The tobacco industry is quite broad in South Africa and there is a clear interest in farming tobacco leaves. We are looking at the production line – more specifically, how tobacco can be processed into cigars – and the market potential in Mzansi.
A previous article on Food For Mzansi shared some useful tips for beginner farmers who are interested in tobacco farming. We follow that up with torcedor (Cuban for cigar roller), Jaco Snyman, from Santa Bras in George, Western Cape, about the air-cured tobacco leaves and how they are used to manufacture cigars as a luxury brand in South Africa.
Process of cigar making using tobacco leaves
Snyman uses an analogy to say that cigars and red wine are quite alike. “Looking at the basic points of departure, if you look at wine, the vines came from France, they were imported to the Cape, then we started growing our own shiraz,” he explains.
The same applies to the tobacco leaves that are used in cigars – it is well known that the Cuban varieties are well suited for the making of cigars. However, if you take a seed from Cuba and plant it out here in the Western Cape, inevitably, there will be a South African Cuban cigar in the end.
“It will taste slightly different than an imported Cuban cigar would taste like, which is just a factor or result of the environment changes,” he says.
Seed process
The seeds are planted in a nursery, where there’s a specialisation in tobacco seeds. After about three weeks, the plant will start growing. The tobacco will be then replanted and grow for another three to four weeks.
“Three months later, they are harvested and then they are air-cured. After the air-cured process, the plants are taken through another maturing phase,” he explains.
There are quite a few processes that go into the leaves before they are suitable for making a cigar. According to Snyman, most often the leaves are two years old before the cigar is created.
Leaves required to make a cigar
In the Western Cape, tobacco that is grown is mostly air-cured compared to the northern provinces, where you find the fluid-cured tobacco varieties.
“The first part of any cigar is the filler; the cigar uses air-cured tobacco which is the two main types of tobacco grown in South Africa,” Snyman says.
The air-cured tobacco, once fermented and properly cured, is not used as little cut-up pieces but it is used as whole leaves running right through the cigar. It is called a bunched-up process in cylinders running right through the cigar.
The second leaf is called a binder leaf. It is then rolled up in a binder, and finally in the wrapper leaves which is known as the very high-quality, nice-looking leaf. The wrapper leaf provides an excellent texture that you can hold in your hand and flash around. It also seals the cigar so that there is no leakage in the cigar.
Farmers will be interested to know that if you look at ordinary cigar leaves in South Africa, those leaves will sell on the international market for R100 per kilogram. However, if you talk about the cigar wrapper leaves, you are talking about US$50 per kilogram.
“It is significantly more expensive if you can create real wrapper leaves and manufacture those, there is an incredible market out there,” he explains.
Soil, pH level, and temperatures
Tobacco plants require about 750mm of rain during their lifetime. Sandy soil is a requirement and it is also important that the soil is well-drained. In South Africa mostly, irrigation is used on these plants. The second thing to understand is the pH level needs to be between 5 and 5.7.
“You can’t have too high of a pH and finally in terms of temperatures, it’s important not to go below 20 degrees and also not too much higher than that,” he says.
Post-harvest
- Air-cured tobacco is hung up in sheds to dry (30-45 days).
- After that, it is sorted into different applications.
- First, four leaves at the bottom are used for wrappers.
- The second and third rows of leaves are used for filler.
- Final top leaves are used to promote the burning of the cigar.
Exploring the SA market
The air-cured market is quite small, as small as 20% total of local production, considering there are 300-400 formal and informal farmers.
As far as the local tobacco industry goes, there is most likely going to be growth in the industry going forward and that growth will be interesting to see, Snyman predicts.
“I think going forward the focus is changing direction, especially if we can produce an export cigar in the country. If so, it will have an impact on the South African market.”
Snyman believes that there is a market for air-cured tobacco in South Africa and farmers as well as agro-processors should be open to these possibilities.
“We are in the process of commercialising the first real South African cigar, which is quite a notable achievement. We are the only company in South Africa making cigars. It is hand rolled in accordance with the pure basic principles that apply to premium cigars. There are no additives in the premium cigar, it is pure tobacco,” he says.
ALSO READ: Batsa job cuts: Tobacco farmers ‘far from safe’
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