Skip to main content

Cigar Training

Today we have had a cigar training [which I held] and I have used the official habanos videos - showing all steps of making Cuban premium cigars.

As I had some issues to find those information before in the world wide web, I am posting the videos here, for your convenience.

Please do not hesitate to comment!


It would not be me, if I wouldn't mention, that there are also fantastic other tobacco producing countries. Amazing wrappers are coming not only from Cuba, but also from Connecticut [the famed Connecticut Cut wrapper, or the even better Connecticut Broadleaf], Cameroon [very dark and rich leaves], or the very limited but amazing Dominican wrappers.
Good filler and binder tobacco is produced in Mexico, Nicaragua [the always extremely well rated Padrón cigars], Dominican Republic, Brazil [which have a completely different, strong and kinda funky tasting tobacco], Honduras, Ecuador and Sumatra [Indonesia].

Yes, Cuba is the cradle of cigars as well as a very good producer - but the Cubans are not the only ones, which can claim the crown for premium cigars.



It is pretty amazing, to understand that only between 45% and 65% percent of the corojo tobacco can be used for premium cigars. That made Alejandro Robaina so popular - as he had a yield of 85%!
Overall it is amazing how much work goes into the harvesting of the leaves.


Fermentation, sorting, classifying and packed.


Tobacco preparation for rolling.


Blending of the tobacco.




Cigar rolling


Cigar rolling in detail


Quality control


Conditioning and maturing


Sorting and packaging.


Offering & suggesting cigars and storage / maturing of the ready cigar.


Enjoying a cigar


Cigar service [in hospitality]

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Agar-Agar Clarification

Not often, I am posting here things, which are clearly not my ideas... However Dave Arnold is clearly a mad scientist [no, he really is!] - and he posted amazing stuff on his website www.cookingissues.com - no - don't click now - just follow the link later. One of the most impressive posts about mixology, besides of demystifying the mechanics of shaking, were clarification techniques. Look, after him, you could use a centrifuge [which would set you back a couple thousand bucks] and a chemical compound, which solidifies sediments. I am not a fan of that. Then there is gelatine clarification; this works quite well [I tried it several times my self] - you gelatinize a liquid [with little gelatine only], freeze it, thaw it [in the fridge] over a colander and a muslin cloth. Thats it. Unfortunately this has several problems: Gelatine is made out of animal bones - hence it is neither vegetarian nor vegan, which you won't usually expect of a beverage. You have to freez...

How to use citric acid - and why you might not want to use it anyway!

To be honest, I shied away of this topic, because I think, people can misinterpret this - big time. I don't want to be part of the problem - I want to be part of the solution!  But when Chris, over at A Bar Above  discussed this subject- I literally could not resist to join into "the discussion". Here is the video: I - however take a bit slower approach than Chris. What is citric acid? Chemical Compound Citric acid is a weak organic acid with the formula C6H8O7. It is a natural preservative/conservative and is also used to add an acidic or sour taste to foods and drinks. Wikipedia Formula: C6H8O7 Molar Mass: 192.124 g/mol Melting Point: 153C Density: 1.66 g/cm3 Boiling point: 175C Soluble in: Water Why is it controversial? In my "mixology world" it is controversial, as citric acid is the stuff, which makes the nightmarish sour mix [ preferably in powder form ] sour. Yeah - citric acid is the main ingredient in one of the most ...

"Monin Rocks!" - Really?

R ussell S anchez MONIN UAE MONIN Rocks @ HARD ROCK CAFE Dubai  — with   Rhiandro Gardiner  and Louie Aquias  at  Hard Rock Cafe . I have seen this on my Facebook timeline. And well... I wanted to write about Monin since quite a long time, but haven't. However this message was a catalyst, to speak up. It is already a couple of months ago, that I routinely checked the ingredient list of a Monin bottle. ...and was shocked.... Point is, that I have always defended Monin against my US colleagues as decent brand. At least with the products they offered here in the Middle East and in Europe; they came from their factory in France. Most of the ingredients [except lets say in Blue Curacao syrup] were natural. Long time ago, somebody from Monin explained, that this is due to the quite strict regulations in France for syrup - there it is a family culture to drink syrup sweetened water/seltzer. And off course ...