Source: NCSU COLLEGE OF AG & LIFE SCIENCES, 1/19/22

When you think of cigars, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Cuba? Business tycoons? Celebrating first-time fathers? Maybe it’s the smell and the image of the smooth, brown perfect tobacco leaf that rolls around the outside of it.

Cigar wrapper tobacco is a specialty crop, traditionally grown in the New England states. Increased consumer demand for cigar products is piquing the interest of North Carolina farmers, many of whom have the infrastructure for growing tobacco from the burley tobacco heyday.

In our latest episode of Farms, Food, and You, we take a look at cigar wrapper tobacco as a new and emerging crop in North Carolina. We chat with Matthew Vann from the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences and discover more about his research on the crop and what he’s doing with a $60,000 grant awarded to the department that will help him develop recommendations on fertilizer rates, curing methodology and enterprise budgets to foster the success of cigar wrapper tobacco.

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