Tobacco introduction history cigar and cigarette processing

1. TOBACCO

2. --plants and cured leaves of
Nicotiana.
--aging and processing is
done for various purposes.
--used for smoking, chewing,
snuffing and extraction of
nicotine.

6. HISTORY

7. Tobacco and tobacco-related products have a long history that stretches back to
6,000 BC. The plant today known as tobacco, or Nicotiana tabacum, is a member of
the nicotiana genus – a close relative to the poisonous nightshade and could
previously only be found in the Americas.

8. In 1492, Columbus was warmly greeted by the Native
American tribes he encountered when he first set foot
on the new continent. They brought gifts of fruit, food,
spears, and more and among those gifts were dried up
leaves of the tobacco plant. As they were not edible and
had a distinct smell to them, those leaves, which the
Native Americans have been smoking for over 2
millennia for medicinal and religious purposes, were
thrown overboard.

9. Proliferation of Cigarettes
Cigarettes came to the height of their popularity during the First and the Second
World War. Tobacco companies sent millions of packs of cigarettes to soldiers on
the front lines, creating hundreds of thousands of faithful and addicted consumers
in the process. Cigarettes were even included into soldiers’ C-rations – which
contained mostly food and supplements, along with cigarettes.
The 1920s were also the period when tobacco companies started marketing
heavily to women, creating brands such as ‘Mild as May’ to try to feminize the habit
and make it more appealing to women. The number of female smokers in the
United States tripled by 1935.

10. Smoking Hazards
Dangers associated with nicotine are nothing new. Ever since people started smoking, there were those far-sighted
enough to suggest that the habit is dangerous and addictive. In the early 17th century a Chinese philosopher Fang
Yizhi pointed out the dangers of smoking, noting that it caused ‘scorched lungs’. Sir Francis Bacon noticed that
there was something very addictive about tobacco way back in 1610, saying that it’s a tough habit to kick – people
back then did not know about the addictive nature of nicotine or that nicotine was even a component of tobacco.
In Great Britain, snuff users were warned about dangers of nose cancer as early as 1761 while German doctors
started warning pipe smokers about the possibility of developing lip cancer in 1795. In the 1930s, American doctors
started linking tobacco use to lung cancer and General Surgeon’s report from 1964 definitely states that smoking
causes lung cancer in men.

12. --harvested from 70-130 days after
planting.
--entire plant is cut or leaves are
removed as they mature.

13. CURING

15. FIRE CURING

17. SUN CURING

19. Fumerie Turque

22. CIGAR

24. Wrapper Colours
Claro (CCC)- Light Golden Brown
Colorado-Claro (CC)- Tawny Colour
Colorado (C)- Reddish Brown
Colorado Maduro (CM)- Dark Brown
Maduro (M)- Very Dark Brown
Oscuro – Black and oily texture
Candela – Greenish Yellow ( Double Claro)

25. - Cultivation of Tobacco
-Curing
-Fermentation
After the leaves are cured, they are sorted by color and size. Small or broken leaves are
used for the cigar filler, large leaves for the inner wrapper or binder, and large, fine
leaves, are set aside for the outer wrapper. The leaves are tied into bundles called hands
of 20 leaves each.
The hands are packed in boxes or in large casks called hogsheads. The tobacco is kept in
the hogshead for a period of from six months to five years. The leaves undergo chemical
changes during this period referred to as fermentation. During fermentation, the aroma and
taste of the leaf develops. Cigar tobacco is usually fermented longer than other tobacco.
Fermentation for two to five years is typical for high quality cigars. After fermentation, the
leaves are manually sorted again by highly trained workers.

27. -Leaf Stripping
The filler leaves must have their main vein (or stem) removed, or else the cigar will not burn evenly. This can be done by
hand or machine. Manually, a worker with a thimble knife fitted to his or her finger clips the vein near the tip and pulls it
down. Then the worker stacks the stripped leaves in piles (called books ).
The stripped leaves are stored for further fermentation. Just before the leaves are ready for manufacture into cigars,
they are steamed to restore lost humidity, and sorted again.

28. -Rolling and Wrapping
Fine cigars are rolled by hand.
Cigar rolling is skilled work: it may take a year for a roller to become proficient. The filler must be packed evenly for the cigar
to burn smoothly, and the wrapper should be wound in an even spiral around the cigar.
Hand cigar makers usually work in small factories. Each worker sits at a small table with a tray of sorted tobacco leaves on it
and space to roll out the cigar. First the worker selects from two to six leaves for the filler. These are placed one on top of the
other and rolled into a bunch.
Then the worker places the bunch on the binder leaf and rolls the binder leaf cylindrically around the filler. The unfinished
cigars are placed in an open wooden mold that holds them in shape until they can be wrapped.
Wrapping is the most difficult step. The worker takes the partially completed cigar out of the mold and places it on the
wrapper leaf. With a special rounded knife called a chaveta, the worker trims off any irregularities from the filler.
Then the worker rolls the wrapper leaf around the filler and binder three and a half times, and secures it at the end with a
small amount of water or vegetable paste.
The worker cuts a small round piece out of a different wrapper leaf. This is sometimes done by tracing around a coin. This
circle is then attached to the end of the cigar with paste. The worker has completed the cigar, though it still must be tested,
sorted and packed.
Cigars may be made by hand in teams. Some workers may make the bunch and wrap it in the binder, and then the more
delicate finishing work of rolling the wrapper is left to more skilled workers.

29. Storage:
In Humidor
Made of cider wood.
at 15-18 C
65-70 % humidity
Hygrometer

32. CORONA
5.5 inches

33. PETIT CORONA5 inches

34. 4.5 inches

35. 6.5 inches

36. 6.5 inches

37. 4.75 inches

38. 5 inches

39. 3.5 inches

43. Are machine rolled in a special paper of RAG FIBRE, that burns slowly
and evenly.
Cellulose Acetate fibre-- Filter
Most cigarettes have filter to collect impurities and to make it less
harsh to inhale.

44. Growing the tobacco
Tobacco is initially grown in outdoor frames called seedbeds. In warm regions, the frames are covered with mulch
or a cotton top sheet; in cooler regions, glass or plastic shields are installed to protect the plants. When the
seedlings are almost 10 inches (25 cm) tall, they are transplanted to the fields.
Although transplanting machines are available, the vast majority of the world's tobacco plants are still planted
manually. As the plants grow, the heads are broken off by hand so the leaves will grow fuller, a process
called topping.
The plants stay in the field 90-120 days before they are harvested.

45. Curing the leaf
Next, the leaves are carefully, gradually dried in a specially constructed barn by flue curing or sometimes
fire curing.
Curing is used to dry tobacco.
Flue curing is done in small, tightly constructed barns that are artificially heated. The heat comes from flues
(metal pipes) that are attached to furnaces. Open oil and gas burners are sometimes used.

46. Sorting and auctioning
After the leaves are cured, they are sorted into grades based on size, color, and
quality, and tied in bundles for shipment.
The farmers then bring the tobacco to warehouses, where it is placed in baskets,
weighed, graded once again by a government inspector and, finally, auctioned to
cigarette manufacturers.

47. Conditioning, aging, and blending
After they have purchased and transported the material to their factories, manufacturers treat and
age the tobacco to enhance its flavor.
First, the manufacturer re-dries the tobacco. This involves completely drying the leaves by air and
then adding a uniform amount of moisture. Packed into barrels called hogsheads, the tobacco is
then aged for one to three years, during which period it develops its flavor and aroma.
After it is aged, the tobacco leaves are again moistened and the stalks and other wastes removed.
Leaves from different types of tobacco are mixed to create a particular flavor.

48. Making the cigarettes
After blending, the tobacco leaves are pressed into cakes and mechanically shredded. Materials such
as fruit juices or menthol are added to give additional flavor.
The final shredded tobacco is then dispersed over a continuous roll of cigarette paper. A machine rolls
the shredded tobacco into the paper and cuts it to the desired length.
A device then grabs each cigarette and fastens a filter in one end. Modern cigarette machines can
produce 25-30 cigarettes a second.