A Journey Takes Root
There were many nights where I contemplated the vastness of cigars. So many options, so many flavors. Back in 2017 this drove me to dive right into learning as much as I could about how they were made. How each cigar has specifically chosen tobaccos, bunched in a specific way, wrapped with a choice wrapper and then aged until it meets you in the shop. I watched so many YouTube videos of brands putting forth information about cigar making: AJ Fernandez, Davidoff, Padron, Rocky Patel; they all had so much good information on the total process. In 2019, I started rolling cigars. Hundreds of articles, interviews, videos, and practice making cigars led me here today. I have bunched and wrapped over six thousand cigars. More on that later perhaps. Flash forward!
In February of 2023, I was smoking a cigar and thinking about the rest of the year. I was thinking about homeschooling my son, having daddy daughter dates with my sweet Hayleigh, and cheering my wife on in her new Executive Director position at work. I had previously spent the last year growing my garden. Tomatoes, cucumbers, etc . I had this pivotal moment when I took a puff of the cigar I was smoking, retrohaled, and thought to myself, “This is a great cigar”, and then thought, “why not try your hand at growing tobacco?”
Poof, my brain went into hyper drive, and I started thinking about every aspect of it. Where would I get the seeds? How do I grow it? How do I cure and ferment it? With all this rattling around my brain, I spoke with my best friend about it, my wife.
“Babe? Can I try growing tobacco in our backyard?”
“ Um…is it going to look all white trashy?” She asked.
“No. It’s going to be beautiful!” I reassured her.
“Sure, you have been growing fruits and veggies, so give it a try”.
That’s all I needed to hear to pull the trigger! As I walk you through this journey, I wanted to give you some insight on what it is like to grow your own tobacco, but also the steps I took to see success. The first one is clearing the land…
Making Space and Preparing the Ground
First step: finding a location that I could plant on. I found that my backyard was big enough, but it had one major problem; It was almost all hard pan. Clay ridden soil that doesn’t drain at all.
SOLUTION: Get yourself a tiller and till the ground and add soil amendment.
After letting the ground soak with water for 3 days, I tilled it up and added steer manure and wood chips. It looked much easier work with. I then proceeded to make mounds, and it started to look like I could plant something. I was pretty excited.
Plant Away
The next step was to germinate seeds. I had purchased 3 varieties of tobacco to grow, put them in seed starting trays and got them to be about 4inches before deciding to plant them. They started to grow and show the amazing leaves they produce.
ADVICE: As a standard practice you will want to put them in seed trays and get them to 4 inches before you decide to plant them. They need a strong enough root structure to withstand planting. I learned that by watching dozens of Perdomo cigar videos that Nick Perdomo produced with his awesome team. Go check out the Perdomo cigar YouTube channel to see some amazing content.
Water the Babies!
Tobacco plants grow fast! Typical growing varietals reach full maturity within 45-65 days. It is vital that they receive the amount of water they need along with the fertilizer they need. How will you know how much those amounts are? You will learn by experience as you go.
ADVICE: The best times to water are in the early morning and evening. It is amazing to see a wilting plant stiffen up like concrete when enough water is given to it. These are some plants after a few weeks in the ground (see above). They are producing nicely sized leaves and growing taller. They grew despite being in over 100-degree weather and it being an arid environment!
ADVICE: I can’t stress this enough. Your plants will die quickly if you don’t give them enough watering and if there is too much sun without any shade. They need some shade and plenty of water directly to the root structure.
Getting Seeds and Harvesting
These plants above started to seed quickly and produced big leaves, reaching 6ft tall and giving many seed pods. After 65 days in the field, I started the priming process. Again, following the advice of Nick Perdomo, I started by priming the Seco’s, then 7 days later the Viso’s, then 7 days later the Ligeros. This helps the leaves get bigger after each priming. I ended up with a greenhouse tent full of tobacco.
The Journey Continues
There it is. The most unexpected journey, but it’s not over. I have much more to share with you about the journey of tobacco, and I will be doing so in the coming weeks. How the cure went, what ups and downs I face and all that I learned along the way. Fermentation is especially fun. Until then, please feel free to comment what you think about this journey? Are you interested in growing tobacco for yourself? Do you wanting to experiment and learn? If you have any questions about what you have seen, please comment below and Ill do my best to answer all of your questions. I look forward to sharing my journey with you all.
Timothy Greene
Hi, my name is Timothy Greene. I enjoy cigars so much that I have learned how to create them myself. I hold tasting events and rolling demonstrations in the central valley year-round. I joined Cigar Public to provide my honest opinions and reviews of the cigars currently available on the market today. I aim to help broaden your palate and assist you in getting the most out of each cigar you enjoy.
