Cultivation
Since then the cultivation of tobacco has spread throughout Asia and the Pacific, into the Middle East, Africa and Australia. These days there's almost a direct correlation between the size of a country's economy and the way tobacco is cultivated in that country.

The poorer the nation the smaller the farm and the more the cultivation becomes labor intensive. The more affluent the country, the bigger the farms are and the more mechanized, they become. Many mechanized farms ... and the small ones too ... have pre-sold their output even before the harvest begins but in other areas farmers still harvest and sell to buyers on a spot basis.

While every tobacco farmer puts a high level of skill and care into the production of his crop it does seem that it's the smaller farmers who produce the best tobacco.

It's safe to apply something of a rule of thumb here and suggest that the better quality tobacco leaf that's needed to produce a fine cigar still comes from central and southern America where more human labor goes into the production of the finest quality tobacco.

Big mechanized farms may make good economic sense but they don't always produce the best quality tobacco. Sometimes you have to pay a little more for experienced workers who are prepared to put their soul into growing tobacco that's worth turning into a cigar.

You only have to compare the mental images of a burly Aussie farmer sitting on his tractor pumping chemicals onto the crop to encourage growth, kill weeds and destroy pests to that of a hard working farmer from Cuba or Honduras who cultivates and nurtures every one of his plants by hand to understand why one is better than the other.

Watch for our next installment of "From Seed to Shelf" where we talk more about the different types of tobaccos, soil, blending of tobacco in cigars and more.