![Field-workers](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Field-workers.jpg)
Connecticut shade tobacco is a tobacco grown under shade in the
Connecticut River valley
The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges at Long Island ...
of
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
,
, and southern
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
. It is used primarily for binder and wrapper for premium cigars.
History
Tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
farming in the
Connecticut River valley
The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges at Long Island ...
has a long history. When the first settlers came to the valley in the 1630s, tobacco was already being grown by the native population. The town of
Windsor
Windsor may refer to:
Places Australia
* Windsor, New South Wales
** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area
* Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
**Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
is the epicenter of the tobacco industry in Connecticut. The town was founded in 1633 and within seven years it was producing tobacco for personal use and profit. The tobacco being grown was for pipe use, brought up from
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
since the tobacco variety found in the
Connecticut Valley
The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges at Long Island ...
was not as delectable as the Virginian style. It was immediately apparent that the soil from the river, a rich sandy loam, and the hot and short summer of
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
yielded an excellent crop each year. Approximately of land in Connecticut is covered by
Windsor Soil, named after the town of Windsor.
Eventually, the popularity of cigars became greater than the pipe. Initially, a tobacco leaf type named Shoestring was grown. This was replaced by
broadleaf tobacco, which was the variety that dominated the industry. It was in such high demand that during the Civil War the Connecticut Valley yielded up to ten million pounds per year. The fame of quality Connecticut tobacco was raved about throughout the settled regions of the United States.
By 1700, tobacco was being exported via the
Connecticut River
The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges at Long Island ...
to
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
an ports. The use of Connecticut Valley tobacco as a
cigar
A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...
wrapper leaf began in the 1820s. Area farmers grew tobacco for the two outside layers of cigars, the binder and the wrapper. By the 1830s, tobacco farmers were experimenting with different seeds and processing techniques.
Knowing that they were not the only players in the cigar wrapper economy, farmers began planting a new tobacco species in 1875, the Havana Seed. This smooth, good-looking leaf yielded a higher percent of quality cigar wrappers.
Just a few decades later, in the late 19th century, a fine grained leaf type imported from
Sumatra
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
was adopted for growth in Connecticut.
The demand for high quality cigar wrapper was never ending. This pushed Connecticut growers and scientists to develop a leaf so smooth and golden that it would dominate the market. Farmers and scientists worked together to develop a hybrid to overcome competition from Cuba and Asia. Using over thirty samples from Cuba and Sumatra, Shade Tobacco was born in 1900, and the first shade-leaf tent was put up on River Street in Windsor. The shade tents made of cloth cut sunlight and raised humidity.
Production
The technique of growing shade tobacco has changed little in the past hundred years. To form the shade tents, a tobacco field is set with posts in a grid layout. Wires are stretched from post to post, and a light, durable fabric (once
cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
but now a
synthetic fiber
Synthetic fibers or synthetic fibres (in British English; see spelling differences) are fibers made by humans through chemical synthesis, as opposed to natural fibers that are directly derived from living organisms, such as plants (like cotton) ...
) is tied across them and draped along the sides. For example, twenty posts in four rows of five will create twelve square cells in three rows of four. Under the tents the
sunlight
Sunlight is a portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. On Earth, sunlight is scattered and filtered through Earth's atmosphere, and is obvious as daylight when t ...
is soft and diffused, the air is
humid
Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present.
Humidity depen ...
, and the
ambient temperature
Colloquially, "room temperature" is a range of air temperatures that most people prefer for indoor settings. It feels comfortable to a person when they are wearing typical indoor clothing. Human comfort can extend beyond this range depending on ...
is slightly warmer than outside. Filtering the sun produces a thinner and more elastic tobacco leaf that
cures to a lighter, even color often desired by the Cuban and Dominican cigar producers.
The 1920
Prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...
ceased legal sales of alcohol in Connecticut, and tobacco production consequently reached a peak in Connecticut. At its height, there was greater than of tobacco being cultivated under shade in the Connecticut Valley. Currently, the amount of tobacco being grown in the valley is just over a steady .
By 2011, plantings were down to about 700 acres a year, and by 2017 those plantings had declined about 80%.
So in 2017, one of the largest producers of shade grown tobacco, O.J. Thrall, placed over 300 acres of prime tobacco growing land up for sale. Pockets of the crop remain in production in Connecticut towns such as Windsor, East Windsor, Suffield and Enfield.
Quality
Windsor tobacco leaves in particular are highly prized by fine cigar makers, and are used as the cigar's outer wrapping. The former president of U.S. operations for
Davidoff
Davidoff is a Swiss premium brand of cigars, cigarettes and smoker's accessories. The Davidoff cigarette brand has been owned by Imperial Brands after purchasing it in 2006. The non-cigarette portion of the Davidoff tobacco brand is owned by O ...
, a
Swiss
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
*Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
*Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
*Swiss Internation ...
maker of luxury goods including premium
cigar
A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...
s, praised Connecticut shade tobacco as "
nice Connecticut wrapper" and "very silky, very fine. From a marketing point of view”, and “one of the best tasting and looking wrappers available", in a 1992
Cigar Aficionado
''Cigar Aficionado'' is an American magazine that is dedicated to enjoying the good life and the world of cigars. Published since September 1992, the magazine is known for its profiles on celebrities including Michael Jordan, Jack Nicholson, Th ...
article on why many of the world's best cigars use Connecticut tobacco wrapper leaves.
In popular culture
The 1952 novel ''
East of Eden'' by
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social ...
is set partially on a farm in Connecticut, where character Charles Trask improves the land in part by planting tobacco.
The 1958
novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
and 1961
motion picture
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
titled ''Parrish'' featured the shade tobacco industry in and around Hartford in the '40s and '50s.
In the 2018 novel, ''
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
''On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous'' is the debut novel by Vietnamese-American poet Ocean Vuong, published by Penguin Press on June 4, 2019. An epistolary novel, it is written in the form of a letter from a Vietnamese American son to his illiterat ...
'' by
Ocean Vuong
Ocean Vuong (born , ; October 14, 1988) is a Vietnamese American poet, essayist, and novelist. Vuong is a recipient of the 2014 Ruth Lilly/Sargent Rosenberg fellowship from the Poetry Foundation, a 2016 Whiting Award, and the 2017 T.S. Eliot P ...
, the narrator works on a tobacco field in the Connecticut river valley: "The summer I turned fourteen I got my first job working tobacco on a farm outside Hartford." (p. 85)
References
{{Reflist
External links
Luddy/Taylor Connecticut Valley Tobacco Museum
Tobacco
Agriculture in Connecticut
Agriculture in Massachusetts