From 150 up to 200 days. That’s about how long it takes from when a tobacco seed is sowed in the soil until the tobacco has been cured. A tiny tobacco seed is the beginning of a process that has been perfected over almost two centuries.
The tobacco plant is a high-growing herb that sprouts big sticky leaves and a whitish-pink or yellow blossom. The tobacco plant is normally very hardy and adapts to the climate and soil in which it grows. But it cannot tolerate either too much cold or too much rain. On average, the plant grows to three meters and it takes about three months for the seedling to finish growing. Each plant sprouts between 20 and 30 leaves, with capsules that contain thousands of small seeds. Three grams of seeds are more than sufficient to grow a hectare – about one and a half soccer fields – and can produce up to three tons of tobacco before curing.
There are thousands of tobacco types with endless varieties of colors, aromas, flavors, textures, nicotine and sugar content. All types of tobacco that we use come from the Nicotiana Tabacum and Nicotiana Rustica families. We have determined, through our many years of experience, that these types are best suited for production of our snus. Therefore, we combine the two types of tobacco and various qualities of the two in our recipes to create the flavors we want in our snus products. It takes more than 20 different tobacco qualities to give General its characteristic flavor.
Nicotiana Rustica
Nicotiana Rustica tastes just like it sounds: rustic. The plant is hardy and easy to grow, with coarse, sticky leaves and blossoms that shift between white, yellow and pink.
Nicotiana Tabacum
Nicotiana Tabacum surpasses Rustica in height, with large leaves and blossoms that shift from white to pink. Tabacum has a slimmer character and offers more refined flavors, a mid-range alternative with many nuances.
