Cuban corojo

[Smokecigareveryday]

Does Cuban tobacco still use some corojo seeds or are they completely gone from cuba?  Camacho Nc brand is the only company that uses corojo mostly in their blends. 

[NSXCIGAR]

Old Corojo is no longer used in Cuba. It was effectively replaced in 1994 by Havana 2000 and subsequent strains since then. 

[papatrips]

There are many other NC brands that use corojo. Some brands like Warped and Illusione use Aganorsa corojo leaf (as do the marcas owned by the Aganorsa company).  That is Nicaraguan corojo. There is also Honduran corojo grown by the Eioras (who use to own Camacho before it was bought out) and they use it in their various marcas.  
Also i believe the Olivia family grows corojo also. 

I really love Nicaraguan corojo tobacco. To me, Dion Giolito does a fantastic job using corojo in his Illusione marcas. 

[sho671]

There was an article that said Corojo 2006 and 2012 was supposed to be planted in Cuba late last year.

https://www.friendsofhabanos.com/forum/topic/142205-planting-underway/?tab=comments#comment-977663

[NSXCIGAR]

32 minutes ago, sho671 said:

There was an article that said Corojo 2006 and 2012 was supposed to be planted in Cuba late last year.

https://www.friendsofhabanos.com/forum/topic/142205-planting-underway/?tab=comments#comment-977663

From what I understand many more varieties are still in use such as Criollo 98 and Corojo 99, at least as late as 2015. They play around with different strains in different areas all the time as well as continue to develop new strains for both cigars and cigarettes, most recently Virginia San Luis 23 and Virginia San Luis 24 in 2017 for cigarettes.

I also believe they are still using Sancti Spiritus 96 for areas outside Vuelta Abajo.

[sho671]

16 minutes ago, NSXCIGAR said:

From what I understand many more varieties are still in use such as Criollo 98 and Corojo 99, at least as late as 2015. They play around with different strains in different areas all the time as well as continue to develop new strains for both cigars and cigarettes, most recently Virginia San Luis 23 and Virginia San Luis 24 in 2017 for cigarettes.

I also believe they are still using Sancti Spiritus 96 for areas outside Vuelta Abajo.

Many more in addition to the Habana 92, Corojo 2006 and 2012, Criollo 2010 and Virginia 22, 23 and 24 listed in the article for the current crop?

[NSXCIGAR]

2 hours ago, papatrips said:

There are many other NC brands that use corojo.

For some reason, Corojo and Criollo doesn't have the same issues with blue mold and black shank outside of Cuba. Corojo, Criollo and Habana 2000 are grown regularly without issue in the DR. There were also fermentation issues with Habana 2000 that don't seem to be an issue outside of Cuba. 

 

43 minutes ago, sho671 said:

Many more in addition to the Habana 92, Corojo 2006 and 2012, Criollo 2010 and Virginia 22, 23 and 24 listed in the article for the current crop?

Cuba never reveals everything! Yes, all sorts of strains including experimental strains are planted all the time. Old strains, new strains, weird strains. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they still use old Corojo and Criollo in very limited applications, maybe for ultra-special cigars. Who knows. The only strain I'm fairly certain isn't being used is Habana 2000.

[Ryan]

A younger, more innocent, me did an interview with Hector Luis Prieto in 2013 on strains of tobacco he was using then, along with some other info.

Some good information here I think.

 

 

[Smokecigareveryday]

1 hour ago, Ryan said:

A younger, more innocent, me did an interview with Hector Luis Prieto in 2013 on strains of tobacco he was using then, along with some other info.

Some good information here I think.

 

 

Very interesting info.  So Corojo seed was still used in 2011 according to Hector.

[papatrips]

This is an awesome thread! Love the info. My understanding is that around 1997ish,  was the time last original corojo strain was planted. 
I have not googled this but I remember watching a video or read it - the institute responsible for tobacco development in Cuba had developed the different strains of tobacco that were most resistant to blue mold and black shank - Corojo 99 specifically was born. Then Havana 2000 came out. They have used other hybrids since and yes I have heard they were going to grow the original corojo. 

individual farmers may have kept growing their own corojo in a really small plot also. 

 

[Smokecigareveryday]

52 minutes ago, papatrips said:

This is an awesome thread! Love the info. My understanding is that around 1997ish,  was the time last original corojo strain was planted. 
I have not googled this but I remember watching a video or read it - the institute responsible for tobacco development in Cuba had developed the different strains of tobacco that were most resistant to blue mold and black shank - Corojo 99 specifically was born. Then Havana 2000 came out. They have used other hybrids since and yes I have heard they were going to grow the original corojo. 

individual farmers may have kept growing their own corojo in a really small plot also. 

 

I think this is the article you read:

https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/the-death-of-el-corojo-7051

[NSXCIGAR]

6 hours ago, papatrips said:

the institute responsible for tobacco development in Cuba had developed the different strains of tobacco that were most resistant to blue mold and black shank - Corojo 99 specifically was born. Then Havana 2000 came out.

The Tobacco Research Institute had been working on replacements for both Corojo and Criollo since the early 1980s. The 79/80 crop loss scared them to death. I believe they had more disease issues in the late 80s that really got them moving. Habana 92 and Habana 2000 were both introduced in 1992. By 1994, most Corojo was being phased out and by 1997, as stated in the above article, had almost entirely vanished (officially). I'm not sure if Criollo was completely phased out before 98 but I can tell you that cigars from 97-00 were all over the place in terms of flavor.

[Smokecigareveryday]

5 minutes ago, NSXCIGAR said:

The Tobacco Research Institute had been working on replacements for both Corojo and Criollo since the early 1980s. The 79/80 crop loss scared them to death. I believe they had more disease issues in the late 80s that really got them moving. Habana 92 and Habana 2000 were both introduced in 1992. By 1994, most Corojo was being phased out and by 1997, as stated in the above article, had almost entirely vanished (officially). I'm not sure if Criollo was completely phased out before 98 but I can tell you that cigars from 97-00 were all over the place in terms of flavor.

I believe a lot of NCs and CCs produced mediocre cigars back in the 90s due to cigar boom to meet demand.  Davidoff left Cuba in the early 90s as QCs gotten worse ( I don't know whether that was the reason why they left)