THE HEART OF HONDURAS: A JOURNEY INTO THE CAMP CAMACHO EXPERIENCE
Upon arrival, we were greeted by Manuel who would be our main tour guide for the next two days. The vast tracts of land covered with growing tobacco was an outstanding sight. What I found impressive about this stage of the operation was the irrigation. Our visit was during the dry season and most of the foliage was brown and dry. The tobacco, however, which is watered through a drip irrigation system, was green and lush. The tobacco is grown in stages, and each stage takes up about 17 acres of land. Being able to see and touch and smell that amazing Corojo 2012 tobacco is something you cannot truly appreciate until you experience it. Some of our team was given the chance to gather leaves in the fields, a task that one of my coworkers seemed incredibly proficient at. Once the tobacco is picked, it is taken to one of several curing barns. Unfortunately, several of these barns had been severely damaged a few weeks earlier due to bad weather, but they were already well on their way to rebuilding. I have to say, there is nothing quite like the smell of walking into a curing barn full of tobacco. As the plants turn from bright green into a rustic brown, the barn fills with an enticing aroma of natural sweetness. The workers, wearing helmets and tied into harnesses, were working to hang and rotate the tobaccos from the high rafters and can completely fill a curing barn in one day. The tobaccos are rotated through the barn for a period of 6-8 weeks before they are ready to be sent to the factory for fermentation. Manuel explained that they keep the different priming’s separate, as they each require a different level of heat and humidity. After a quick stop in the greenhouses to view the seedlings, we loaded back on the bus for a rather fun and adventurous lunch. We stopped at a park that was fully equipped with a grill, a lovely gazebo, a pool and several furnished huts complete with air conditioning. It also offered
• FEATURED: TOBACCO HANGING IN CURING BARN / SEEDLING BED IN GREEN HOUSE CIGAR MAGAZINE BY JR CIGAR-SUMMER-2024
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