CLE and FIU team up on a research lab for cigar tobacco
A partnership announced this week caught my eye because it is about the least glamorous part of the cigar business, the farm, and I think that is exactly why it matters. CLE Cigar Co. and Florida International University have signed an agreement creating the Eiroa Innovation Fund, which will work with FIU's Agroecology Program.
Christian Eiroa, founder of CLE, says the work will focus on three things: cheaper tobacco barns, shorter curing times, and lower growing costs no matter where the tobacco is grown. The aim is to make it easier for smaller growers to take up the dark air-cured tobacco used in handmade cigars.
The barn is the starting point. A typical one begins at around 70,000 dollars, which is enough to put many small farms off. The plan is to test refrigerated shipping containers as an alternative, in the hope that they also cut the time leaves spend hanging, possibly by nearly half.
The new CLE Research Lab will sit on an FIU property in Redlands, Florida, about 20 miles from Miami. The first step is to build one container barn, and only after that to plant wrapper and filler tobacco as a test. Eiroa's long-term goal is for growing costs in the United States to match those in Central America. Two researchers, Daphne K. Sugino Souffront and Jordan Prats, will lead the lab, and the financial terms were not disclosed.
Personally I find this more interesting than most product launches. Anything that lowers the barrier for small growers could eventually show up in what ends up in our humidors.
Source: halfwheel
Christian Eiroa, founder of CLE, says the work will focus on three things: cheaper tobacco barns, shorter curing times, and lower growing costs no matter where the tobacco is grown. The aim is to make it easier for smaller growers to take up the dark air-cured tobacco used in handmade cigars.
The barn is the starting point. A typical one begins at around 70,000 dollars, which is enough to put many small farms off. The plan is to test refrigerated shipping containers as an alternative, in the hope that they also cut the time leaves spend hanging, possibly by nearly half.
The new CLE Research Lab will sit on an FIU property in Redlands, Florida, about 20 miles from Miami. The first step is to build one container barn, and only after that to plant wrapper and filler tobacco as a test. Eiroa's long-term goal is for growing costs in the United States to match those in Central America. Two researchers, Daphne K. Sugino Souffront and Jordan Prats, will lead the lab, and the financial terms were not disclosed.
Personally I find this more interesting than most product launches. Anything that lowers the barrier for small growers could eventually show up in what ends up in our humidors.
Source: halfwheel
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