Smoking tobacco "Sultansko"

Smoking tobacco "Sultansko" - Nicotiana tabacum L.
An old heritage variety originating from Bulgaria, forming plants about 1 m high. They form 14 to 16 leaves from 30 to 45 cm long and contain 1.2% nicotine.
Ripening speed: very early-ripening.
Plant height: 90 to 120 cm.
Sowing for seedlings is carried out in late March-April. Before sowing, the container is filled with slightly moist soil (three parts sandy loam turf soil and one part well-rotted and sifted humus), the surface is compacted and leveled. The seeds are evenly distributed over the surface, slightly pressed into the substrate, moistened from a spray bottle, and covered with a film. The crops are placed in a bright, warm place, watered through a tray, and ventilated every day (lifting the film for 30 minutes).
Young plants are planted in open ground in mid-to-late May at a distance of 50-70 cm. Harvesting and curing of tobacco begins in mid-July.
Tobacco is fermented before use.

* Tobacco bushes of varieties intended for cigar wrappers are grown in the shade — the lack of sun makes their leaves especially thin and delicate. The entire plantation is covered with a special cloth — 10-20 days after planting the seedlings in the ground. A wire mesh is stretched under the fabric — the plants are tied to it.
Tobacco bushes, the leaves of which will be used for filler and binder, are grown in the open air. After the tobacco bush grows to the desired size, plantation workers perform topping (pinching off the top bud) to stop the growth of the plant, concentrate all nutrients, and force leaf development — to be suitable for cigar production, they must be as large and juicy as possible.
After the bud is pinched off, the accelerated growth of side shoots (suckers) begins, which strive to intercept the flow of nutrients coming from the roots to the leaves — to prevent this from happening, the tobacco grower must visit each plant several times during the remaining time before harvesting and remove them (a process known as suckering). Like the top bud and shoots, the inflorescences are also removed. Inflorescences are left only on special plants intended for the production of seeds for the next season. Such bushes grow separately from all the rest — in laboratories, in sterile conditions, under the special control of specialists. The seeds obtained from such bushes make up the gold reserve of Cuba — they are kept in a special vault and handed over to selected tobacco growers only before the start of the season. Harvesting begins about 40 days after planting the seedlings and takes place in several stages.
The height of a bush grown under the sun is about 170 centimeters; 14 or 16 leaves are arranged in pairs on it. The height of a bush grown in the shade can reach 280 centimeters (the plant deprived of the sun eagerly reaches for it), and the number of leaves — 20 pieces.
First of all, the largest lower leaves are picked. A bush with stripped lower leaves continues to grow for a few more days so that the remaining leaves have time to develop. The middle leaves are removed from the bush, a few more days pass, and those that grow even higher are picked — they turn out to be the most saturated and juicy.
The upper leaves of the bush are called "ligero", the middle ones — "seco", and the lower ones — "volado". Each of these leaves has its own function in a cigar. It takes 3-4 weeks to collect all the leaves from one plant. The entire period between planting the seeds and harvesting takes 15-17 weeks.