Cigar Weekly

Briandg · 06-14-2016, 01:03 PM

nitrates are completely consumed during growth and burning.

The way a fire works is that heat dessicates and then carbonizes a material. The volatile compounds burn off. The remaining carbon, or charcoal, is where the actual burn is, the source of the heat that drives off the volatile compounds.

As the carbon is oxidized in the glowing red layer of combustion as you smoke, the carbon is turned into gaseous CO2. When all of the organics and all of the carbon is gone, all that is left is the mineral content of the tobacco, and this is the skeletal structure of the leaves, turned into ash. Every leaf of tobacco has a great deal of minerals bound chemically to it, that's why the ash holds firm to the original structure of the tobacco. If you grow tobacco in worn out soil, the mineral content may be played out, there may be little left but dead silt, clay, and worn out organic material, and there isn't enough mineral to develop strong leaves. It's a given that if the soil is played out with minerals, the quality of the tobacco is going to suck.

So the bottom line is that with a strong mineral base in the soil, and a strong uptake of minerals into the leaf, you will be left with a strong, heavy ash, and this may not be evidence of a great tobacco, a good, healthy ash is, without a doubt, a sign that the tobacco was grown in good soil and that it may be quality tobacco from a good farm, and that it may have been used by a good manufacturer to make good cigars.

This is one of the reasons ecuador tobacco is good, and other volcanic soil farming. The plains of nebraska don't change much, the soil has been there for hundreds of years. the stone erodes into soil minerals very slowly. Fertilizer is added every year because the soil is mostly just something to keep the corn in place and hold the water. In volcanic sights, fine mineral ash is tossed all over the land once in a while, and the volcanic sand that the earth is made up of is generally better at releasing the mineral content into the soil than the big freakin rock in the middle of the field. It just makes for better, looser, and more fertile soil. Soil has to have a good balance of clay, sand, silt, and broken down organic gunk, or compost. The other needs are nitrogen and phosphorous and potash, for example, to support the growth of the plant, and it requires free, easily incorporated mineral compounds such as lime, iron, and so forth.

don't dismiss the old wives' tail that a good, solid white cigar means that a cigar is good. It just means that the tobacco was grown well and that the cigar is potentially made out of good tobacco, and construtcted properly.

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06-14-2016, 01:03 PM	#8
Briandg CW Squirrel Wrangler Herf God Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: southwest Missouri Posts: 35,518	nitrates are completely consumed during growth and burning. The way a fire works is that heat dessicates and then carbonizes a material. The volatile compounds burn off. The remaining carbon, or charcoal, is where the actual burn is, the source of the heat that drives off the volatile compounds. As the carbon is oxidized in the glowing red layer of combustion as you smoke, the carbon is turned into gaseous CO2. When all of the organics and all of the carbon is gone, all that is left is the mineral content of the tobacco, and this is the skeletal structure of the leaves, turned into ash. Every leaf of tobacco has a great deal of minerals bound chemically to it, that's why the ash holds firm to the original structure of the tobacco. If you grow tobacco in worn out soil, the mineral content may be played out, there may be little left but dead silt, clay, and worn out organic material, and there isn't enough mineral to develop strong leaves. It's a given that if the soil is played out with minerals, the quality of the tobacco is going to suck. So the bottom line is that with a strong mineral base in the soil, and a strong uptake of minerals into the leaf, you will be left with a strong, heavy ash, and this may not be evidence of a great tobacco, a good, healthy ash is, without a doubt, a sign that the tobacco was grown in good soil and that it may be quality tobacco from a good farm, and that it may have been used by a good manufacturer to make good cigars. This is one of the reasons ecuador tobacco is good, and other volcanic soil farming. The plains of nebraska don't change much, the soil has been there for hundreds of years. the stone erodes into soil minerals very slowly. Fertilizer is added every year because the soil is mostly just something to keep the corn in place and hold the water. In volcanic sights, fine mineral ash is tossed all over the land once in a while, and the volcanic sand that the earth is made up of is generally better at releasing the mineral content into the soil than the big freakin rock in the middle of the field. It just makes for better, looser, and more fertile soil. Soil has to have a good balance of clay, sand, silt, and broken down organic gunk, or compost. The other needs are nitrogen and phosphorous and potash, for example, to support the growth of the plant, and it requires free, easily incorporated mineral compounds such as lime, iron, and so forth. don't dismiss the old wives' tail that a good, solid white cigar means that a cigar is good. It just means that the tobacco was grown well and that the cigar is potentially made out of good tobacco, and construtcted properly.