Wismilak Cigars - Premium Cigars, Best Cigars, Buy Cigars Online

Our fields are specially prepared to ensure the proper natural balance and fertile soil to meet the requirements for producing only the finest tobacco. Java's soil is enriched by volcanic ash, so farmers need to add very little fertilizer for it to reach its optimum growing readiness. The fertilizer that is used is organic material gathered know as "kompos", or compost, coming from the fermentation of leaves, ash, and natural waste.

Indonesian farmers use the Row System so that it's easy to control the balance of ground water values to ensure the highest quality crop yield.

Seed Development
Well before planting, and as a result of considerable research for the production of the Wismilak pure Indonesian premium cigar, tobacco seed is chosen from the most well known, high quality varieties for growing under Indonesia's ideal conditions.

In particular, the seed from Connecticut shade grown tobacco is reproduced and grown in Java for use as wrapper tobacco for the Wismilak Premium Cigar. The other Indonesian grown seed varieties come from Brazil, reproducing the Malta Fina tobacco for some binder tobacco and from Besoeki region of Indonesia itself.

The carefully selected tobacco seeds are then planted with deliberate precision, in perfectly spaced rows of pre-prepared seedbeds in a very orderly structure. In about a week, the seeds begin to sprout to a height of 15-20 centimeters. In order to protect the young tobacco plants from the heat of the sun and to control humidity to keep the new plants stable and the organic elements from evaporating, the farmers give gentle cover to the new sprouting seedlings.

Farming in The Field
The seedlings have to be removed carefully from the seedbeds individually for transplantation into well-prepared tobacco fields. There is room for 20,000 plants per hectare.

The tobacco seedlings receive another application of organic fertilizer after they are transplanted and, if rainfall is light, they receive regular irrigation. The rows of tobacco receive regular weeding and cultivation to loosen the soil and keep out any plant that would compete for nutrients with the tobacco. In Indonesia, this process of field care is called 'dangir'. It takes 45 to 60 days for the plant to reach full maturity and the fields continue to be extended on a daily basis for weeding, pest control, irrigation, and most importantly, to have their buds and side shoots removed.

Putting Up the 'Naungan' (Shade)
'Naungan', the Indonesian word for shade, is the key ingredient in the shade-grown variety of the wrapper tobacco used in the Wismilak Premium Cigar. 'Naungan' is set in the fields hung on bamboo frames. This 'naungan' keeps direct sun and pelting rain off the leaves. Wrapper tobacco requires very special treatment -- it must be protected from direct sunlight to retain the smooth, silky, even texture and appearance.