IRRIGATION

While too much rain can ruin a tobacco crop, too little rain can be just as destructive.  Cigar tobacco growers use several methods to water their plants.  The most effective, yet expensive, way to water the plants is through Drip Irrigation.  Drip Irrigation uses porous hoses running next to the plants to deposit just the right amount of water.  Spray Irrigation uses giant sprinkler systems to spray the plants with water, but this method loses a lot of water due to evaporation.  The most traditional and labor intensive method to water plants is through Canal Irrigation.  This back-breaking method soaks the soil and roots with water, but must be carefully executed in order to avoid saturation and rotting: Canal Irrigation must be seen to be fully appreciated.

PRUNING & TOPPING

As the plants reach maturity, the pruning and selection process continues.  Smaller and underdeveloped leaves are removed in a process that is called deshijar, or deshijando.  Upon reaching the desired height (5 to 6 feet), the plants’ flowers will be “topped”; in Spanish the term for topping is desbotonar.  Topping (or desbotonando) allows the plants' focus and nutrients to flow directly to the leaves.

The tobacco plants pictured here with a red string tied around them have been spared from the topping process.  They have been selected because of their favorable traits to father a future crop or to breed a new hybrid.