Quote:
Originally Posted by wesvan
Does the wrapper, binder, and filler have to be of the same moisture content when rolling? And what would be a optimal moisture content. Not wet but maybe just barely moist or something like that?
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Tobacco needs to be a bit on the wet side for rolling. The filler and binder are tougher than the wrapper leaf, so they don't require as much. At the factories I visited, the tobacco was kept in a high-humidity room prior to being bagged up into quantities needed to make 50 cigars at a time. The torcedors then kept these plastic bags closed to reduce moisture loss. They also all had spray bottles of water to mist the leaves down. This was especially important for the rolleras who were applying the wrapper leaves as the leaves are fairly thin and fragile.
The exception to this was Padron, who does everything differently than everyone else. They dunk their tobacco in buckets of water and wring them out like you would a dishrag.