Tobacco "Golden Burley"

Smoking tobacco "Golden Burley".
A 100-120 cm tall variety that produces leaves 60-75 cm long and 30 cm wide. When ripe, the leaves turn bright yellow, and after drying, they become light brown and have a strong aroma and medium nicotine content.

In order for tobacco seeds to germinate and the seedling to be strong enough, it takes no less than 45 days. The process takes place either in the open air in special seedling beds covered with straw to protect against external influences, or in a laboratory under the supervision of specialists. Recently, this method has been used more often: the seedlings are placed one by one in small pots on trays, through which a special nutrient liquid drips through a small gutter.
The diameter of tobacco seeds is 0.1-0.6 mm. It is not easy to sow such seeds. In order not to get confused, a special gun is used to sow the seeds. When the seedlings are 13-15 cm tall, they are planted in a plantation - traditionally this happens in mid-September.
From this moment on, tobacco bushes require daily care - weeding, loosening and a number of other labor-intensive operations. For normal tobacco development, the soil needs to be as loose as possible.
Before sowing, plantation owners cultivate the soil several times - using animals - usually specially trained buffaloes. The use of this technique is not recommended, as it can over-compact the soil. Tobacco varieties intended for cigar casings are grown in the shade - the lack of sun makes their leaves particularly thin and delicate.
The entire plantation is covered with a special fabric - 10-20 days after the plants are planted. A wire mesh is attached under the fabric, to which the plants are tied. Tobacco bushes, the leaves of which are used to fill and tie cigars, are grown under the open sky.
After the tobacco bush has grown to the required size, plantation workers pinch the top bud of the plant to stop the growth of the plant and concentrate all the nutrients and force the development of the leaves - in order for them to be suitable for making cigars, they must be as large and juicy as possible. After the bud is pinched, the accelerated growth of shoots begins, which tend to trap the nutrients flowing through the roots to the leaves - to prevent this from happening, the tobacco grower must remove these shoots from each tobacco plant more than once until the harvest is ready.
Similar to the removal of the upper buds and shoots, the inflorescences are also removed. The inflorescences are left only on special plants intended for growing seeds for the next season. Such bushes grow separately from others - in laboratories, in sterilized conditions, under the special control of specialists. The seeds obtained from such bushes are the golden reserve of Cuba - they are stored in special storage facilities and only before the start of the season are given to selected tobacco growers.
Harvesting begins about 40 days after planting the seedlings and consists of several stages. The height of the bush, grown in the sun, is about 170 cm, and it has 14-16 leaves. The height of the plant grown in the shade can reach 280 cm (the plants strive towards the light), and the number of their leaves reaches 20.
The largest lower leaves are removed first. The bush without the lower leaves grows for a few more days so that the remaining leaves can develop. The middle leaves are removed from the bush, a few more days are allowed to pass, and the leaves located at the top are removed - these leaves are the most complete 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 the cigar. It takes 3-4 weeks to collect all the leaves from one plant. The entire period from sowing the seeds to harvesting the crop lasts 15-17 weeks.

Smoking tobacco.