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Page 1 of 2  ProCigar Festival opens in Santiago, Dominican Republic
Santiago, Dominican Republic, March 7 – When Henke Kelner (pictured) talks cigars, people listen.
The man behind the production of 31 million cigars in a three-factory complex in Villa Gonzalez, including the high-profile Davidoff, Avo and Zino brands, had a rapt audience Wednesday as he explained the process by which tiny seeds turn into large tobacco leaves and in turn, cigars like the celebrated Davidoff Special R robusto.
One of his favorite subjects is aging and if you ask if a certain bale or box of leaves is ready, he'll respond, "It depends." It depends on what blend that leaf is destined for and what role it will play in the cigar to be made. What does not change is the process and Kelner explained with clarity the role of aging in leaves that creates the tobaccos he wants to use in his brands.
Generally around November 1, the first of 13 million seedlings prepared by his agricultural team are planted and by the end of the first week of January, the harvesting of the lowest leaves on the plant begins. By the end of February, the curing and drying operations are completed and the tobacco arrives at the factories. Each package of tobacco is marked by the seed used, the specific plot where it was grown and by which "priming" or level of the plant which these leaves came from. So, a package of leaves might be Dominican Olor tobacco, grown at a farm in Jicome, Dominican Republic and be only second-priming leaves.
After being unpacked and either humidified or de-humidified to reach the correct water content level of 14%, the leaves are fumigated and then re-packaged in gigantic bulks of thousands of pounds on a pallet, sometimes reaching as high as the chest of the factory workers and is fermented – with strict temperature controls – from a minimum of three months to 7-8 months and sometimes up to one year. The tobacco is arranged in "hands" – a group of leaves tied at one end so that it looks like a feather duster and can be shaken with one hand – and stacked and re-stacked up to eight times so that the leaves in the bulk are all exposed to the heat in the center and continue to "cook."
Once the first fermentation is ended, the leaves are packed in enormous burlap sacks of 1,000 or more pounds and put away in a warehouse for 18 months for the first of two aging periods. The leaves dry and the fermentation is ended. At this point, most of the tobacco is more than two years old and isn't close to seeing the roller's desk.
After the first aging is completed, the tobacco is pulled out once again, the center veins are removed and the leaves are sorted for size and other characteristics and then placed in three-foot-square, five-foot high, rolling wooden carts where they will sit and ferment some more for 40 days.
After the second fermentation in the factory, the leaves packed into giant corrugated cardboard cases and put away for another 18 months. Only then, after a minimum of 28 months and more likely 32-36 months, are the leaves – aged leaves – ready to go into production to make cigars. That's where aging is involved and it is cigars made with aged leaf that creates the unique taste of each brand and blend and not any aging of the cigars after they are rolled.
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