Cuba and Cigars | The Stripping House |
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Process
The process
can be carried out in two ways, in barrels or in pylons.
In the pylons
tobacco is placed at an approximate height of 1.20 cm during 30 days,
the groups of leaves are located in an organized way conserving their
position, forming a kind of rectangle with the mentioned height and a
length that varies according to the capacity of the place having inside
a thermometer to measure temperature; this pylon is covered with sackcloth. |
The pylon
is located on a wooden base of approximately 8 or 10 cm of height.
The barreled
process is a stage of rest that is carried out in the stripping house.
Tobacco is aged in cedar barrels in the fermentation room.
Each group
of two hundreds and fifty leaves of tobacco already ironed, stripped and
revised, is placed in a barrel, with a vent in the center and other holes
so that the air can penetrate until the fragrant leaves; they stay this
way during some sixty days, according to the selected time: volado (high),
dry, slight or medio tiempo (the leaves from the superior central third
of the plant). After completing the time with one method or another tobacco
goes to the drying room.
The
drying room
In the suitable moment, the workers take the leaves out of the barrels
or of the pylons and they accommodate them in shelves, where they will
be subjected to a drying process.
They are
big wooden shelves where the process of drying of tobacco is carried out
and where it acquires good scent and defines its color. Here the leaves
are also placed on boards on some mobile grills, where the height for
binder leaves is from 1 to 3 cm and for filler from 3 to 5 cm.
A short time
later the operator should veer each portion of leaves so that the drying
process be homogeneous; here there is a wooden platform on the floor,
the time here depends on the climate, or if artificial drying is applied
time is controlled; later tobacco is wrapped in sackcloth or in barrels
and is taken to the Department of Completed Product for its packing.
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