Cigar Factory Trip: 2013 My Father Cigars
A few of us here at Emerson’s Cigars recently had the pleasure of spending a few days touring the fields and factories of My Father Cigars in Esteli, Nicaragua. It was amazing to see first hand the processes involved as well as the hard work that goes into the art of making cigars. We stayed in town at Hotel Los Arcos and visited 5 different tobacco fields as well as the processing, box making and rolling factories. Here are some pictures from our trip(best viewed via desktop computer).
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- Lunch at Tip Top.
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- Mural in the open air area at Hotel Los Arcos.
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- Curing barn on one of the farms.
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- Sunset over Estelli.
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- Scott enjoting a Tona on the patio.
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- J-Bags chillin’ on the patio.
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- The patio at Hotel Los Arcos.
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- The view from Hotel Los Arcos.
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- The view from Hotel Los Arcos.
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- Inside one of the curing barns on the farm.
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- Criollo 98 tobacco.
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- Criollo 98 tobacco.
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- Don Pepin Garcia talks about the growing process.
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- Scott and Jeremy in the field enjoying a My Father cigar.
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- Criollo 98 tobacco.
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- “Pepin” talks with the group.
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- Inside one of the curing barns on the farm.
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- Inside the curing barn. You can see the fires burning to help dry the tobacco.
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- Criollo 98 tobacco.
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- Riding on the bus with our tour guide Grace.
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- Sticks that are used to hang the tobacco in the barns for curing.
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- Tobacco that has been cured and is ready for transport to the factory.
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- A field ready for planting and the 3 curing barns.
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- Inside the My Father factory, proudly displaying the No. 1 cigar of the year.
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- Front view of the My Father cigar factory.
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- “Pepin” discussing his Habano tobacco.
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- “Pepin” discussing his Habano tobacco.
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- Habano tobacco.
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- Group photo in the Habano tobacco field.
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- JBags goofing around.
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- Jeremy examining the fine soil the field has to over.
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- Shade grown tobacco in one of My Father latest fields.
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- Inside one of the curing barns on the farm.
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- Tobacco from the field being delivered for hanging in the curing barn.
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- Habano tobacco.
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- Criollo 98 tobacco.
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- Note the size of the ligero leaf.
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- Shade grown tobacco. This field took over 6 months to prepare the land for growing.
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- Jaime Garcia talking with the group before we tour the My Father factory.
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- Jaime and Grace at the My Father factory.
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- The sorting room at My Father cigars.
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- Tobacco being sorted.
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- Tobacco being fermented.
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- Jaime Garcia in the factory.
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- Cigar box factory.
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- Cigar box factory.
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- Leaf in the process of fermenting.
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- Fermentation room. Very high humidity and heat in this particular room.
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- Bails of processed and sorted tobacco ready to be sent to the factory.
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- Wrapper leaf ready to go.
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- Taking the main stem out of tobacco leaf for use as wrapper.
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- Cigar box factory and some coffins for a “special project” coming up this year.
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- Tobacco in the factory being put together for the rollers to use.
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- Main cigar production floor.
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- Main cigar production floor.
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- This young lady rolls the Flor de las Antillas Toro, the Cigar Of The Year for 2012.
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- Front view of the production floor and Jaime and Pepin’s table.
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- Jaime giving a tour and talking about the sorting, boxing and banding that goes on in this room.
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- Jeremy under the watchful eye of one of the top rollers at My Father.
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- Scott finishing the cap on his cigar.
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- Matt trying his hand at rolling cigars.
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- Shorty gives rolling a try.
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- Cigars packed up and ready to be shipped.
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- Grace in the aging room.
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- A woman sorts cigars for color before boxing them up.
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- This is Pepin’s first farm he bought in Esteli.
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- All the tobacco from this field has been harvested and beans planted to help replenish the soil with Nitrogen.
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- A flower atop a tobacco plant.
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- Jeremy poses with Lynn and Grace.
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- All the lower primings have been removed except the ligero leaves from this field.
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- Tobacco barn at La Estrella.
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- Tobacco barn at La Estrella.
