Tell someone that you’re heading to a tobacco farm, and their response might be to ask if your passport is up to date or simply what country you’re visiting. But to visit a farm that produces a lot of tobacco for a lot of cigars that are found in a lot of humidors, you don’t need a passport, let alone shots or a visit to a currency exchange; all you need is a ticket to Hartford, Conn. Earlier this year, I was invited to visit Altadis Shade Company’s Gershel Farm in Somers, Conn. during the middle of the tobacco harvest, when the plants are at their fullest, the first primings of leaves are starting to come off the shade-grown tobacco and the sungrown broadleaf is being stalk-cut. Altadis is the only company with its own tobacco farms in Connecticut, producing both Connecticut broadleaf and Connecticut shade tobacco on several farms scattered between the towns of Enfield and Somers. Both tobaccos have their own unique appeal and history; the milder shade grown was developed by Dutch settlers in the area looking to replicate the tobacco found in Indonesia, while broadleaf has a lot of current appeal due to its bolder flavor ...
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