ABSTRACT
Tobacco plants, initially only found in the Antilles and the more westerlyregions of Central and sub-tropical America, have thrived all over theworld. The tobacco plant – like sugarcane, as explained by JonCurry-Machado’s chapter in this volume (Chapter 7) – hasdifferent varieties. 1 Thesevarieties not only look different from each other, but they also havedifferent uses. The kind of tobacco plant used for the production of smokingtobaccos such as cigars, cigarettes, water pipes (hookahs)and cheroots (a kind of cigar) is not the same as that usedfor chewing and sniffing. Even these smoking varieties differ from eachother. Tobaccos used as fillers in cigarettes differ from cigar tobaccos ortobaccos used in hookahs. Moreover, in order to producetobacco for varied purposes, different curing systems are required. Afterharvesting, tobacco is cured to impart the required colour, texture andaroma to the final product. Different methods of curing are adopted fordifferent types of tobacco, depending on quality requirements and theintended use of the final product. Lastly, whereas normally only the leavesof the tobacco plant are used, certain tobacco products make use of tobaccostems and roots, too.
