Connecticut Shade in Cubans?

[688sonarmen]

I have heard it before and I don't personally believe it, but here is another article that cites this. Not a bad read.

Despite the best efforts of the editors of theOxford English Dictionary, it isn’t often that an exact date can be established for the coining of a new word (or neologism) in the English language. Such is the case, however, with the word "entheogen," which was born in 1979.

Scholars of mythology such as Carl A. P. Ruck – a Boston University professor of classics and native of Connecticut – coined the term "entheogen" to describe psychoactive plants used in a religious context to bring about an altered state of consciousness. The term first appeared in Ruck’s book, The Road To Eleusis: Unveiling The Secret of the Mysteries, and was deliberately chosen to distinguish substances used ritualistically in a religious context from the recreationally used, mind altering plants and substances implied by the terms "hallucinogenic" and "psychedelic," which have strong connections to escapist pop culture of the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Derived from two Greek words – entheos(meaning "full of god") and genesthai (meaning "to bring about") – an entheogen is a substance used in a ritualistic, religious context to bring about a connection to the divine within an individual or group of individuals. Such a substance was tobacco to the aborigines of Connecticut – the Native American Indian tribes who had once lived here in abundance.

But just like other substances such as cannabis and mescaline (which also had their origins rooted in a ritualistic, religious context) tobacco also became more popular for its recreational use than for its spiritual use. In fact, it soon evolved into a cash crop consciously cultivated for recreational use by the European settlers who supplanted the Native Americans.

"Tobacco Valley," a 61-mile stretch of land running from Portland, CT, to the Brattleboro, VT, area (see featured photo) has historically been and still remains an economic force in Connecticut.

Windsor is home to the Connecticut Valley Tobacco Museum on 135 Lang Road in the Northwest Park section of town. Endowed by money from a trust fund established by Windsor resident John E. Luddy, the Connecticut Valley Tobacco Historical Society was founded in 1988 to preserve the history and artifacts of the tobacco industry in Connecticut. The museum itself consists of two buildings: one, a replica of a tobacco barn filled with implements and machinery used over the years; the other, an exhibition center used to exhibit photographs, advertising, and documents relating to the tobacco industry in Connecticut. By viewing the exhibits and reading the accompanying literature, one can arrive at a very good understanding of the history of the tobacco industry in Connecticut.

According to the museum’s curator, Jay Jackman of Enfield, when we talk about Connecticut tobacco, we are talking about tobacco grown exclusively for cigars. Wild tobacco – the kind used by the Native American Indians of Connecticut – still grows in places near the river. He described that as "harsh" tobacco that is mainly used as a pesticide. Revolutionary War hero Israel Putnam of Connecticut was the first to bring back cultivated tobacco from the Caribbean to the Nutmeg State in 1763. Since then various types of tobacco have been grown in the valley, but two types have historically predominated: broadleaf and shade-grown tobacco. Both types have been used for the outer two layers of a cigar – the binder and the wrapper. Jackman claims that Connecticut-grown tobacco used for binders and wrappers is "the best in the world."

Even Cuban cigars – supposedly the finest in the world – use Connecticut tobacco for their outer two layers; though trading directly with Cuba is prohibited by law, Cuba is able to obtain Connecticut tobacco "indirectly" from other countries.

Broadleaf tobacco is grown in direct sunlight and has been part of Connecticut’s crop since the early 1800’s. It constitutes about 60 percent of the tobacco grown in the state today. Shade grown tobacco, imported from Sumatra just over 100 years ago, must be grown under tents to flourish and is much more labor intensive.

One acre of shade grown tobacco – approximately 12,000 plants – requires 5,000 yards of netting, 50 cedar poles, 350 pounds of wire, and two tons of fertilizer! It costs about $30,000 per acre to grow. Shade tobacco constitutes about 40 percent of the approximately 2,500 acres of tobacco under cultivation in the valley. The first tent for shade grown tobacco was erected on River Street in Windsor in 1900.

Acreage devoted to tobacco production in the valley peaked in 1921 at 30,800 acres under cultivation. This year, between 2,000 and 2,500 acres grow tobacco in the valley. The "down period" for tobacco accelerated in the 1970’s to about 1995, coinciding with health concerns about its use. The recent popularity of cigar smoking, however, has brought up demand somewhat. Moreover, many thousands of acres of former tobacco land have been sold for housing developments in the past 40 or so years, as the value of the land as real estate often exceeded its value for growing tobacco.

Much of the land on which Bradley International Airport now exists had once been under cultivation for tobacco, for example. The Connecticut state prison in Suffield now sits on tobacco land once owned by the Markowski family.

Generations of young people in Connecticut got their first jobs working on tobacco when they turned 14, the minimum legal age for working on a farm. My aunt, Shirley (Cooper) Fuller, began working on tobacco for Allen Pascoe in East Windsor in 1934. Later, she worked for the Turners in South Windsor and was part of a lengthy feature article in Life magazine on October 2, 1941 – the issue with Gary Cooper on the cover (see photo). Most of the people that I grew up with in Windsor Locks worked tobacco all summer for $1.30 an hour for the Christian Brothers or for the Markowski family in Suffield. A beat-up looking former school bus painted blue would make the rounds and pick up the kids between 6 and 7 a.m. Everybody would take a lunchbox and thermos with them. The work was long and hot, but at least you were with your friends, and you’d get some spending money for the weekends and for buying new clothes for school.

School finally started back up after Labor Day, and your hands would finally lose their yellow tinge by late September. Oh, and there is one more point to be made: working on tobacco provided a mighty incentive to work hard in school and get educated so that you could get a good job and not have to work on tobacco again!

http://mansfield.patch.com/articles/...ry-of-change-2

[hotreds]

Windsor Locks; my wife's and my father's hometown. My wife spent a few summers working shade tobacco in Windsor. I worked at a company that shared a building with the Fuller Russell Tobacco Company that made wrappers for I believe Romeo y Julietta cigars. Old man Fuller is in his 90s and still living in Suffield.

[Tio Gato]

Thank you for sharing this. The Tobacco Museum is a great place to visit. It's a great place to smoke a cigar and have a picnic lunch.

[688sonarmen]

Originally Posted by hotreds

Windsor Locks; my wife's and my father's hometown. My wife spent a few summers working shade tobacco in Windsor. I worked at a company that shared a building with the Fuller Russell Tobacco Company that made wrappers for I believe Romeo y Julietta cigars. Old man Fuller is in his 90s and still living in Suffield.

Made as in before the embargo or currently?

[CigarNut]

Very cool -- thanks for sharing!

[hotreds]

Originally Posted by 688sonarmen

Made as in before the embargo or currently?

NCs

[massphatness]

Originally Posted by 688sonarmen

Even Cuban cigars – supposedly the finest in the world – use Connecticut tobacco for their outer two layers; though trading directly with Cuba is prohibited by law, Cuba is able to obtain Connecticut tobacco "indirectly" from other countries.

I don't believe this is wholly true although it's my understanding that pre-embargo, clear Havana cigars were rolled in the US sometimes using Connecticut Shade with binder & filler imported from Cuba.

I know there are a couple guys who are not overly active on this site, but are extremely knowledgeable about this topic. I'll shoot off a couple messages and see if I can cajole a response.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by massphatness

I don't believe this is wholly true

I can't imagine it possibly could be. The Nicaraguan filler allegations are tough to definitively disclaim, but surely Connecticut binder and wrapper (!!) would be sore-thumb obvious on a CC stick.

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by massphatness

I know there are a couple guys who are not overly active on this site, but are extremely knowledgeable about this topic. I'll shoot off a couple messages and see if I can cajole a response.

They might want to remain anonymous.

[pnoon]

Originally Posted by icehog3

They might want to remain anonymous.

If they didn't, they wouldn't be experts.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Doctorossi]

I've seen thousands of wrapper leaves identified as being of Connecticut origin, but I've never seen Habanos wearing anything that looked remotely like any of them.

"Unofficial" CCs? Maybe...

[shortsqueeze]

Originally Posted by massphatness

I don't believe this is wholly true although it's my understanding that pre-embargo, clear Havana cigars were rolled in the US sometimes using Connecticut Shade with binder & filler imported from Cuba.

I know there are a couple guys who are not overly active on this site, but are extremely knowledgeable about this topic. I'll shoot off a couple messages and see if I can cajole a response.

Vin,

You are 100% correct. I am not 100% sure if there is one definition for Clear Havana, ie. Cuban filler and binder with CT shade or broadleaf wrapper, or if it's 100% Cuban tobacco rolled in the US. Likely both are viable interpretations but one thing is for sure, to be called a Clear Havana it had to be rolled in the US.

As for the Cubans using CT tobacco, that's wholly untrue. Maybe many years ago I don't know, but post-revolution certainly not. Some people have accused the Cubans of using other foreign tobaccos over the years but my personal opinion based on conversations with Cubans in the trade and my own knowledge gained through first hand experience leads me to think it's highly unlikely.

Now there could be an interesting debate pertaining to the various seeds, hybrids and their origins in which CT enters the conversation.

Josh

[shilala]

Page 2575 of the House ways and means on tariffs "a clear havana, of course, must be all havana leaf, outside cover and all."
I yanked that right out of my ass, right there. I wanted to check and see if there was more than one definition, but that's as far as I got cause I have to leave.

I understood that clear havana's were made in locked down factories under government employee supervision in order to gain certification as clear havana. If the goverment dude that unlocked the door didn't show up, cigars weren't produced that day.
Maybe the way they were made at some later time was changed, but that's the essence of how they were produced for years.

[markem]

Originally Posted by shortsqueeze

As for the Cubans using CT tobacco, that's wholly untrue. Maybe many years ago I don't know, but post-revolution certainly not. Some people have accused the Cubans of using other foreign tobaccos over the years but my personal opinion based on conversations with Cubans in the trade and my own knowledge gained through first hand experience leads me to think it's highly unlikely.

Now there could be an interesting debate pertaining to the various seeds, hybrids and their origins in which CT enters the conversation.

Josh

Thank you, Josh! I was wondering about the article as my understanding of the TWEA and related laws (Helms-Burton, etc) is that providing product to Cuba, even through a third party, is illegal unless it meets a very narrow set of conditions (US is the 5th largest official trading partner with Cuba, but accounts for less that 7% of Cuba's imports, according to one source I found). I can't imagine that the cigar wrappers meet the narrow standard and it is almost like the article was begging for an OFAC investigation. But I hope not!

[awsmith4]

Originally Posted by pnoon

If they didn't, they wouldn't be experts.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Noodles]

It's Cuba, anything is possible. For example, I've heard of at least one NC manufacturer stock piling bales of cuban tobacco for several years now. This is in anticipation of blending them with NC tobacco when the embargo ends.

[Tio Gato]

Originally Posted by shilala

Page 2575 of the House ways and means on tariffs "a clear havana, of course, must be all havana leaf, outside cover and all."
I yanked that right out of my ass, right there.

The quote or the cigar?

[thschrminm]

Funny thing is that Conneticut Shade originated from a cuban seed Hazelwood strain and the process for growing Conneticut Shade employs the Cuban technique of tabaco tapado (covering tobacco plants with cheesecloth from the sun to get lighter colored wrapper). The soil in Cuba is the best for growing the best tobacco in the world let alone wrapper. Why buy the milk in the U.S. if the cow is in your backyard for free...

Totally untrue that a cuban puro uses U.S. grown Conneticut Shade wrappers in their cigars. If anything the original strain for Conneticut Shade is Cuban so the statement could be true if this varietal was or is still being used at some point but I don't believe it is true anymore...

[shortsqueeze]

Originally Posted by thschrminm

Funny thing is that Conneticut Shade originated from a cuban seed Hazelwood strain and the process for growing Conneticut Shade employs the Cuban technique of tabaco tapado (covering tobacco plants with cheesecloth from the sun to get lighter colored wrapper). The soil in Cuba is the best for growing the best tobacco in the world let alone wrapper. Why buy the milk in the U.S. if the cow is in your backyard for free...

Totally untrue that a cuban puro uses U.S. grown Conneticut Shade wrappers in their cigars. If anything the original strain for Conneticut Shade is Cuban so the statement could be true if this varietal was or is still being used at some point but I don't believe it is true anymore...

Right on ...

It's true they grow cigar tobacco in CT much the same way they do in Cuba. In fact, my grandfather, who was in the trade, used to say the CT River Valley and Pinar del Rio are more closely matched than any other two growing regions comparatively when taking all things into consideration such as soil characteristics, climate, etc. It's no wonder Cuban origin seeds do so well in CT.

Besides the arguable "fact" Cuban wrapper is the finest in the world, for practical (read economic) reasons, let alone the aforementioned legal reasons, there is no basis to suggest the Cubans have used CT grown tobacco, or any other foreign tobacco for that matter. They barely have the required means to support their own horticulture, let alone the cost of importation.

Not to mention, just like sparkling wine produced outside the Champagne region of France is not Champagne, the modern administrators of Habanos recognize the need to protect and promote their sustainable advantage, their "Appellation d’origine contrôlée." They know they have the best product in the world, despite their best efforts to screw up what Mother Nature has blessed them with.

[massphatness]

See? I knew you guys would be able to add immeasurably the conversation.