Microbial Community Structure and Dynamics of Dark Fire-Cured Tobacco Fermentation

(American Society for Microbiology) The habit of smoking cigars can be traced back to American natives, and after the discovery of the New World cigar smoking spread throughout Europe (56). In Italy, tobacco fermentation for cigar production dates back to the end of the 18th century (54). The Italian Toscano cigar differs from other world-famous cigars because the filler tobacco undergoes a fermentation process which is shorter (weeks, versus months for other cigars) and is characterized by higher moisture content of the fermenting leaves (50 to 55% versus 20 to 30% for other cigars). Continued

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