Leaf Tobacco

Villiger Stokkebye International’s goal is always to have a minimum of twelve months ’ supply of leaf tobacco in stock in our factories. In addition, there will, at any time, be leaf tobacco packed-on-contract stored abroad for a further 9-12 months ’ consumption. 

Most purchases are made by our leaf buyers on inspection in the country of origin or for smaller quantities on the basis of samples sent by our suppliers. The countries where the tobacco is purchased, are primarily the U.S.A., Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, Brazil, Mexico and India. 

All Purchases are closely inspected again on delivery in the factories, where leaf tobacco samples are taken for further analysis of the quality, color and then test smoked by our leaf tobacco experts for final approval. 

The leaf tobacco is divided into two main groups: The basis tobaccos are: Virginia and Burley tobaccos; and special tobaccos are: Orient (Greece, Turkey), Latakia (Cyprus) and Perique (from the state of Louisiana in the 

USA). 

The Virginia and Burley tobaccos always form the basis for any pipe tobacco blend either alone or in combination. These can then be blended with the special tobaccos, depending on the type and strength of flavor required. 

Each leaf purchase is classified into grade, and a grade mark is applied according to the type of leaf, stalk position, color and quality of the leaf. VSI buys more than 110 grades.

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Weighing-out the Blend

The leaf tobacco grades are weighed-out according to carefully balanced recipes, which in certain cases have been tried out for more than four generations. 

Every recipe makes up a basic blend, which is normally produced in quantities of 1500-4500 lbs. per production run.

Over the years Peter Stokkebye International has developed more than 150 basic blends, each of which has its own identity, flavor and characteristics. 

These basic blends all form the basis of the firm’s more than 500 finished blends, as the basic blends are cross-blended in accordance with carefully tested recipes to obtain the flexibility and individualism that are necessary for the production of special tobaccos.

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Conditioning of the Blend

When the basic blends have been weighed out, they have an average moisture level of about 12%, and to avoid breakage during further production they are moisturized up to about 18-19%. 

This conditioning is done with steam in a rotating cylinder, which also makes the tobaccos soft and easy to work with. At the same time the first pre-blending of the various tobacco leaves takes place.

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Cleaning/Threshing

During this process the various tobacco leaves are cleaned in cyclone separators and the stems are separated from the leaf in threshes. The stems are used in certain blends as a natural element, but only after they have been specially processed and rolled. 

During the cleaning and threshing of the basic blends, which take place in four stages, the tobacco leaves are threshed into smaller units so they are easier to mix later, and the whole basic blend will be more homogeneous. 

The first section divides the leaves into sizes of 1.5” x 1.5”, the next section the remaining leaf into 1.2” x 1.2” units, the third section into .8” x .8” units, and a fourth section into .5” x .5” units.

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Blending

After threshing, the smaller pieces of leaf (lamina) are moved through air ducts to the actual blending boxes. 

These blending boxes are about 30 feet long and 5 feet wide, and each box can hold about 4500 lbs. tobacco. The blending boxes are automatically filled up during the actual cleaning and threshing process, and the leaf grades used in the basic blend are spread in layers one above the other, exactly covering the surface area of the boxes. 

This means that a basic blend, which may consist of 8-20 different tobacco grades, is mixed in layers – in this case 8-20 different layers. The blending box is also emptied automatically as the bottom consists of a conveyor belt, which is slowly set in motion when the boxes are filled up. 

During emptying the various layers are carried through three rotating rollers, which are placed one above the other. Each roller is mounted on metal bars, which ensure the layers of tobacco leaves are blended properly and spread over a conveyor belt, which gathers the mixture together precisely and takes it to a rotating drum, which does the actual blending of tobacco types. 

Only at this stage is the blend 100% homogeneous, uniform and ready for casing.

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Casing of the Blend

During this process precisely measured quantities of a liquid casing, which gives the blend its own character, are sprayed on through nozzles. The actual casing mainly consists of water boiled with natural liquorices, honey, prunes and exotic spices. 

Each recipe is, of course, guarded like state secret, and this has been the case with Peter Stokkebye pipe tobaccos throughout four generations. After casing, the blend is again filled into blending boxes and blended once again. Following this process the final blend is allowed to “rest” for about 24 hours, so the tobacco leaves can mix and absorb the ingredients properly. The moisture content of the blend is now about 25-40%. 

After the blend has “rested” for about 24 hours, the Loose Blends are now cut in various cut widths and then transported automatically through a drier, which is a cylinder heated with gas. After this process, in which most of the water evaporates, the moisture content of the blend is reduced to about 18%, and the tobacco is ready for further processing. 

This process is repeated with the basic blends at the factory, but it should be noted that each basic blend has its own special casing, which is adapted exactly to the special tobacco grades and characteristics of the basic blend. 

Making the basic blend in the factory can be compared with winemaking where each wine has its own flavoring from the mixture of grapes used to make it. 

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Ready Rubbed (Cut Plug) and Flake Tobaccos

After drying, the lamina is mixed once again in a blending silo before being subject to very high pres-sure up to 200 atmosphere in a special press and made into square cakes which weighs from 9-22 lbs and measure 16” x 16”. 

After maturing the cakes for flake tobaccos are divided into units of four or five bars (depending on the size of the vacuum tin) and then cut into thin slices. 

The tobacco is then placed in trays and is ready to be weighed and packed in tins. 

After maturing, the cakes for ready rubbed tobaccos are cut on cutters in various widths – then rubbed out afterwards ready to be either mixed with other tobaccos or packed in pouches or tins.

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Further Processing

After the maturing and inspection of the tobaccos comes the actual blending of the finished product. Depending on what is required – flavor type and richness of flavor – the tobacco blender then mixes the finished product in a special blending cylinder.

During this blending process, top flavor or aroma may be sprayed on in certain cases. Like the basic tobacco casing, these mixtures of various natural extracts, i.e. fruit aromas, exotic spices etc, are all mixed mainly with rum, cognac or in some cases pure alcohol. 

As with the tobacco casing, the recipes for these are kept strictly secret and are only available to the tobacco blender himself. The moisture level is now 20-25% and the final adjustment of the moisture is made in a drier, if needed.

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Packing

All VSI tobaccos are, of course, inspected during this process, which for certain products ends with manual weighing and packing of the tins. Other products are weighed and packed on fully automatic packing lines.

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