D-alot, do the growers age the whole leaves? whats the processing steps for the Thai cigarette industry? Do the farmers just sell the bulk leaves to a processor or cigarette manufacturer?

While the veins of the larger leaves (those at the lower part of the plant) do look pretty large and may not be suitable for use as a wrapper in the traditional sense. I'm wondering if the younger leaves at the middle or top of the plant would be better. Also is it possible to cut the sections out in between the veins on the large leaves to harvest 1.5" wide, but long strips to use as wrapper? normally this would be more appropriate for binder but hey, i'm just trying to think outside the box

There are processing factories.

Nevermind Thai at Heart, jamhar. I am positive he meant well.

To answer a small part of jamhar's question: Like rice, the government buys the tobacco at a variable kilo price directly from the farmer.

[edit] I will answer your interesting questions in the upcoming posts.

Thank you.

Edited March 8, 201412 yr by Dancealot

The very special 50 gram package of FL. 1,95 shown in the picture above kept its excellent smell after more than 40 years!

Thanks for your history lessons jacnl2000. Very interesting reading. FL1.95 = 1 Euro = 40 Bath, 40 years ago, imagine that!

Well, not everything can be taken to the current exchange courses.

40 Years ago I could buy an Iso Rivolta Lele for what is now exchanged as € 27k, a "little" less than I pay for my restoration of such car now

But taking the prices of that time FL 1,95 would be like 0,1% of a very well equipped family home with like 1 rai of land in north-central Germany...

Bye,

Derk

Empty tobacco processing shack. Off-season it's a garage ^ ^.

I always wondered what was the purpose of those giant honets hanging from the edge of the roof. Yesterday I discovered they where not purely for decoration.

People are always sitting on top of the payload to make sure nothing is falling of the ETAN while driving. Upon entering the shack the wasps are meant to scare those people because they can bump their heads on the edge of the roof.

Big hornets actually live in the wood of many shacks(Hence the design). I am told their sting hurts a lot more then a regular bee-sting.

While I was testing XBMC video music plugin Vevo and managed to lower its default bitrate I accidentely stumbled across this vid:

The cigs presented in here do not look quite familiar to me: too dark. Premium wrappers used by La Paz did not as the brand name La Paz may suggest originate from Brasil but Java ( Indonesia ) which is relative close to Thailand ...

Edited March 9, 201412 yr by jacnl2000

Just a small teaser for the next report. Coming soon:

The tobacco auction and overhaulage house. This is the place where the tobacco physically leaves the farm to be shipped in containers all over the world.

The average price is B60/kilo this season which is a big loss compared to last years B78/kilo.

Tobaco prices 2556/2557, quality graded by colour, moisture level and smell.

There are 3 main quality grades of tobacco.

It would be logical to simply class them as "A", "B" and "C". But no, this is Thailand so it is decided to grade them: "X", "C" and "B". Yes, in this particular order... A number is then added to sub-grade the individual harvests.

Tobacco fluffling - This techinque i used at the last minute to balance the tobacco sample's moisture level on site. A last attempt to influence the price.

The tobacco will be graded and classified by a corporate and a government expert afterwards. Their combined judgement will determine the definitive price.

Edited April 3, 201412 yr by Dancealot

Back at the farm: fresh tobacco and dried tobacco.

The midievel device which is used to put the dried tobacco in 70kg bags which are then sold at the auction house.

The farmers put the tobacco in the device and one farmer has to jump on it to make it fit in the bag.

Thank you DAL for this fascinating report!

Is anybody have contact who sell tobacco leafs?

40 some years ago, I visited a tobacco buying facility.  Farmers would pack less than perfect leaves in the middle of the bundle.  It was interesting. 

I didn't realize this thread was so old. My mistake. Scratch that comment.

Edited November 25, 20196 yr by TooBigToFit