are supple. all of that in conjunction with consistent color on the leaves make it a great choice for wrapper leaf.
the other US tobacco is Broadleaf. it is grown directly in the sun making it stronger in structure and in flavor. it usually requires extra fermentation to make it palatable.

Indonesia: Most Sumatran tobacco comes from Indonesia. The tobacco is "neutral" in nature. this tobacco is consistently dark in color, rich in flavor, not particularly complex, and produces excellent wrapper leaves. this tobacco often has desiccant qualities to it. the mouth dries as you smoke. this is more popular in Europe.

Cameroon: this region also produces very "neutral" tobacco. It is originally a Sumatran seed that was imported to the area. tobacco grown in this area is usually grown under direct sunlight and since the soil is rich, fertilization is not often used. it often makes a good wrapper leaf because of its appearance, supple texture, and resilient strength. the flavor is often considered sweet compared to other tobaccos.

Brazil: Brazil produces stereotypically good binder and filler. The tobaccos are rich and naturally rich and dark. Brazilian tobacco is also a good candidate for wrapper leaf and has been used on cigars such as La Aurora Preferido Maduros, Carlos Toraño Signatures and Alec Bradley's Trilogy Maduros. The Wrappers are usually rough in appearance and is almost always sun-grown. The Flavor tends to be Earthy and Sweet, unlike typical Maduros From Connecticut Broadleaf that tend to be more chocolatey.

The differences in country are due to climate, elevation, weather and soil conditions. Each of those factors effect the tobacco differently. It is entirely possible to have tobacco come from two different parts of the same country and taste different. However, for the purpose of this thread, I won’t be getting that detailed.

The tobacco itself has almost all come down from a Cuban tradition.

Types of Tobacco
There are a few major types of tobacco used in cigar production. Most have derived from the two big plants used in Cuba: Criollo and Corojo. All other tobaccos in the world are descendants from these two plants. Through natural selection and genetic engineering most other strains of tobacco were “created”
The Criollo strain can be documented all the way back to Columbus’s visits to the Caribbean. It is the classic Cuban tobacco. It is rich and round in flavor with a spice to it.
The Corojo tobacco plant is a derivation of the Criollo. It was created in Cuba through natural selection to resist mold. The taste is a bit more barnyard (in a good way) and it still has a spice to it. Connecticut broadleaf is a common wrapper and binder leaf. It is usually a bit on the mild side and has a tendency to be vegetal in flavor. There is little to no spice.
The Sumatra seed is also a common wrapper for cigars. The flavor is a bit more even and there is a little spice to it
It is possible to plant a Connecticut seed in Honduras. This will taste like a standard Connecticut leaf but will take on some of the characteristic of the Honduran growing region. This specific example could give you a “mild but round” flavor.

Priming
Another factor in the blending process is the priming of the leaf. The higher the priming, the greater the exposure to the sun, the longer it stays on the plant and the stronger the tobacco. The first priming of the tobacco plant is the lowest set of leaves on the plant. It is the closest to the ground and gets less sun. The second priming is the next set of leaves leaves above; the third priming are the next. There are up to 8 primings of a tobacco plant depending on what type of plant it is. most of the time though the plant is separated into three main primings: Seco, Viso, and Ligero. (bottom to top)

Age/Fermentation
Most tobacco reacts the same way to the aging process. Age smooths out the taste and mellows the tobacco as well. The longer it ages the mellower and smoother it will be.

Once the tobacco is picked it is set aside to ferment and/or age. Not only does this change the color but it changes the flavor profile. A maduro process is different than just aging. Maduro also “cooks” the tobacco. The bales of tobacco are tightly packed. This high pressure causes heat within the bale and the tobacco cooks. The tobacco gets darker and the sugars are drawn out. The tobacco mellows a bit. Many people believe that the darker a cigar is the stronger it is. This is not true. It is actually quite the opposite. A maduro leaf will be a bit mild and sweet compared to the same leaf that has not gone through the maduro process.

This brings up the tangent of Oscuro vs. maduro. Maduro has more to do with the fermentation where as Oscuro wrapper leaves are taken from the top priming at medio tiempo (literally “half time,” meaning they’ve been left on the plant 50% longer). Since these leaves have been exposed to a maximum amount of sunlight, they begin to cure on the plant. You end up with a darker, thicker, richer and more flavorful leaf than that of a maduro.

Now that you have your test cigars rolled, it is time to get tasting. Every little nuance of the cigar is noted. Qualities that are undesirable are identified. Some tobacco is taken out and some is added. Since there are virtually endless combinations of growing region/seed/priming/age/fermentation, only a complete understanding will get you a cigar that is worth smoking. There could be hundreds of test blends.

This concept of factors beyond growing region influencing flavor is what gave us the Perdomo lot 23. The cigar is made from only tobacco that came from one field. There is exactly one growing region in this cigar, and one type of plant. Complexity comes from blending different primings and how the tobacco is aged/fermented.

Each individual leaf has its own character. How it tastes is made up of all the elements above (plus some not mentioned in detail). The real key in blending is having very discerning taste and an incredible understanding of how everything affects tobacco. This short essay could (in theory) be the beginning of a life long study of the plant and cigars. Many people study the concept of blending all their lives and only a few of those are going to be considered the great blenders of their time.

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Comments

kuzi16

a question of body came up in THIS THREAD
i figured that it would be a good addition to the "blending 101" thread:

Husker44:
What makes the difference in body? The type of leaf? The age? The length of filler? Im just trying to understand a bit as to how to know by description what is mild/med, med/full and full

besides that most cigar descriptions will tell you if it is full mild or medium there are a few other ways of telling.

all of the factors you listed play a roll except for length of filler. (as far as i know)

lets see how short i can keep this...

from the beginning...
every strain of tobacco has a different strength to it. the tobacco that is used in pipes is different than the tobacco used in cigarettes is different than the tobacco used in cigars.
the first way of having a more or less mild cigar is to use a strain of tobacco that is more mild or more full.
Most cigar tobacco has been derived from cuban tobacco at some point or another. from there its been selected from one generation to the next to embody one trait or another. For instance, Connecticut Broadleaf is much more mild the classic Corojo.

the second way to change the strength of the tobacco is by growing it in different ways. Shade grown tobacco has a smoother/milder quality to it because the sun is partially blocked, so the leaves cannot produce as many nutrients. conversely, sungrown tobacco will be stronger because the sun will allow the plant to have more nutrients. this thickens the leaf, and adds more flavor.

another way to change the strength is how long the leaf is on the plant.
when tobacco is harvested for cigars it is often done in primings. Primings are pairs (groups) of leaves on the plant. the lower on the plant the earlier they are picked. the earlier they are picked, the less time they have to soak up the sun and nutrients in the soil. therefore, they are lighter in body.
the higher up the priming, the more body the tobacco leaf will have. Ligero is one of the top primings. it is well known to be one of the strongest leaves in a blend. this leaf is on the plant much longer than the seco, or valado, or any other priming (unless the carona leaves are used)

if you leave the leaves on the plant so long that they begin to cure on the stalk then you are running into what couldl become Oscuro wrapper leaf. Many of the stronger blends have oscuro wrappers because of the extra time giving it more body and character.

the soil also plays an important roll in strength. generally speaking, the richer the soil, the fuller the body. a few key nutrients do ply a roll, nitrogen being the most notable. Nitrogen increases nicotine content, plant yield, leaf width, weight per unit leaf area.

region can play a roll as well but not so much more as in the past. new technology and fertilizers enable a farmer to manipulate this a bit. there are still generalizations that exist. Indonesia, the Dominican Republic, and Ecuador have been known to make good mild tobaccos, where as Nicaragua, Cuba, and Honduras have been known to produce a fuller bodied leaf.

another huge influence on body is the curing and fermentation process. all tobacco needs to be cured. usually after the leaves have been cut off the stalk they are hung to cure. this is the traditional way of curing. another type of curing that can increase the body of a cigar is Stalk-curing. this is where the leaves are left on the stalk and not primed. when the leaves are on the stalk, they will steal more nutrients from the stalk as it cures, making a bolder taste, and fuller body.
when it comes to fermentation, in very general terms, the more you ferment the tobacco the more it breaks down, the more mild it becomes.
a maduro wrapper has been fermented and "cooked" in tight bales so much so that the sugars are drawn to the forefront and the color of the leaf darkens. this process smooths, calms, and sweetens the tobacco. the leaf is now more mild.
it is very possible to "over ferment" tobacco, thus destroying essential oils.

this leads right into age. the older a tobacco leaf is, the more the essential oils have had time to break down. this usually has a calming effect of the leaf. harsh notes are smoothed over. spice is reduced. body is tamed. a full bodied leaf will not be as full 18 years down the line. in fact, tobacco can over-age and lose all its flavor. a milder leaf may do this in less than 10 years. a fuller bodied leaf may take 20+ years.
age does not just apply to raw leaf.
cigars, once rolled will continue to age until they are smoked. the same things happen to a cigar as an individual leaf. they become mild as they age. it is again possible to over age a cigar.

blending is critical in determining body of a cigar. in short, the milder the tobacco used, the milder the cigar.
it is possible to have a mild body tobacco with full flavor paired up in a blend with tobacco that has very little flavor but a ton of body.
these different blends need to be balanced with flavor and can make it difficult to get a desired flavor in a cigar.

this is again why so few people are master blenders.

kuzi16

in a way this is a response to THIS thread. i responded in that thread with what i thought he was asking. then corrected on what the question was asked i posted this:

I recently had the pleasure of blending my own cigar at the Placencia Factory in Estali, Nicaragua.

i found myself in the blending room with hundreds of tobaccos at my disposal. this is a bit overwhelming. you cant just randomly pick out some tobacco and expect it to be good in a blend. I had to step back from the situation think about what i liked in a cigar.
I tend to like a nutty flavor.
i want it to be a bit sweet.
i want there to be warm undertones.
medium in body

this basic flavor profile will help guide me as i blend.

since most of the flavor of a cigar comes from the wrapper, this seems like a logical place to start.
I find that Honduran tobacco tends to have the nutty tones to it, so i know what country to start with. I am looking for a good rich flavor from the wrapper so i cannot have it be seco (lowest priming) it will be to mild and will get over powered by the rest of the blend. I cant have it be Ligero due to burn issues and the tendency for ligero to be spicier than i am looking for. this narrows it down to viso. I dont want the leaf to be too fermented or it will lose some of the nut tones that Honduran tobacco has and it may make sweet the dominant flavor. I settle in on a Viso criollo Colorado Intermedio (medium hue and therefore fermentation compared to a maduro or natural colorado) From the Azacualpa region of Honduras.

the binder seems like the logical next.
I am looking for a sweet leaf that is hearty. this should be able to give me the bit of sweet that i am looking for while still holding the cigar together. When many people think sweet tobacco, they think of Cameroon tobacco. The sweetness and the overall neutrality of the tobacco should compliment the wrapper well. The binder cant be to strong of a leaf because it will over power the wrapper so ligero is out (ligero is also out for combustion issues as well), but i want it to have some impact so Seco is out as well. Viso is again the way to go. I used a Natural Cameroon Viso leaf as binder.

Filler can be tricky.
the filler has to not only compliment itself, but it needs to go well with the wrapper binder combination. much of the body of the cigar is decided in the filler. I want some body to it but i dont want it to be overbearing. So i will need some ligero. Ligero tends to add a depth of flavor that other tobaccos cannot. I feel that the Ligero is the most important leaf (leaves) in the filler as far as taste is concerned.
i am looking for a warm undertone almost like a mild cinnamon. my first thought is the Dominican Republic. many of the puros i have had from the DR have had these warm undertones. (the LG, OpusX, Puro deOro, etc...) so this may be the way to go. the dominican usually produces tobacco that is a bit milder than that of other countries so i can have the ligero and get the flavor without having the spice and lack of balance.

the next leaf in the blend i want to reflect the nutty notes. i dont want the nut flavors to be one dimensional so the filler should also have a Honduran tobacco. the Jamastran Vally of Honduras Produces some of the richest tobaccos the country can provide, but since i am not looking to add ligero and i am just looking for support to the wrapper i will be using seco. its rich for seco, but mild for the plant it came from. i am using a Habano seco from The Jamastran Vally in Honduras.

i want an element of complexity in this blend. Nicaragua produces some of the most complex tobacco in the world, and i want some of that in there. the problem is that it can get spicy and powerful quickly. Ligero is right out. seco may get lost in the mix so i am aiming that viso will work well. with any luck this combined with the Dominican Ligero will give me the Cinnamon tones that i am looking for.

so now we have our blend:
wrapper: Viso criollo Colorado Intermedio From the Azacualpa region of Honduras
Binder: Natural Cameroon Viso
and filler: Dominican Ligero, Habano seco from The Jamastran Vally in Honduras, Nicaraguan Habano viso.

all of that is before the first taste.

Hand this list to a roller and tell him to aim for a ring of 46 (to make the wrapper and binder leaves more prominent) and 6.75 inches long (to get complexity from the filler).
he rolls it up and hands it to me.

here are my tasting notes:

the first puffs bring on a sweetness on the front of the tongue. the flavor becomes nutty with a warm but mild cinnamon undertone. the finish has a different type of nut flavor to it but it is still clearly nuts.

as it develops, the nut flavors stand out more and can be tasted on the lips as well. A hops note develops on the finish. the cigar is medium full in body.

as it progresses a sweetness develops in the finish as well. it compliments the hops. i was not expecting sweet in the finish and i wasnt expecting hops at all. but they work well together.

the final third brings on a bit more spice as the sweet on the finish fades. the smoke warms near the end but the nut and sweet still show up strong.

i didnt get the opportunity to go back and tweak the blend. if i had the chance i would use a bit less nicaraguan in the filler, maybe half as much, and replace that amount with the Honduran that was already being used in the filler.

i would taste from there and maybe tweak again. this process can take days, weeks, or even years. rarely does a blender get it 100% perfect the first time.

Amos Umwhat

That sounds like fun, could you have asked them to roll up a box for you?

kuzi16

Amos Umwhat:
That sounds like fun, could you have asked them to roll up a box for you?

i got a bundle of 20.

ShotgunJohn

Wow that sounds great for a first blend attempt. Who knows maybe you can work with Alex to tweak the blend.
Good stuff Kuzi.

Amos Umwhat

kuzi16:
Amos Umwhat:
That sounds like fun, could you have asked them to roll up a box for you?
i got a bundle of 20.

Nice!

nikostewart

That sounds like an amazing time and a great blend! I almost felt like I was right there with you blending this bad boy.

Ken Light

Amazing description of your thought process! The whole thing sounds incredibly intimidating though, were there any people with you who didn't have your level of knowledge and experience? Were they given any help in the process?

kuzi16

Ken Light:
Amazing description of your thought process! The whole thing sounds incredibly intimidating though, were there any people with you who didn't have your level of knowledge and experience? Were they given any help in the process?

yes. there were a few, my wife being one of them. myself and the guy running the trip helped her with her blend. she did very little but she did come up with the flavor profile that she wanted. she wanted it to be a sweet vanilla and black pepper with a nutty undertone.
she ended up with a brazilian maduro wrapper, jalapa honduran binder and a mix of honduran fillers with different degrees of fermentation.

nikostewart

kuzi16:
Ken Light:
Amazing description of your thought process! The whole thing sounds incredibly intimidating though, were there any people with you who didn't have your level of knowledge and experience? Were they given any help in the process?
yes. there were a few, my wife being one of them. myself and the guy running the trip helped her with her blend. she did very little but she did come up with the flavor profile that she wanted. she wanted it to be a sweet vanilla and black pepper with a nutty undertone.
she ended up with a brazilian maduro wrapper, jalapa honduran binder and a mix of honduran fillers with different degrees of fermentation.

Sounds like a nice cigar, did you try one of these?

kuzi16

nikostewart:
kuzi16:
Ken Light:
Amazing description of your thought process! The whole thing sounds incredibly intimidating though, were there any people with you who didn't have your level of knowledge and experience? Were they given any help in the process?
yes. there were a few, my wife being one of them. myself and the guy running the trip helped her with her blend. she did very little but she did come up with the flavor profile that she wanted. she wanted it to be a sweet vanilla and black pepper with a nutty undertone.
she ended up with a brazilian maduro wrapper, jalapa honduran binder and a mix of honduran fillers with different degrees of fermentation.
Sounds like a nice cigar, did you try one of these?

yes but only a puff. i dont remember too much of it right now. i have a bundle of 20 of those as well.

docbp87

What factory did you do the blending session at? Drew Estate? I've heard their blending sessions are killer. Talking to a guy right now who has a bundle of 100 lances he blended with drew a few weeks ago, t-52 wrapper, awesome filler blend, sitting in the aging room at the factory right now waiting for the next time he goes back haha.

kuzi16

the placencia factory.
i have heard the one at drew estates does not have as much tobacco selection on hand.

Poker Slob

Thanks for sharing your experience with us. That was a great read!

RaschNuts

That cigar sounds really tasty. When you put this into regular production i hope you give us all discounts.

kuzi16

RaschNuts:
That cigar sounds really tasty. When you put this into regular production i hope you give us all discounts.

IF i get it into regular production.

easier said than done.

havanaal

One aspect of blending I could never figure out has to do with the evolution of the smoke as the burn progesses. As we know, the flavors change as the ash lengthens. But I don't see how one could anticipate those flavors until after the blend is formulated and lit. Some cigars are interesting in that the flavor changes totally. Some just get harsher and boring (I avoid those, duh).

xmacro

From what I understand, the blender knows the general taste of a cigar before he blends it, partly through experience, partly through smoking puro's of the individual leaves; but even knowing this, it's impossible to tell how it'll turn out. Thus, even master blenders need months or years before they can get the kind of taste/blend they want out of a particular cigar.

kuzi16

havanaal:
One aspect of blending I could never figure out has to do with the evolution of the smoke as the burn progesses.

that is a difficult one. the smoke itself changes the tobacco as it goes through the cigar.
do the last 3 inches taste different than the first two because of this? sometimes.
is there a way to tell if it will?
iduno.

some cigars are one note songs. the NUBs taste the same all the way through. does the smoke not effect the flavor in the unsmoked tobacco?
maybe my palate isnt refined enough to tell. maybe it doesnt make a difference.
there is one way to ensure complexity. thats to do what viaje did with one of their blends...
Change the filler part way through.
the stick was the 50/50. at about the midpoint there was a distinct change in the flavor. this is because some of the filler leaves were changed.

discussed earlier in this thread was the concept of a NUB vs a cigar in the "A" vitola.
the thought behind the NUBs one note was that only tobacco from a specific part of the leaf was being used. in an "A" the entire leaf is being used. the nutrient distribution in that leaf is not even. this gives the filler a bit of complexity. im sure that has a bit to do with it also.
this is a very difficult question, but im going to try and pay attention to how a cigar changes from beginning to end and see if there are any patterns. (besides the typical building in strength)
maybe i can even look back and read my catalog and establish patterns.

this, like many things in this thread, open an entirely new Pandora's box in blending.

Poker Slob

One quick question, do you own the blend you created?

kuzi16

that question means a lot more if it were going into production. If i were a blender, i would not put it in production because it is not exactly what im looking for. will others like it? i would guess they could.
since i have so few of them i will only be giving out a very small number. one to my father, my wifes father, a good friend, and the winner of the 10k post contest.
each of those people will get one of my wifes blend as well.

given the opportunity to blend again, i hope that i get more than one shot at it. i feel that i could tweak the blend a bit and get it to where i want it to be.
even if the same tobacco isnt being used, i feel that i could get a cigar that captures more of what i was going for if i had more than a few hours to work on it.

all that being said... no i dont own it.
all work and tobacco belong to the Placencia factory. if i wanna get technical, legally, it belongs to them.

RaschNuts

kuzi16:
that question means a lot more if it were going into production. If i were a blender, i would not put it in production because it is not exactly what im looking for. will others like it? i would guess they could.
since i have so few of them i will only be giving out a very small number. one to my father, my wifes father, a good friend, and the winner of the 10k post contest.
each of those people will get one of my wifes blend as well.

given the opportunity to blend again, i hope that i get more than one shot at it. i feel that i could tweak the blend a bit and get it to where i want it to be.
even if the same tobacco isnt being used, i feel that i could get a cigar that captures more of what i was going for if i had more than a few hours to work on it.

all that being said... no i dont own it.
all work and tobacco belong to the Placencia factory. if i wanna get technical, legally, it belongs to them.

So is that how it works if Company A has Factory A make their Cigar the Factory owns it? Or are you able to patent or Copyright a cigar?

kuzi16

RaschNuts:
So is that how it works if Company A has Factory A make their Cigar the Factory owns it?

no, or yes depending on the deal that was worked out. in my case we were part of a group vititing the factory with the deal already worked out. we had no intentions of making a line of cigars so if we happened to hit the jackpot and make a crazy good blend, it was theirs.

RaschNuts:
Or are you able to patent or Copyright a cigar?

im not sure about the blend. the name, yes.

Ken Light

kuzi16:
RaschNuts:
So is that how it works if Company A has Factory A make their Cigar the Factory owns it?
no, or yes depending on the deal that was worked out. in my case we were part of a group vititing the factory with the deal already worked out. we had no intentions of making a line of cigars so if we happened to hit the jackpot and make a crazy good blend, it was theirs.

Same thing happens in academia. If I do anything marketable, it instantly becomes the property of Rutgers. My mistakes, on the other hand, are all mine.

RaschNuts

Kuz - i was reading the CCOM mag an it was talking about the 2011 Tobacco Report. I was wondering the tobacco that will be picked this year. how much of that goes into the cigars produced this year. I know there is a fermentation process and i think i read typically will take a couple months, and im not sure when they harvest the tobacco. So would we get any of the tobacco this year or would it be in our cigars next year and later years?

kuzi16

almost none of it will be ready to go by that point. there is a time period of a few weeks/months for curing, then a few months for fermenting. most factories age after that. i would say that most of the tobacco from this year will be used 2+ years out. this may be a "vintage" year and that means that there may be even MORE age.

just remember:
good things come to those who wait.

RaschNuts

Patience is a Virtue.

Thanks for the info.

RBeckom

Great information here. Could you elaborate A little more on the different types of plants? Burly verses Sumatra and so on. Any information will be greatly appreciated. Thanks for A informative post.

kuzi16

Burly is actually used in pipe tobacco. that is not a typical cigar tobacco.

what are you looking to know on those types?
it is very difficult to give an answer to a question that is asked on such a broad subject.
thats like the thread that asks ust to school the new guy on "everything cigar"

there is so much going on in the cigar world that this is an impossible task.
in my original post i tried to give a brief overview because there is so much information out there that putting it in one post is impractical.

RBeckom

Basically I would like to know which tobacco would be good for cigars and what flavors could be expected from each. I grew Florida Sumatra, Cuban Habano, Kelly Broadleaf, Connecticut Broadleaf, Pennsylvania Red and Black Mammoth this year. I'm trying to figure out what varieties to grow next year. I don't want to waste valuable garden space on varieties that wont be good for cigars.