Tobacco Growing

Over 40,000 years ago, in the lands between north and south America, man walked the earth, hunting, fishing and gathering plants for food. However, when the larger animals started to die out, the men and women of these lands became increasingly dependent upon plants for their survival. From the many seeds available to them, they began experimenting with fruits and vegetables to see what they could grow. It was at this time, it is believed, that the tobacco seed was first discovered.

No one could have anticipated then, that these minute seeds would have such an impact across the world.

Tobacco is the most widely grown non food crop in the world. It grows in every inhabited continent, in almost 100 countries. All tobacco varieties belong to the Nicotiana genus, a name created in 1565 in honour of Jean Nicot, a Frenchman famous for his passion for tobacco.

There are several forms of tobacco, but all of them are grown in similar ways. Tobacco seeds are minute. 10,000 tobacco seeds could typically weigh just one gram! To grow tobacco plants, the tiny seeds are spread across sterilised seed beds before being transplanted when they are a few inches high.

Successful tobacco growing depends on a good supply of well developed, healthy seedlings, transplanted at the right time. For seedlings to grow well, they need to be free from weeds, diseases and insects. Seedbeds need to be shielded from the wind and have an ample supply of water.

Few people realise that tobacco plants are hardy perennial flowering plants. However, for commercial growing, the plants, which can grow to around ten feet high, are "topped" - ie, the flowers are cut off, to encourage the leaves to grow further down the stem. The number of leaves left on the plants after "topping" depends on the type of tobacco grown, soil fertility, soil moisture, weather and strength of the plants.

The leaf weight of tobacco plants increases from the bottom upwards hence plants are reaped from bottom to top. The leaf of the plant is a living organ comprised 85-90 per cent water.

The most common type of tobacco is Virginia tobacco. "English" type or Virginia cigarettes are made exclusively from this tobacco. Virginia tobacco is "flue cured" (see below) and is golden in colour.

It is thought that China is the largest producer of this type of tobacco, followed by the United States of America. Other prominent producers of Virginia tobacco are Brazil, Japan, Korea, India, Zimbabwe, The Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, Pakistan, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, South Africa, Argentina, Indonesia, Italy and Australia.

Gallaher buys its Virginia tobacco from Brazil, Argentina, Zimbabwe and Thailand.

The world's second most popular tobacco is known as Burley tobacco, or more technically correct, white burley tobacco. Burley leaf is very light and fluffy and lends itself to the production of flavoured, blended cigarettes commonly referred to as "American".

The United States is the world's largest producer of Burley tobacco. Other large producers include Korea, Mexico, Greece, Brazil, Japan, Canada, Spain and some southern European countries.

Southern Europe, Africa and Thailand account for the vast majority of Gallaher's Burley tobacco purchases.

The third type of tobacco is called Oriental tobacco, known most famously for being the 100 per cent component tobacco of Turkish cigarettes. A more labour-intensive product to harvest, Oriental tobacco is characterised by high aroma from small leaves. The leaves are mostly "sun cured" (see below). Usually, the larger the leaf the milder the aroma and hence Oriental tobacco is regarded as expensive to harvest by many tobacco manufactures.

Gallaher purchases relatively small amounts of Oriental tobacco, mostly from Greece and Turkey.

After being picked, tobacco leaves need to be dried out, or "cured" to remove water from the leaf to make it usable for manufacturing tobacco products. The most common process through which leaves are put is known as flue curing. This is the process though which the majority of tobaccos consumed in the UK will have been through.

The fundamentals of flue curing have changed little since the eighteenth century. Tobacco leaves are arranged in airtight buildings, known as "barns", with controllable sources of heat and ventilation. Buildings used for flue curing usually have a large height in relation to floor space, hence acting as a sort of chimney. Humidity within the building is regulated carefully to allow the leaves to dry out over the required time period.

Curing "barns" vary in construction type across the world. In the USA, they tend to be made of wood. In Zimbabwe for example they are generally constructed of burnt brick.

Leaves will typically turn from their natural green to yellow over a few days, with temperatures within the curing barn ranging from three degrees to almost 80 degrees centigrade over the curing period. After the curing process is completed and the leaf has yellowed to the required colour, fresh air is released into the curing barn. At this stage, tobacco leaves are so dried out that they would crumble if touched. The fresh air slightly moistens the leaves to allow them to be transported for sale.

As well as Flue curing, a popular way to dry tobacco leaves is known as fire curing. Methods vary considerably however, all fire cured tobaccos are subjected to wood smoke to dry the leaves. It's the type of wood used to smoke the tobacco leaves and the amount of smoke exposure that gives fire cured tobacco leaves their distinctive flavours. As heat is generally not introduced into the curing process, fire curing takes longer than flue curing - typically a few weeks. As with flue curing, at the end of the process, air is released into the barn to allow some moisture to be reintroduced into the leaves, which unlike yellow flue cured leaves will tend to be darker in colour.

Other tobacco leaves are air cured following their harvest. It is common in commercial tobacco growing to hear of dark air cured tobacco and light air cured tobacco. Both types have been cured traditionally in large wooden buildings, with cover from wind and rain, in structures with a roof, but with open sides to allow air to freely circulate. Heat can be added in exceptional circumstances, but generally isn't. As with flue curing, the aim of air curing is the timely removal of moisture from tobacco leaves. If done too fast, the leaf will carry undesirable green or yellow patches. If done too slowly, the leaf will rot away.

A comparatively small amount of tobacco is sun cured. Leaves are exposed to the sun to remove most of their moisture before being air cured to complete the process.

Over six million tonnes of tobacco were grown in the world in 1999. A third of this production was in China where over two million tonnes were produced. India was the next most productive country, producing one quarter of the Chinese total. Then came the United States, Brazil, Turkey and Indonesia.

China, despite being the world's largest producer, does not export as much if its tobacco proportionally as other countries. Brazil is the world's largest exporter of tobacco, followed by Zimbabwe, the United States, Turkey and India.

The International Tobacco Growers' Association represents thousands of tobacco farmers all over the world and can be contacted at www.tobaccoleaf.org

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