Zeebra
Daddy still loves Padrón!
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2005
- Messages
- 2,024
Here's my thought:
For the life of me, I cannot understand where you're going with this.
The title of this thread is "Dominican leaf to Cuba?" but the article you referenced doesn't appear to me to have anything to do with that. This article is just a bio on Emilio Reyes.
From the article:
"Don Emilio, with brothers Augusto, Leonardo, and Priamo Ernesto, supply dark tobacco to some of the most prestigious brands on the U.S. and international markets, as well as to the Cuban cigar industry. That statement draws my surprise, and Reyes explains his family has regularly supplied Cuba since his grandfather Julio’s time, about 100 years ago"
From the article:
"Don Emilio, with brothers Augusto, Leonardo, and Priamo Ernesto, supply dark tobacco to some of the most prestigious brands on the U.S. and international markets, as well as to the Cuban cigar industry. That statement draws my surprise, and Reyes explains his family has regularly supplied Cuba since his grandfather Julio’s time, about 100 years ago"
I've heard from a number of highly placed people that Cuba has for years sourced some of its tobacco from outside of the country. But then I've also heard from other equally highly placed people that Cuba does not.
Personally, I just really don't care. If I like the cigar, I like it, and I could care less what they blended to make it.
I'm with you there.From the article:
"Don Emilio, with brothers Augusto, Leonardo, and Priamo Ernesto, supply dark tobacco to some of the most prestigious brands on the U.S. and international markets, as well as to the Cuban cigar industry. That statement draws my surprise, and Reyes explains his family has regularly supplied Cuba since his grandfather Julio’s time, about 100 years ago"
I've heard from a number of highly placed people that Cuba has for years sourced some of its tobacco from outside of the country. But then I've also heard from other equally highly placed people that Cuba does not.
Personally, I just really don't care. If I like the cigar, I like it, and I could care less what they blended to make it.
I don't for a second believe his "unfermented wrappers" claim. That, in my mind, casts doubt on everything else he's saying.
Perhaps they're buying Dominican tobacco. If they are, that doesn't mean it goes into Havana cigars.
As others have mentioned, as long as I enjoy what I'm smoking, I really don't care where it comes from.
I seriously would doubt it, there seems to be a certain jealousy from productors outside Cuba and claiming they send leaf to Cuba would just boost their image and prestige as a premium and equivalent to Cuban,
'I've yet to have a single cooban to remotely taste anything like a Nicaraguan, Dominican, Honduran, Brazilian, Chilean, Costa Rican, whatever......
Maybe the so-called imported tobacco goes into the cigars that are not made for export? There is, to me, a very distinct flavor profile between different regions and I can't imagine this being done to EXPORT quality coobans.'
According to this article though, the unique flavor profiles of Cuban cigars are due to the RH remaining at over 90% most all of the time, and the even fermentation that this results in. Given this, is it then at least conceivable that tobacco from other regions could come to taste Cubanesque if fermented in Cuba? Seems like one Hell of a stretch to me, but the logic appears to be there.
knuck, I just don't think so. Though climate (RH) undoubtedely plays a role in growing and fermenting tobacco I don't believe it's enough to contribute a "Cubanesque" profile in a cigar. In my opinion the over riding factor contributing to the unique properties of certain tobaccos is soil and frankly none is more unique than Cuba. As an example, if I were to take fillers that I grew in Nicaragua and sent them to Cuba for fermenting I don't believe that simply by virtue processing or the RH in a given locale in Cuba it's going to make the tobacco taste any less Nicaraguan. I believe the reverse would be true also.
knuck, I just don't think so. Though climate (RH) undoubtedely plays a role in growing and fermenting tobacco I don't believe it's enough to contribute a "Cubanesque" profile in a cigar. In my opinion the over riding factor contributing to the unique properties of certain tobaccos is soil and frankly none is more unique than Cuba. As an example, if I were to take fillers that I grew in Nicaragua and sent them to Cuba for fermenting I don't believe that simply by virtue processing or the RH in a given locale in Cuba it's going to make the tobacco taste any less Nicaraguan. I believe the reverse would be true also.
Interesting viewpoint John.
As an aside, do you have any, um, opinions about whether there's tobacco going from the DR to Cuba?