Cigar Tobacco Strain Development In Cuba Question

[Connoisseur Kim]

One day ago, I asked about cigar tobacco strain dvelopment in Cuba to Rob for Cigar Wiki update. However, it takes some time to send a response to me. So, I'll post it on the Water Hole as well for further discussion with all FOH members. Any idea? ?

[NSXCIGAR]

Are you trying to figure out what strains are currently being planted? Development of strains and what is used for hybrids is kept pretty top secret.

And you never know what they're really planting. They could even still be playing around with several older strains as well as old Criollo and Corojo in limited, controlled instances. How does anyone really know? Some farmers and insiders have fondness for some of the older 21st century strains like Corojo 99, Criollo 2010 and Corojo 2006 and may still be playing around with them 

[Connoisseur Kim]

4 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Are you trying to figure out what strains are currently being planted? Development of strains and what is used for hybrids is kept pretty top secret.

And you never know what they're really planting. They could even still be playing around with several older strains as well as old Criollo and Corojo in limited, controlled instances. How does anyone really know? Some farmers and insiders have fondness for some of the older 21st century strains like Corojo 99, Criollo 2010 and Corojo 2006 and may still be playing around with them 

Thanks buddy! I read Criollo 2010 and Corojo 2012 are go to strains for making CCs in Cuba , but some older strains like Corojo 99 are still being used by Tobacco Research Institute and few farmers for developing strains and manufacturing CCs on FOH.

[NSXCIGAR]

35 minutes ago, Connoisseur Kim said:

Thanks buddy! I read Criollo 2010 and Corojo 2012 are go to strains for making CCs in Cuba , but some older strains like Corojo 99 are still being used by Tobacco Research Institute and few farmers for developing strains and manufacturing CCs on FOH.

I'd say that accurate. Officially, I believe Criollo 2010 and Corojo 2012 are the stated currently planted strains but as I said, some vegueros (Hector in particular) has expressed a fondness for Corojo 2006. He must like it for a reason, and if that's the case then why wouldn't they let him grow it? 

This statement appeared in a CA article from 2015: Vaunted as it was for beauty and flavor, the original Corojo seed was eventually retired in the late 1990s and replaced by other hybrids, namely Havana '92, Havana 2000, Criollo '98 and Corojo '99, which are the primary varieties grown in Cuba today.

https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/tobacco-typology-18123

So it's hard to tell what they mean there.

Interestingly, this article claims Corojo survived into the late 90s and seems to contradict the CA article from just a few months later in 2015 featuring Eumelio Espino Marrero who claims both Corojo and Criollo had been totally retired by 1995:

https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/a-passion-for-seeds-18248

I also personally had also heard both Criollo 98 and Corojo 99 were being heavily used through 2014. Obviously, if true, Criollo 2010 would have been among them, and Corojo 2012 around that time as well. And again, if true, is it likely they have now totally retired both Criollo 98 and Corojo 99?

[Fugu]

6 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Interestingly, this article claims Corojo survived into the late 90s and seems to contradict the CA article from just a few months later in 2015 featuring Eumelio Espino Marrero who claims both Corojo and Criollo had been totally retired by 1995

Campain as vs finished product, perhaps. Not necessarily a contradiction.

[NSXCIGAR]

13 hours ago, Fugu said:

Campain as vs finished product, perhaps. Not necessarily a contradiction.

No, but Marrero does tell the story of a friend smoking a cigar from 1998 and remarking it had no Criollo or Corojo in it implying that all the product was consumed no later than 1997, which I suppose is "late 90s" but barely. I only comes down to a year or two I suppose. I think we can safely say the remaining supply of Corojo and Criollo was consumed between 1995-1997.

[ATGroom]

My understanding is that in any year the Tobacco Research Institute will pick the varieties for the year and the percentage of each they will grow. About six will be grown in any year across the island. These days it will mostly be Crillo 2010 and Corojo 2012, but older varieties and cigarette tobacco strains are also cultivated to some extent. Farmers have some choice over what they grow as long as they fall within the percentage targets.

[Connoisseur Kim]

1 hour ago, ATGroom said:

My understanding is that in any year the Tobacco Research Institute will pick the varieties for the year and the percentage of each they will grow. About six will be grown in any year across the island. These days it will mostly be Crillo 2010 and Corojo 2012, but older varieties and cigarette tobacco strains are also cultivated to some extent. Farmers have some choice over what they grow as long as they fall within the percentage targets.

Thanks @ATGroom! I didn't know that farmers can grow any strains whatever they want as long as they get good harvest mate! ?

[ATGroom]

52 minutes ago, Connoisseur Kim said:

Thanks @ATGroom! I didn't know that farmers can grow any strains whatever they want as long as they get good harvest mate! ?

Hi Kim, what I mean by percentage targets is that the Research Institute will say "this year we are growing 40% Crillo 2010, 30% Corojo 2012, 10% Habana 2000, 10% Crillo 98, 10% Corojo 2006" or similar. Probably it is broken down further than that into percentages for individual districts etc. Farmers can specify what they want to grow, but it has to conform to those numbers. So if 40% of farmers want to grow  Corojo 2012, but the quota is only 30%, then for some farmers the answer will be "bad luck."

The newer hybrids aren't necessarily "better" than the older ones in every way - they just have different properties with regard to their resistance to different pests and diseases, so I imagine the percentages chosen each year are based on what problems were encountered in the last year's crop and what they predict for this year. The process of hybridisation came about because of the loss of the entire 1980 crop to blue mould, so it's crucial to avoid a mono-culture to ensure that that doesn't happen again.

The Research Institute produces all the seeds and cultivates them into seedlings, which is what most farmers will receive. Only a small number of senior farms receive actual seeds and cultivate the seedlings themselves.

[Connoisseur Kim]

23 minutes ago, ATGroom said:

Hi Kim, what I mean by percentage targets is that the Research Institute will say "this year we are growing 40% Crillo 2010, 30% Corojo 2012, 10% Habana 2000, 10% Crillo 98, 10% Corojo 2006" or similar. Probably it is broken down further than that into percentages for individual districts etc. Farmers can specify what they want to grow, but it has to conform to those numbers. So if 40% of farmers want to grow  Corojo 2012, but the quota is only 30%, then for some farmers the answer will be "bad luck."

The newer hybrids aren't necessarily "better" than the older ones in every way - they just have different properties with regard to their resistance to different pests and diseases, so I imagine the percentages chosen each year are based on what problems were encountered in the last year's crop and what they predict for this year. The process of hybridisation came about because of the loss of the entire 1980 crop to blue mould, so it's crucial to avoid a mono-culture to ensure that that doesn't happen again.

The Research Institute produces all the seeds and cultivates them into seedlings, which is what most farmers will receive. Only a small number of senior farms receive actual seeds and cultivate the seedlings themselves.

Thank you for clarification @ATGroom! I didn't expect that there are quotas for each strains. Now I see why some old straims are still around in some farmers.