Connecticut shade tobacco

It is used primarily for binder and wrapper for premium cigars, and is prized for its color and quality, its subtle sweetness and elegant, refined flavor.

It was immediately apparent that the soil from the river, a rich sandy loam, and the hot and short summer of New England yielded an excellent crop each year.

It was in such high demand that during the Civil War the Connecticut Valley yielded up to ten million pounds per year.

[3] 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.

Just a few decades later, in the late 19th century, a fine grained leaf type imported from Sumatra was adopted for growth in Connecticut.

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.

[4] As a consequence of increased competition from growers of "Connecticut" wrapper in Central America, where production costs are substantially lower, a decreased demand for cigars generally, and an increase in the appeal of darker and thicker broadleaf tobacco wrappers, there has been a dramatic decline in shade tobacco production in the Connecticut River Valley.

[3] The 2019 generational novel "Old Newgate Road" by Keith Scribner is set in northern Connecticut with its culture of tobacco growing.

The 1952 novel East of Eden by John Steinbeck is set partially on a farm in Connecticut, where character Charles Trask improves the land in part by planting tobacco.