Regions of The Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is known for growing complex and smooth tobacco that mostly comes from the Cibao Valley. The valley is so large it has several distinct zones from the drier La Canela to the humid and tropical Jacagua or the high elevation valley area of San Juan de la Maguana.

The Cibao Valley

The La Canela zone is exposed to intense sunlight and grows the thickest, fullest bodied tobacco with a spicy profile – best known for being used by La Flor Domicana. Due to the dryness of the valley the roots of the plant need to grow deeper in to the soil allowing it to absorb more of the high levels potassium and nitrogen present.

The Jacagua region is a tropical rainforest with highly organic, loamy topsoil, the high humidity and gentle breezes coming off the nearby mountains lend to growing large, thin leaves with fine veins with nutty, creamy and floral notes.

The San Juan region is located in a high altitude valley plateau that has a natural cloud cover, a natural version of using cheese cloth to cover the plants. The soil has a high calcium to magnesium ratio and is a sandy loam. The cool temperature and cloud cover slow the growth of the plant, leading to a silky, elastic leaf with a high sugar content. It is a fantastic wrapper leaf that imparts sweet and tangy notes.

Other Regions of The Dominican Republic

The Santiago Province is the largest tobacco producing province of the Dominican Republic. It has fertile valley with with high levels of organic and mineral content with well balanced clay and loam mixture. The area is known for it’s wrapper leaf due to the warm and humid conditions with consistent sunlight and cloud cover that mimics shade grown conditions. The leaf is known for it’s smooth, creamy and approachable profile providing mild to medium nicotine levels.

The Mao region is a sunny, warm and dry region that produces a medium nicotine level leaf. The soil is sand mixed with loam with good drainage that produces a thinner leaf known for use as binder and filler that provides floral and aromatic characteristics

The Monte Cristi region has a sandy and dry soil with low organic content and high levels of minerals. It’s hot and dry with heavy sunlight that produces a thick leaf with a medium to high nicotine content and earthy, woody characteristics.

Known for wrapper leaf, the La Vega region is hot and humid with heavy cloud cover, producing a thin, silky leaf with a mild to medium nicotine content. It’s soil is rich and volcanic mixed with high levels of organic compounds produces a subtly sweet leaf that’s perfect for shade grown wrappers.

The San Juan region is hot and dry with a mixed soil of sand and loam that’s higher in mineral contents. The high sun exposure produces a thick, medium to full bodied leaf used in the filler for it’s strength. Similar to the Estelí region’s tobacco it’s earthy, spicy and robust.