2017 most impressive/least impressive strains

[SmokesAhoy]

As we wind down on our season what strain impressed you the most? Least?

This was a season of sampling for me, 23 strains and about 330 ish plants. I had some disappointment from excessive shade in areas, producing late maturity and smaller growth in many of the rusticas. The disappointment of the year was a rustica called hasankeyf which only grew a few 4" leaves on each of the 5 plants before flowing. I blame excessive shade, 99.9% for their failure to thrive as they weren't delayed at transplanting time.

The most impressive was the corojo 99. Only 20 feet or so from the least impressive strain and still quite shadowed, it grew to 7 feet tall with large leaves. The growth habit of the leaf was very erect allowing easy bug removal but not too erect to make sucker removal difficult no leaves turned over like some varieties seem prone to do. The leaves at the bottom are not so large they require excessive spacing and the leaves at the top they are not too small- they run from very big at the bottom to just plain big at the top. Suckers came on after topping and weren't bad, I had to sucker them about 2-3 times in the 35ish days since topping until they were harvested.

Corojo 99:
yield: excellent
Ease of maintaining: excellent
Odd growth related issues: nonexistent
Suckers: minimal
Flavor: will update in the winter but first impressions extremely favorable

Corojo in the foreground apple tree in the background

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Haha. I just harvested lugs 5 days ago, but here's my two cents. Delhi 34 is amazing. I started the seeds a month late and they were big enough by planting time. Fewer suckers than most tobaccos I've grown. Easy to keep up with maintenance wise. Wind resistant. Good sized, uniform plants. I sun cured some bottom leaves rajangan style, and they're already tasty and enjoyable to smoke, 4 days after harvest.

 

[wooda2008]

I only planted 4 varieties this year.

Silver River was fantastic. Aphids and hornworms ignored it, it reached 7foot tall at topping, leaves are big, and the first priming yellowed in 24 hours. Mud lugs tasted fantastic both rolled into a cigarillo and packed in a pipe.

Yellow Twist Bud did not live up to my expectations. 3-5ft tall, marginal leaves, suckered like crazy after topping. All of this could be from poor management.

 

[Gavroche]

Very good Cherry red and Bamboo shoot
Good Goose creek red , gold leaf orinoco and yellow orinoco
middle Symbol 4 ( but a smoke delicious ) Black see samsun ( 15 cm no good next year 25 cm )
Bad middle Semois
Bad hyckory prior

Thank you to this subject... good for experience !

 

[mwaller]

+1 for Corojo 99. This variety produced very robust plants for me in several locations. As expected, plants in full sun did the best and produced some massive leaves.
Havana 142 differed the most from my expectations. It is slower to mature than most others in my garden, and the leaves are a bit more delicate and prone to damage.
I haven't tasted any of them yet, so my impressions are subject to change!

 

[deluxestogie]

I am currently smoking a cigar of unkilned 2016 Corojo 99 mid-upper leaf filler. The binder is an unkilned half-leaf of 2016 Swarr-Hibshman. The wrapper is WLT Ecuador Shade.

So all but the wrapper consists of leaf grown in 2016, and left hanging in the shed until mid-way through this summer. I've often said that 30 days of kilning provides about 1 year of aging. This is vaguely true. Long Red, PA Red, Little Dutch and Dutch Ohio are rather decent to smoke after 1 year of just shed aging. But they are unquestionably better after 30 days of kilning. I can now add Swarr-Hibshman to that list.

The Swarr-Hibshman feels dry, and smells somewhat aged, with no "raw" aroma--all this after 1 year of aging, and no kilning. I know from experience that this leaf would be darker and richer if it had been kilned. But it's not bad.

Corojo 99 (Robaina) that has aged 1 year, but has not been kilned, is smokable and okay. This mid-upper leaf still has a reddish hue, which would vanish after kilning, and its surface is still sticky--a definite sign that it still has work to do. The kilned Corojo 99 is simply a spectacular smoke. So "smokable and okay" is not really much of an endorsement for this variety. I seriously doubt that I will leave any of my Corojo 99 hanging and unkilned for several more years, just to see how it comes out, but this particular, wonderful cigar variety is unlikely to reach its potential without either kilning or multi-year aging (like 3 or 4 years). My 2017 crop of Corojo 99 was, like the 2016 crop, prolific, and color-cures well.

Havana 322 kilns to an excellent cigar filler--one of the best "numbered" Havanas that I have grown. This year's Havana 322 crop has offered excellent yield, and has been stalk-harvested, since most of its leaves mature synchronously.

Bob

 

[DistillingJim]

Where are people getting their Corojo99 seeds from? I had wanted to grow it but couldnt find any seed, just had a quick scout online, still cant find any!

In terms of my grow - its been my first year so its hard to truely compare but I've been particularly delighted with how my Cherry Red turned out

 

[Gavroche]

[QUOTE = DistillingJim; 139241] Où les gens obtiennent-ils leurs graines Corojo99? [/ QUOTE]

Cuba... Robaina... a tourist

 

[Leftynick]

This is a good thread! Now I can plan good variety to grow next year.

For me, best variety I grow this year is Little Dutch, Big Gem. I get some full sized plamt from both. A good yield but smaller leaves I get from TN90, Virginia Gold, Besuki and white stem Orinoco. My Gold Dollar, Corojo from Indonesia and Samsun 85 yield almost nothing.

 

[Gavroche]

and white stem Orinoco. .

NTW say : [FONT=&quot]White Stem Orinoco is an heirloom bright leaf which originated from the early Virginian Orinoco's. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]It is stronger flavored than most Virginia Bright Leaf varieties and is a good choice for a fuller flavored cigarette or pipe blend. It matures early at 55-60 days. The dark green leaves are thick and closely spaced on the stalk. They lighten in color as they ripen with yellowing at the edges and cure to a rich brown. Suckering is moderate. Leaves average 12" to 14" wide and 24" long, with yields of 3 oz of dried leaf per plant.


[/FONT]But you know the nicotine ? hard or low

 

[Leftynick]

But you know the nicotine ? hard or low

My white stem orinoco is still color curing. But from what I understand, primitive variety tend to have higher nicotine.

 

[Charly]

Where are people getting their Corojo99 seeds from? I had wanted to grow it but couldnt find any seed, just had a quick scout online, still cant find any!

In terms of my grow - its been my first year so its hard to truely compare but I've been particularly delighted with how my Cherry Red turned out

Some very kind people shared seeds here, since I am growing it this year, I can send you some (when the seeds will be ready)

I forgot I was on a thread about impressive/not impressive strains
For now, since I did not smoke any of the strains I am growing, all I can say is about the ease of growing them :
- Bolivian Criollo Black, Nostrano Del Brenta, Xanthy, Bahia, Symbol 4 impressed me very much, because they are very easy and very resistant to the diseases I have troubles with here (mostly Potato Virus Y - PVY)
- Corojo 99, Havana 322, Havana 142, Little Dutch, Adonis, Pennsylvania Red, BMC #24, Harrow Velvet and Amersfoort had problems with PVY, but gave me some interesting leaves... I am waiting to see how they will smoke.
- Coroja, Jalapa, Criollo Colorado, Criollo Ti 1376, Primitive Orinoco, Hickory Pryor, Goose Creek Red, MD 609, Machu Picchu Havana and Alma Ata 315 suffered the most from PVY, giving very small yield, and some had real difficulties to color cure...
- Indonesian strains (Kasturi Angsa, Besuki, Maesan Samporis) grew small, had problems with PVY too (less than other strains), but I am waiting to see how they smoke before judging them

My opinion will only be fixed after smoking the leaves

 

[Chicken]

for me. it's virginia bright leaf....... bursa..... yellow twist bud,,,,,,

as a ciggerette smokers. just those 3 are the perfect blend. and all 3 strains have done good for me in the past,

 

[Gavroche]

for me. ....... bursa.....t,

Thank you, on my list to next year !

http://nwtseeds.com/Bursa.htm

 

[Thedbs999]

I've got to say for me, the best was Criollo 98, followed by Pa Red. Large plentiful leaves that color cured great when stalk harvested. I have not tasted them yet as the Pa Red is in the kiln for 3 more weeks, and I want to let all leaves age in Don's vapor proof bags for several months yet. Little Dutch grew quit well too in 5 gallon containers.

The least impressive was havana 2000. I'll not try it again anytime soon. Leaves never seemed to mature.

Dan

 

[Alpine]

Brief survey of my 2017 grow:
Shirey: planted in unfavorable spot, did poorly. Will grow again to give it a fair chance.
Prilep: excellent growth of small (but abundant) leaves. Easy to cure, a keeper.
Yellow 109 (N. Rustica): spaced exactly like Prilep (30 cm/12” in all directions) did poorly with small plants and leaves even smaller than Prilep, will grow again this year with proper spacing
Bucak: big leaves and little suckering, it never ripened properly. All leaves cured with some shade of green.
White mammoth: small plants with very thick leaves, suckered like crazy. Poor uniformity, average ease of cure.
Kentucky 8635: best strain of the year, excellent curabilty and yeld. No suckers (almost) even after topping.
Japan 8: small plants, some suckered heavily and some not. Leaf size is on the small side, hard to air cure properly.

AND THE WINNER IS: KY 8635
closely followed by Prilep p66 9/7

pier

 

[LeftyRighty]

for me. it's virginia bright leaf....... bursa..... yellow twist bud,,,,,,

as a ciggerette smokers. just those 3 are the perfect blend. and all 3 strains have done good for me in the past,

those 3 have been my standard grow for several years, plus African Red. reliable, easy grow and air-curing. African Red is a real flavor & nicotine boost.

 

[Hasse SWE]

I have been growing LN KY:171 (A dark variant with very low level of Nicotine) it air cured easy to a nice (dark) brown/Black color. It also taste Dark tobacco, but I miss something in that taste, I don't know how I shall explain it but.. I think I say It doesn't taste like I was hoping..B.M.C.#24(Macrophylla) was a good tobacco to grow. I did a little mistake and stalk cured most of those, didn't turn out well. But the leaf I was priming was good, did not taste much in Snus but a nice variant..Jupiter-Burley did not surprise me (it's a variant I really love) the level of nicotine shall be like a normal oriental tobacco. The leaf is big and air cured easy to the burley with strongest "Burley taste" that I ever have been growing.Hauraki Gold was perhaps the most interesting variant I growing 2017 the leaf was very different and was not like the colder night's in the end of the season. But the leaf taste good I was air cured them to a red/brown color. I guess that I don't going to grow this variant again (more than to keep the seed alive)..

 

[rainmax]

For cigars:

1. Corojo 99

2. Pennsylvania Red
3. Criollo (98 & Colorado)

Ciggarete tobaco:

1. Virginia Bright
2. Prilep P66-9/7
3. Baldío Vera

 

[deluxestogie]

Maks,
Do you believe that Baldió Vera is a burley? It grows like a burley, cures like a burley, but doesn't taste to me like a burley. What are your thoughts?

Bob