Drew Estates Flying Pig rolling photos

[T.G]

Over in Stephen's (zappaFREAK) review thread of the Flying Pig (http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=41385), Dave (Dave128) and I ended up talking about some things regarding the rolling of these cigars, and I told Dave I would post some pictures of the procedure, but I wanted to take the discussion over to it's own thread as not to completely jack Steve's thread, so, here we go...

First off, I'd like to apologize for the quality of some of the photos - there were a number of us crammed into a very tiny walkway between benches and each of us was trying to simultaneously listen to Jonathan, smoke a cigar, not burn the BOTL next to you with your cigar, watch what was going on and take some photos.

Here is the cigar being bunched and the capote (binder) being applied. As you can see, it's really not that different from any other cigar, EXCEPT for the final step before it goes into the mold. As seen in the fourth photo, the bunchero uses a loop hook, something resembling a very thin crochet hook or loop. He will stick the loop about 1/4" into the filler and then yank it back out, which removes a bit of the tobacco leaf. He'll do this in a circular pattern just in from the edge a bit and then a few stabs in the center. He then flips the cigar over and does the head. This allows the cigar to fit into the mold and be pressed with the rounded ends.

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/1016/0564flyingpigbunching1.jpg
http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/5153/0565flyingpigbunching2.jpg
http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/3541/0569flyingpigbunching3.jpg
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/7456/0566flyingpigbunching4.jpg
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/9550/0559flyingpiginmold.jpg

[T.G]

The application of the capa (wrapper) isn't really that different from any other figurado except for the extra wraps at the foot and the tail, which the rollera can be seen creating here.

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/1823/0561flyingpigtailroll1.jpg
http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/7849/0562flyingpigtailroll2.jpg
http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/5068/0563flyingpigtailroll3.jpg
http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/496/0567flyingpigtailroll4.jpg
http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/6493/0568flyingpigtailroll5.jpg

[loki]

nice pics, just wish i enjoyed the cigars more

[Pat1075]

very interesting stuff there. thank you for the pictures

[longknocker]

Nice Pics & Story, Adam!:tu Thanks!:D

[Zeuceone]

Nicely done.

[jesseboston81]

Excellent pictures! I really enjoy seeing gifted rollers performing their craft.

[jitzy]

Very cool pics thanks for posting

[Kreth]

Cool pics. Thanks for posting them. :tu
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[muhren]

Love the thread and pics! very informative.

I'm curious...Has DE ever posted a video of it being done?

M

[muhren]

Another question!

I read through the other thread and noticed you said all buncheros were male, all rollers female. Is there a rationale behind the gender bias?

M

[thebayratt]

Cool pics!!

You should have yelled "ROLL FASTER!!!" hahaaaa
We need more piggies!!

[T.G]

Love the thread and pics! very informative.

I'm curious...Has DE ever posted a video of it being done?

M

I don't think they have. I'll shoot Johnny Brooke an email and ask though.




Another question!

I read through the other thread and noticed you said all buncheros were male, all rollers female. Is there a rationale behind the gender bias?

M

Their hands.

Typically speaking, men have larger hands and much greater strength in their hands. Besides being able to hold the entire filler bunch of tobacco for a cigar while simultaneously folding the leaves, there's a lot of compressing of the tobacco that has to happen while rolling it into the capote (binder). They can also easier hold the bunch under compression mid-roll if they need to adjust the capote.

There's really no requirement for hand strength for applying the capa (wrapper) but a delicate touch, good manual dexterity and small fingers to right up to the edge of the cigar and smooth out the capa as it's applied is.

[kelmac07]

Cool stuff...thanks for sharing. :tu

[cigarlvr]

Great photos thanks

[wayner123]

Are those plastic molds?

[hscmit]

great info

[EricF]

Great Pics! Thanks for sharing them!

[bscottskangum]

Great pics, thanks for sharing!

[lyle23]

Great thread and pix, thanx for sharing.

[T.G]

Are those plastic molds?

Yes. Plastic or a polycarbonate of some sort.

In fact, all of the cigar factories I saw that had very special, difficult, unique shapes used plastic/polycarbonate molds like that for them. DE Eggs, DE Flying Pigs and the the Padron 80th, immediately come to mind.

Most of the other stuff used wooden molds. I think it's simply a matter of what's easier or more cost effective to produce. A shape like the FP mold would be difficult to replicate exactly by hand in a wood mold, especially for as many molds as they would need, yet a standard parejo shape would be easy and inexpensive to manufacture in wood, plus, no set up costs, unlike a poly mold. In fact, the box shop at the factory could easily turn out as many wooden parejo molds as they needed on demand.

[Drez]

really cool photos. i love my flying pigs.

[Shemp Howard]

Very informative. I have some FP's on the way. Thanks for the post.

[zappaFREAK]

Awesome set of pictures and commentary. Thank you. It is stuff like this that makes this place great!!
:noon:l:noon

[Dave128]

Very nice pictures and explanation. Thank you.

[swh127]

Very nice pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[OHRD]

I scooped up an old Camacho mold on CI for me and my buddy this Christmas, pretty cool to have laying around. Thanks for this post, sweet pics!

[mpd340]

Greatr Pics!

[themoneycollector]

Very nice pics and explanations. It's nice to see that while these sticks are expensive, the extra steps going into production are what justify the cost increase.

Too many boutiques are trying to crank out $10+ sticks and the only thing they are adding is worthless hype.

[Neens]

Great pics. I wouldn't think they would let you smoke in the rolling room.

I didn't see it posted but was this a normal tour or were you with a group that had set up the meeting in advance?

[sammyboy405]

Tabak Especial = My Favorites!

[Emjaysmash]

Very cool! I'd love to visit some day!!

Thanks for sharing!

[T.G]

Great pics. I wouldn't think they would let you smoke in the rolling room.

I didn't see it posted but was this a normal tour or were you with a group that had set up the meeting in advance?

You can smoke almost everywhere at any of the factories and, as for the rolling floor, the floor supervisors are constantly taking random cigars from the benches and smoking them for QA. Some places you wouldn't want to smoke are the obvious ones: carpentry shop (cedar dust), paint shop, some rooms which have exceptionally high humidity which makes keeping a cigar lit practically impossible.

It was the Drew Estates Cigar Safari (http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=38663) tour.

[Neens]

You can smoke almost everywhere at any of the factories and, as for the rolling floor, the floor supervisors are constantly taking random cigars from the benches and smoking them for QA. Some places you wouldn't want to smoke are the obvious ones: carpentry shop (cedar dust), paint shop, some rooms which have exceptionally high humidity which makes keeping a cigar lit practically impossible.

It was the Drew Estates Cigar Safari (http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=38663) tour.

Thanks for the link it was just before my time here started. Seems like a great trip was yours special for some reason or would that be the normal trip?

[STEVE S]

Great pictures, thanks for sharing!!

[HK3-]

Great photos and thanks for sharing them.

Question- Do you know if the wrappers are dyed? I notice the womens hands are all discolored from handling the wrappers.

[T.G]

Great photos and thanks for sharing them.

Question- Do you know if the wrappers are dyed? I notice the womens hands are all discolored from handling the wrappers.

Welcome.

I can tell you with 100% certainty that the wrappers are NOT dyed. They are handled wet and that is the natural coloration and oils of the leaf coming off on her hands. The hands of everyone who handles the maduro leaves look like that from the wet leaves. If it were dye it would look like she had been sticking her hands into a bucket of heavy black ink, or, better, black paint.

Notice the black plastic bag on her left? That's the wet wrappers, they are sprayed down with water and placed in that bag to retain moisture before they are given to the rolleras. Same reason for the multiple bottles of water - one is hers to drink, the other is for wetting the rag and leaves. Directly to her right of the rolling block there is a rag, stained dark brown from the oils, which is used to wipe down the metal rolling block leaving a film of water on it before lying down the next leaf. If you look at the corners of her rolling block, you'll see the deposits/build up that don't get picked up that often.

Regarding the metal rolling block, one of the reasons for the metal rolling block for the maduros is to keep the oils on the capa, which in turn helps create that nice sheen to the wrapper. Light (natural/EMS, etc) capas are rolled on a wooden bock similar to what the bunchero is using, and are applied moist, but not anything like the maduros, which are quite wet. That's all it is, there is no trickery, no dye, no glycerin, no cooking, etc.

I'll go through the rest of the photos and see what I have for the Padron factory - they do things a bit differently there (nothing unscrupulous or artificial - just a very different and unique style), very interesting contrast in styles.

[T.G]

Thanks for the link it was just before my time here started. Seems like a great trip was yours special for some reason or would that be the normal trip?

It was a normal trip. The schedule of factories and events vary by the group though, as Jon tries to customize the trip to the knowledge and interest of the group along with working around the availability of the other manufacturers while incorporating what is going on at that time of year (ie: fields, harvest, curing & drying, etc...)

[KillerCelt]

Incredible pictures. I am very envious of your experience!

[CRIMPS]

Very cool. I enjoyed this.

[jonumberone]

Thanks for the Pics :tu

[ajacobs]

Very cool photos. Neat seeing the art of rolling.

[pennjones]

Very neat photos. I like how they look very crude compared to the finished piggies.

[HollywoodQue]

Very informative...thanks

[iaMkcK]

Wow, what a blast from the past.

*turns his grave-digging helmet's light off*

Such an awesome thread, and the pictures make this even more amazing. Thanks for sharing all that time back. Nice to see what I will be getting in the near future! :-D

[sikk50]

Oh, why hello there Dr. Frankenstein

[PearlS4]

That's pretty cool.

[RobR1205]

They make such a difficult skill look so easy!

[gbum]

niceee.... thanks for sharing

[harleyd31]

Great information- thanks alot for sharing it!

[Hem]

Very cool!

[never_enough]

Awesome, thanks for posting!!

[jjirons69]

That's very cool! I'd love to tour like this. Thanks for sharing!

[ZachF88]

This is a shock to me! I thought the flying pigs were rolled between the legs of virgin females..... haha

Thanks for sharing the photos