Tabaco Pinar Del Rio

[El Presidente]

 

I have no idea when this was shot but it was posted a day ago.  Follow the subtitles (or not) as best you can if your Spanish is a tad rusty. 

 

 

[Li Bai]

Looks like more bad news from there...

[NSXCIGAR]

Appears that this guy just doesn't have a decent drying barn which would result in the problems he's describing. Many others are in the same boat. I believe only around 60% of the barns pre-Ian have been rebuilt or replaced. 

[GerardMichaelTX]

How do they manage humidity in those barns? In modern production Cuba/Central America are they in more sealed/controlled environments or are they still left to dry in the elements like that. Obviously I am asking about the more sophisticated/expensive higher quality setups.

[PuroDiario]

Tough

[BoliDan]

Hector telling me his tobacco is the highlight of Behike. 👍 

He may be correct, but no way he could know it.

[Fugu]

On 7/1/2024 at 4:43 AM, GerardMichaelTX said:

How do they manage humidity in those barns?

In "those" barns - they manage plain nothing. As you can see, that truly is a lower than makeshift situation there, with naked/missing walls or walls minimally clad with cheesecloth. Depressing to see and a real shame to let that harvest go bust like that.

On 7/1/2024 at 4:43 AM, GerardMichaelTX said:

In modern production Cuba/Central America are they in more sealed/controlled environments or are they still left to dry in the elements like that.

Normally... - They are still using the traditional curing barns (as is being done in rest Caribbean / Central America), most of them wooden, a few stonewalled (that were mostly the ones surviving Ian), for the vast majority of leaf. With the process (drying by the elements as you say) being controlled in relation to weather and time of day by opening or closing the diverse vents in those buildings in trying to achieve minimum variation in the internal atmosphere / drying conditions (i.e. dampening the daily heat peak, keeping direct sunlight and humidity out etc.). Plus restacking the different tobacco racks, the cujes, within the barn in the course of the process.
For wrapper leaf, Cuba has introduced climate-controlled drying chambers/houses (Kalfrisas) in recent years, which are meant to by and by replace the traditional method for this tobacco. But for standard filler leaf it's just not economical to use Kalfrisas. Not just due to the huge capacities that would be needed. The costly tech is only worthwhile using in the delicate and expensive wrapper.

[GerardMichaelTX]

Nice, there's got to be a way to scale it/make it more controlled. Maybe that's part of the mystique in terms of developing the flavor and quality. Who knows?  One thing for certain, if they are doing controlled warehouses for wrapper leaf you can expect Cuban wrappers to become more potent.

Currently the description of Cuban wrappers is the opposite of Caribbean wrappers. Cuba relies on flavor from fillers to be the most prominent part of the blend. This may actually explain quite a bit as to why there has been a shift to larger ring gauges because if the wrapper quality is high, it will take more filler to offset the strength of the wrapper.