Cuba’s prized tobacco growing region, home to tens of thousands of farmers, was directly struck by Hurricane Gustav on 1, September 2008.

In the surrounding areas, more than 7,000 buildings lost their roofs. 100,000 more were damaged, and some simply collapsed. The Cuban government has an extensive hurricane emergency system. Most residents of Pinar del Rio took shelter during the storm as part of this system. No lives have been reported lost.

Pinar del Rio’s most important crop, tobacco was not yet planted but the crop from last year was drying in barns. While some 500,000 bags of premium tobacco leaves were in the process of being moved to safe warehouses, the BBC reported that 1,000 tons of tobacco leaves were soaked in the storm.

Concerns:

Intense water damage at the drying stage of cigar production is a serious problem. The extent of the water damage will determine whether the tobacco is salvaged or not. Soaking the leaves in water can result in the loss of oils which will remove the flavor from the leaves. The extent of loss will be determined by the extent of damage.

Increased moisture can also increase the speed of fermentation. Variable rates of fermentation or over-fast fermentation will create an inconsistent tobacco crop. Such inconsistency makes cigar production nearly impossible because blending is difficult.

Finally, the risk of mold always increases with large amounts of moisture and heat. The hurricane and the Cuban summer bring both of those risk factors to the table. Cuban cigar connoisseurs everywhere will be paying attention to this as the tobacco is examined post-Gustav.

Thank you to Dion Giolito of Illusione and Cruzado cigars for tobacco-related advice used in this column. All content, including errors, are the property and responsibility of the author, Colin Ganley.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7593543.stm