here's some information I've pulled up on fine cigars. Now I would think that a good cigar company is going to really take care of their crop for the end result. I even found an article on how they get different tastes in cigars. It's funny they mention nothing of nutrients just different types of tabacco. Check it out:
There are a number of steps or functions involved in creating a premium handmade cigar. Making, assembling or
rolling the cigar is only one of them. Believe it or not, some cigar companies do not actually make cigars. If a company owns the trademark of a particular brand of cigars, then that company can hire or contract with an actual cigar maker to produce cigars for them, in lieu of making cigars themselves. To understand how the cigar industry works, we must take a look at some of the major steps required to turn a handful of cigar tobacco seeds into the finished cigar that you see for sale at your
favorite cigar retailers.
Grow and/or Buy Tobacco
To make a cigar, you first need some cigar tobacco. The cigar tobaccos used for the
filler,
binder and
wrapper can be acquired or grown by a cigar company. Identifying and acquiring specific types of desirable tobacco on the open market is easier said than done. Since smaller cigar companies may not have the capital, expertise or even the desire to grow their own tobacco, buying from others is their most viable option. Many steps are required to grow tobacco, and even after the plants are grown and harvested, the tobacco must also be cured, fermented, aged and processed. However, larger
cigar companies that want to control the quality and quantity of the tobacco used for their cigars may not only grow and process their own tobacco, but even develop and cultivate their own unique strains of seeds. A cigar company that grows and processes their own tobacco might also buy specific types of unique or desirable tobaccos from farmers and/or brokers, too.
Develop and Identify a Blend
The next major step in making a cigar is to blend or combine various types tobaccos together into a cigar that not only tastes good, but burns well and possesses several other characteristics that are desired in premium handmade cigars. Blenders will experiment with a variety of different combinations of tobaccos until they identify a blend that works, at least according to their own personal requirements. The blend is the same thing as a formula or recipe. For example, use equal amounts of fillers C, F, H, and W with binder D and roll into wrapper X. Blending is a function that many cigar enthusiasts would like to do themselves, and is a main reason why owners of small cigar companies establish their own brands in the first place.
Production
Now, we have finally arrived at the step where a cigar is actually made. Most premium cigars are made by hand, by experienced cigar rollers in factories in the Caribbean or Central America. Cigars are also rolled by hand in small cigar shops all over the world. Many small cigar companies who own their own brand do not own their own factories (nor cigar shops), and must contract with others to make cigars for them (using the prescribed recipe or blend). Larger companies usually have their own cigar factories and make their own cigars, but they can contract with other cigar makers, also. After a cigar is finished, inspected and packaged, it must be stored and
aged for a period of time before moving on to the final steps.
This one is just a simple managing tabacco guide:
Mix fertilizer into your soil if you notice the leaves fading in color. Fertilizer will feed the plant and keep it looking green and healthy. Fertilizer is not always required, and should not be needed once the plant begins to flower. If you do fertilize, use a fertilizer designed specifically for tobacco, or for tomatoes, peppers or potatoes. These fertilizers are low in chlorine and high in nitrates.
2 Hoe or pull all weeds that are growing near your tobacco plants. Check regularly for weeds, as weeds will use up the nutrients that the tobacco plants need to thrive.
3 Supply the tobacco plant with between one and two inches of water each week. Tobacco is very sensitive to drought and under watering. Do not let the soil dry out in between watering sessions.
4 Check the plants for insect infestation each time you water. Tobacco is naturally insect repellant, but can see infestations by moths or caterpillars. Remove these by hand from the plant to prevent them from eating the leaves. Wear gloves if you are not comfortable touching the bugs directly.
5 Remove the top buds of the tobacco plant before they open by pulling them off or cutting them off with pruning shears. Removing these buds will allow for the leaves at the top of the plant to grow larger, producing a better tobacco crop.
6 Remove axillary suckers that form on the leaves after the buds are eliminated. Pull them off with your hands once they become about an inch in size so that they do not stunt leaf growth.
And finally here is an expirement done from a university using 4 different kinds of nitrogen, pottasium and other fertilizers to see what the differences in the end products were. It's actually a pretty cool study and goes fairly indepth yet still nothing on flushing to take chemicals out of the leaves and improve taste. here's the link: http://www.idosi.org/wasj/wasj15(7)11/5.pdf
Oh and my sources for the first two:
http://cigars.about.com/od/howcigarsaremade/a/Cigar-Makers-And-Cigar-Companies.htm
http://www.ehow.com/how_5673825_manage-tobacco-plants.html
http://www.idosi.org/wasj/wasj15(7)11/5.pdf
