Leaf Tobacco - Nicotiana tabacum and Nicotiana rustica (Solanaceae) 

Smokers and botanists look at tobacco from different perspectives.

For the former, who encounters it at the end of its long journey, it promises peace and a few hours of contentment. For the latter, it is first of all an interesting plant belonging to the nightshade family. It is therefore hardly surprising if you are familiar with this species even as a non-botanist. 

The majority of the approximately 60 tobacco varieties are native to the American continent. The two cultivated tobacco varieties, however, have never been found in the wild. They are annual herbs with large leaves that require a lot of warmth and plenty of rainfall for their development. The attractive flowers of Nicotiana tabacum are blood red; the smaller, inconspicuous flowers of Nicotiana rustica are greenish-white. 

The alkaloid nicotine is produced in the roots and transported to the leaves. Depending on the purpose for which they are to be used, the leaves are harvested, dried, pressed into bales and fermented at various stages of maturity. 

Even at very low levels, nicotine has a stimulating effect on the nervous system and causes an increase in blood pressure through the release of adrenaline. The Native Americans have been smoking tobacco for over 2000 years. 

The tobacco-smoking native inhabitants amazed the first Spaniards who set foot on the American continent. The French ambassador in Lisbon, Jean Nicot de Villemain, whose name is immortalized in the word of nicotine, was responsible for the spread of tobacco. He sent seeds to the French court and in the 'Jardin d'acclimatisation de Paris' began what was to become one of the most widespread customs in the world.

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Warehouse

Following the long journey that the tobacco has completed after careful inspection and selection, it is stored here as raw material, strapped together in jute bales or bundles with banana leaves. Just 5 % of the tobacco to be processed worldwide originates from Switzerland and Germany; it is more suited to the less complicated manufacture / production of cigarettes. The ideal growing conditions for tobacco are to be found mainly in Latin America and in the Malay Archipelago. Optimum conditions can be found especially on the Caribbean island of Cuba, the origin of the renowned tobacco and cigar culture. The nature of the soil, the quality of the seed and the prevailing climate determine the taste of the tobacco.

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Preparation of the Tobacco Blend

The principle of cigar manufacture: it is all a matter of the blend. Because if the high-quality Premium Sumatra were to be made exclusively from Sumatra tobacco (the most expensive  wrapper in the world), it would taste unbearably strong and scarcely acceptable. Therefore, at least 3 different tobacco varieties, depending on the brand they are to become, are mixed evenly with one another. Before the tobacco can be put to production, the tobacco leaves need to be fermented. During this fermentation process, protein, nicotine and sugar are broken down. At the same time the aromatic compounds develop. These gradually merge together to create an overall composite - the time when the unique flavour develops. The dry tobacco leaves are chopped while at the same time the ribs are removed, and finally a stream of air separates the leaf pieces from the ribs. Thereafter, the blend rests for about three weeks, during which the tobaccos can ‘marry’. By adding essential oils, which together with the nicotine form the aroma carrier, a flavour can be incorporated as for example a vanilla flavour for the Premium No.10 Vanilla or the Villiger Pipe Cigars. 

In contrast to the high-quality, hand-rolled filler, the filling of which is made from whole tobacco leaves, the less expensive variety of the scrap filler (or short filler) contains chopped filler that can be produced mechanically and therefore more evenly.

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Making the "Bunch"

The filling, which forms the heart of the cigar, is now pressed into the empty shell of the binder, which has been glued to form a tubular shape. Together, they form the bunch, the semi-finished product. It is then possible to give the resulting bunch various other shapes. In our Villiger and Braniff cigars, this process is done with machinery, while La Flor de Ynclan and La Vencedora cigars are bunched by hand.

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"Modification" or Shaping of the Basic Body

Whether the cigar is square or round, whether it is given a filter, whether it is given a mouthpiece (the ”goose quill”) or whether the head is notched, cut off or, as in the case of the Premium, left intact - each of these formats has, apart from the characteristics of the tobacco used, a decisive influence on the taste of the cigar. For example, the fatter and longer the product is, the milder the taste will be. In the case of short and thin products, the smoke has less time to cool on its path through the cigar. On the other hand, it also produces less smoke.

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Selection of the Wrapper Leaf

Here, quality control is subject to the highest standards, which the Villiger family has imposed on itself. This is because the wrapper exercises the most important influence on the overall impression of the cigar. The workers now check it for visual flaws and tears. In addition, it must be laid out in such a way for processing in the next machine that the side of the leaf originally facing the sun will later become the outside of the cigar. In the Premium Cigar category, for example, the delicately tangy and nutty Sumatra is characterized by a pale, scarred sand-leaf as a wrapper, whereby the designation Sumatra is used for cigars with a pale wrapper. A dark wrapper is used for the Premium Brasil. The tobacco leaf which is later to become the wrapper is now sent through various processing stages while in a damp condition; if it was dry, it would not be so easy to process and would tear. 

In our handrolled cigar products you'll find Connecticut Shade wrappers and Cameroon wrappers, which provide the finishing touch to the blends in those cigars.

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Punching, Processing