Yesterday was the day in the fields - from seed to harvest and drying in the barn - with a short trip to the box factory.
Today Maya showed us personally how the path of a cigar continues: with the fermentation and sorting and finally the production of the cigar, according to the secret blend recipe. The challenge here is, once a blend has been found and the cigar is launched, to retain this taste, in other words, the taste consistency of a brand, which in turn is a trademark of the Flor de Selva cigars.
Flor de Selva cigars are produced in the Tabacos de Oriente factory of the Plasencia family; Maya also purchases tobacco from the Plasencias.
She can trace exactly what happens to the tobacco during fermentation and select precisely those leaves that suit her taste and the consistency she wants.
With incredible meticulousness, Tabacos de Oriente tracks where the tobacco comes from and how it has developed during fermentation, from the field to the factory.
In the cigar rolling department, two rows are responsible for Maya's cigars - 12 employees, or 6 pairs of rollers. What distinguishes these two rows from the other workstations in the factory: there is no Lieberman bunching machine. (Lieberman is the name given by cigar manufacturers to a fairly simple-to-operate piece of equipment that provides mechanical assistance to the bunching and rolling process).
In other words: the fillers with binder are hand-rolled for Maya's cigars, then the wrapper is attached. Therefore their cigars are: Hecho TOTALMENTE a mano (totally handmade).
After lunch we went briefly to Maya Selva's own factory, San Judas Tadeo, where the Villa Zamorano brand is produced. The workers are still on holiday until Monday, so it was quiet there, but some employees were already preparing the tobacco packets for the cigar rollers. And Monday from 6 o'clock on, Villa Zamoranos are rolled there for us again...
