TOBACCO PEOPLE BRAZIL
When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers therefore are the founders of human civilization. Daniel Webster (1782-1852)
TOBACCO PEOPLE is a trademark of Sarah Hazlegrove Inc. Photographs copyright Sarah Hazlegrove Inc. 2013 Text copyright Sarah Hazlegrove Inc. 2013 and Jean Baptiste Nardi 2012 All rights reserved. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Sarah Hazlegrove Inc.
Book design by Sarah Hazlegrove
TOBACCO PEOPLE Brazil
SARAH HAZLEGROVE
There is beauty in the rhythm of the growing and harvesting seasons. Seed to seed bed, harvest to curing. Growing tobacco is much the same no matter where you go; a familiar rhythm played out over the centuries and across many different lands. It is against this backdrop of sameness that the people and cultures, like colorful clouds against a blue sky, stand out, brilliant and unique.
CONTENTS A BRIEF HISTORY OF TOBACCO IN BRAZIL A SHARED PAST LAND PREPARATION/ THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD SEEDS FERTILIZATION/CROP MANAGEMENT
SOUTHERN BRAZIL FLUE CURED BURLEY
NORTHERN BRAZIL DARK AIR CURED THE AMAZON / BAHIA / SANTA CRUZ DO SUL SEGREDO ROPE TOBACCO THE FAMILIES SUSTAINABILITY OBRIGADA
A BRIEF HISTORY OF TOBACCO IN BRAZIL
A SHARED PAST Brazil is the first largest exporter and the second largest producer of tobacco in the world.
Maravilha November 2011
THE SOUTH Jappe Farm Santa Cruz Highlands November 2011
LAND PREPARATION
Ararangua August 2012
Brahman bulls are preferred over tractors on most farms in Brazil. They are used for plowing, pullling wagons and also tobacco sleds. The special wooden sleds
THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD SEEDS
Genetics play a role in the way a living thing will develop. If you are lucky you come from a family that isn’t prone to diseases. If you are very fortunate, you are attractive, well built and healthy. A tobacco farmer expects no less from his crop. Seed research and development plays an important role in securing healthy, attractive tobacco. Whereas nature is not in our control, producing draught and pest resistant strains of tobacco is.
Maravilha November 2011
SEEDBEDS TO THE SOIL
No bigger than a finger nail, the baby tobacco sprouts are moved from the seed tray to a larger tray where they will grow until transplanted in to the field.
Floating seedbeds in santa cruz do sul.
Proper seedbed maintenance helps prevent many diseases that arise from improper watering and drainage.
A PMI technician talks to a farmer in Sao Lourenco do Sul about his seedlings.
The soiless system, using floating seedbeds rather than soil based ones, has advantages. Perhaps the most important advantage is that the floating seedbed system does not require fumigants needed because of soil born pests. The seedlings are healthier and more uniform and the floating seedbeds take up less room.
A farmer spreads fertilizer on this ‘no-till’ field in Sao Lourenco do Sul. Novermber 2011
FERTILIZATION CROP MANAGEMENT TOPPING/SUCKERING
LAND PREPARATION
A farmer helps his daughter-in-law with topping.
Segredo, Santa Cruz do Sul Highlands November 2011
SOUTHERN BRAZIL
FLUE CURED HARVEST CURING SORTING AND GRADING THE SALE
The Rio Grande do Sul region of Brazil
The rocky soil in the Highlands of Santa Cruz do Sul is difficult to plow.
A wooden sled laden with feshly harvested leaves slides through the narrow rows of tobacco easily. Farmers prefer using oxen and the sled method to harvest because the oxen can go into difficult terrain without damaging the plants.
Loaded with a full sled, the workers head back to the barn to begin preparing the leaves for curing.
After several hours of harvesting, the workers now must sew the leaves together on to sticks.
One by one the sleds are emptied and the leaves are placed on a long table. A sewing machine is used to sew the leaves together on to sticks. The tobacco will remain on the sticks through the different stages of curing. Once the curing is complete the tobacco will be taken off the sticks sorted and made in to bales.
The sewing machine sews the leaves on to the tobacco sticks.
Old tobacco barn. Santa Catarina November 2011
The fire is kept alive for many days when curing the tobacco in this flue cured barn. Ararangua November 2011
BURLEY HARVEST CURING SORTING
NORTHERN BRAZIL
DARK AIR CURED HARVEST CURING SORTING CIGAR PRODUCTION
ROPE TOBACCO THE AMAZON Palmeria, Acre BAHIA Lagoa da Canoa SANTA CRUZ DO SUL Segredo
ROPE TOBACCO Generally unkown, The rope tobacco of Brazil has an interesting place in the history of tobacco and the unique process can be found in modified versions in other countries as far away as Indonesia and Africa. The Tupi-Guaranis indians, that have lived in Brazil for centuries are credited with creating this method of processing tobacco. They picked the tobacco leaves and then would tie them together, four together at a time, attaching them at intervals along a stick. They would then hang the tobacco stick, made of’imbiria’ a type of palm tree, in the sun to dry. Once the leaves were dry, they would be removed from the sticks and laid in a stack. Soon after, the leaves would be flattened and arranged, one on top of the other, then rolled to create a long stick of compressed leaves. Over many days, the Tupi-Guaranis indians would twist and tighten the rolled tobacco and then lay it aside for a day, then repeat the process over weeks until the roll and the compressed leaves became more compact and smaller in circumference, looking more like a thick rope. The rope tobacco would then be wound in acirculat fashion into the interior of a basket made from another type of palm tree, (‘Buriti’), and would remain in the basket like a coiled rope until it was consumed or traded. This very old tradition of rolling tobacco still exists with some tribes of the Amazon. It is from this early process that other forms of rolled rope and twist tobaccos have their birthplace. Early Portuguese sailors and traders saw the ingenuity of the Tupi-Guaranis rope tobacco, because by twisting the tobacco into rope form, a greater quantity could be transported and the shape made it easier to stow on board ship. By marinating the rope in sugar syrup and then covering the tobacco in leather, the tobacco was preserved for the long months at sea. During the colonial period, Portuguese settlers improved upon the technique of making the rope tobacco by introducing crude machinery to help with the laborious task of twisting and tightening the rope. The very basic machinery has not changed much over the centuries. Making rope tobacco requires weeks of work. It is a tradition that is a very important part of the cultural history of Brazil. The making of rope tobacco during the colonial period was mostly concentrated in the Northeastern parts of Brazil, most importantly Reconcavo, in Bahia. Once Brazil gained independence in 1822, Bahia began to produce leaf tobacco for the cigar industry and the making of rope tobacco began to spread to other parts of the country. The tobacco was either used to make a ‘palhiero’ a crude cigarette made with corn husks instead of paper, smoked in a pipe or made into a quid for chewing. The ‘preta velha’ (old black woman smoking a pipe) is a traditional image of Northeastern Brazil. As tobacco and the methods for curing and consuming tobacco products made their way around the world, other tribes and communities of people modified the processes according to their abilities. The French made a small roll known as a ‘carrot’ that became the emblem for their countries tobacco (‘tabac’) stores. In the Philippines, instead of rope, some made long cylinders called, ‘manocos’ which were made of braided leaves. With the advent of the industrialized cigarette, the making of rope tobacco almost disappeared. The area around Arapiraca in Alagoas is the prinicipal place where rope tobacco is made, yet small pockets of artisan farmers who hold on to the family tradition of making tobacco di cordo can still be found. Even in Brazil, one can find subtle differences in the way it is produced. From the Amazon, to Bahia and down ino the southern highlands of Rio Grande do Sul, rope tobacco is one of the more fascinating and historically important processes of tobacco that still remain today. Jean Baptiste Nardi PhD in Economic History, specialist in tobacco
A farming family in Acre. The rope tobacco that the famers in the Amazon produce is sold at local markets or is used for trading. The tradition of making rope tobacco and the way that it is carefully produced is a craft that has been handed down many generations.
BAHIA
SANTA CRUZ DO SUL Segredo, is nestled in the hills of the highlands in Santa Cruz do Sul. Even though Segredo means ‘Secret’ , it is no secret to the many loyal customers who come here to buy the fine rope tobacco made by Arlindo Sebastao de Arrial.
ARLINDO SEBASTIAO DA ARRIAL
FAMILIES
The Jappe family and friends. Herveiras Rio Grande Do Sul November 2011
JOSE MACHADO
ROQUE PIRES DA CONCEICAS
UDO AND ELIDA KRUGER
PEDRO STRUELP
GILDOMAR SHWARTZ
MARIA BRIGADEIRO DA SILVA
NERRIO
HILTON KAPPAUN
SUSTAINABILITY
COMMUINITIES SOUTHERN BRAZIL
COMMUNITIES NORTHERN BRAZIL
MUITO OBRIGADO
SPECIAL THANKS Philip Morris International Philip Morris Brazil Hilton Felipe Ricardo Universal Leaf - Brazil Ermor Tamarama Airton Heintschke Caesar Bunecker Andrea Boldoni da Rocha Mathias Bialkowski Fernando Sampao The Department of Agriculture Rio Branco, Acre Eduardo Sergio Bremm Darci Da Silva Jean Baptiste Nardi Fritz Bossert Lucy Hazlegrove Bill Hazlegrove Cary Kelly David Mickenberg The Taubman Museum
It has been about 18 years since we stopped growing tobacco at ‘Forkland’, our family’s farm in Cumberland County, Virginia.. The weathered old barns are still standing. The tobacco sticks piled in the corners of the tobacco barns are gathering cobwebs and make perfect fortresses for field mice. The fire pits which once cradled logs that would burn for days are now covered with tarps. A variety of discarded objects, the flotsam and jetsam of farm life, empty seed bags, fertilizer, odd parts to old tractors litter the charred and pock marked floors. The sunken graves of our tobacco past. Tobacco was an integral part of the lives of my ancestors. It was a relationship between man and this singular plant that was shared by nearly everyone in colonial Virginia and one that made a long lasting mark on my own family for centuries. My fascination with this powerful plant could be called an addiction. I miss the spicy smell of dark fired tobacco curing in the barns, and even though I love the smell of cigar and pipe tobacco, I was never a real smoker. What draws me in to tobacco is it’s history, its resliency against all odds. It is just a plant, but one that has shaped economically, historically even geographically almost every country on the planet for hundreds of years. As a photographer I feel strongly that documenting the changes in tobacco cultivation is of historical significance. I realized perhaps too late the importance of photographing the changes that were taking place at our own famly farm. A big part of our family’s history disappeared before I was able to create an archive of images or preserve the stories. It was this realization that led me to begin a personal journey in to the lives of other tobacco growing families around the world. Tobacco People started in Virginia, the Connecticut River Valley and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. With the generous support of Philip Morris International, the project has expanded to include Brazil, Indonesia and Malawi. The cultivation of tobacco is much the same no matter where you go. There is a familiar rhythm that is played out over the growing and harvesting season that is familiar amongst the farmers. It is against the backdrop of sameness, of familiarity, that the people, the cultures and at times the plant itself, like clouds against a blue sky stand out brilliant and unique.
TOBACCO PEOPLE ‘BRAZIL‘ was made possible by the generous support of Philip Morris International.