Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/550304
tobaccoasia 33 What Do Oxen and a Glass of Water Have in Common? By providing oxen teams to People like Hadija and her family, access to drinking water is no longer a challenge. In a single journey, the oxen can haul ten times as much water as an individual can carry. It's part of our commitment to unite the world under One Vision of action-oriented social responsibility. See Our Vision for Positive Change AOIsustainability.com ACTION-ORIENTED SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ACTION-ORIENTED SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY launched systematic research into production and preparation technologies to promote the improvement of cigar leaf tobacco quality in the region, to upgrade it, and make it more characteristic. Growing areas in Shifang, including Yunxi and Shuangsheng, all boast sub-acid san- dy soil with a very high content of potassium, long hours of sunshine, a warm climate and man-made irrigation systems based on the famous Dujiang Dam. These natural conditions, together with sufficient sun-curing and air-curing barns, fine sun-curing and air-curing instruments and advanced processing technologies, ef- fectively guarantee high quality for all cigar leaf tobacco products made in Shifang. The sun-cured leaf tobacco grown in Shifang has clear aromatics and a sweet mouth feel. In the three years since the launch of the international cooperation, great strides have been made in three major areas: selection, research and construction. Test-growing has resulted in the selection of 18 varieties introduced from abroad for making cigar fillers and wrappers that master the characteristics and features of all varieties. Five have been singled out for making fillers and five for making wrappers. They solve the problems of singularity and degradation and lay a solid foundation for expanding production. In the research of technologies for filler and wrapper production remarkable progress has been made, with a complete range achieved for producing cigar fillers and wrappers. The taskforce has also identified suitable time periods for tobacco seedling development and transplantation in key Sichuan regions such as Shifang, Dazhou and Liangshan. The team has determined the means of production of different types of fillers and wrappers using locally grown cigar leaf tobacco. This includes the density of transplan- tation, the quantity and methods of fertilizer application, and the means of picking leaf tobacco for making fillers, plus shading and topping leaf tobacco for making wrappers in the different tobacco-growing areas. "We hope the proportion of home-manufactured cigar leaf tobacco used in China will reach 80%" In addition, it has mastered wrapper-producing technologies for fermenting leaf to- bacco and controlling temperature and humidity. So far, the taskforce has applied for three patents for utility models and one patent for invention. The third breakthrough has been the construction of exclusive bases for growing leaf tobacco for making wrappers. In the last two years, quality assessment and analysis of the chemical composition of leaf tobacco produced under the technological cooperation with the CDF was generally of a relatively high quality, and could be used for hand- making of medium-grade cigars. Consequently, two companies – China Tobacco Chuanyu Industrial and China To- bacco Anhui Industrial – decided to establish exclusive bases in Shifang for producing high- and medium-grade cigar wrappers and for cigar fillers. However, despite these initiatives, the production of cigar leaf tobacco in China is still in a stage of test-growing and exploration. In comparison with famous brand cigar leaf tobacco produced in Cuba, Dominica and other countries, air-cured and sun-cured cigar leaf tobacco produced in China is still problematic in many areas. These include density of tobacco aroma in burning, physical strength, characteristic aroma, flammabil- ity, grayness and other sensory aspects. "China boasts vast markets for cigar products, with broad prospects for future devel- opment," says, Liu Yibing, deputy director of the Great Wall Cigar Factory. He admits there is room for improvement in the quality of cigar leaf tobacco produced in the coun- try, but adds, "We are fully confident in the sustainable and stable development of the cigar making sector in China. "We hope that through our continued efforts over the next few years,the proportion of home-manufactured cigar leaf tobacco used in producing cigars in China will have reached 80%."