Pesticides in tobacco?

[Wolfman]

Somebody just asked me this the other day and while I had considered it in the past - I started thinking about it again.

Are there brands of cigars who use more pesticides or other chemicals in the production of their tobacco, than others? Is there such a thing as an 'organic' cigar which is produced with minimal application of modern chemicals, etc?

Maybe a somewhat newbie-sounding question but even though I've been smoking for years its something I have thought about.

Any experts here who might want to comment on this?  

[jazie]

All of these pesticides are measured in half life, and there is nothing on the market in any form whether fungicide or herbicide or insecticide that has a half life longer than about 3 months. I am guessing any tobacco you smoke has been sitting around for a considerably longer time than 6 months I would guess at the very least before being rolled. Therefore no worries. As far as I am concerned anyways.

[Wolfman]

That's really interesting, Jazie - Thanks! I hadn't thought of it like that.

[Cobre]

Interesting topic, I wonder also if the heat would neutralize some of the toxic stuff?

[Wolfman]

Heat would also definitely be a consideration....

[Cobre]

4 minutes ago, Wolfman said:

Heat would also definitely be a consideration....

Yes, perhaps it helps, but then we are sucking the fumes...

[buck]

I doubt that there is such a thing as pesticide free tobacco farm.

The leaves need to be as perfect as possible and there are soo many insects that would love to chew on them.

 

[dvickery]

Not a farmer but ... Probably same fertilizers , weed killer or bug killers as wheat or whatever ( that we consume a whole lot more of than tobacco ) .

derrek

[wd123]

I am no expert on the cigar making process, but I did go to school fro public/occupational health and environmental tech.

when I went to school we learned about something called bio accumulation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioaccumulation). this is when living things, are exposed to doses of chemicals that the plant or animal cannot get rid of. a good example of this is mercury or even the no longer used DDT pesticide. when we are exposed to it, we are never rid of it. it is stuck in our bodies and as we get more and more doses of it our body acts as a filter and traps all that mercury. in the food chain it works that all the critters build up concentrations of these and they end up most concentrated in the top species (apex predators  and usually, humans) this is called bio magnification. 

this effect is also true for pesticides. so I would think that places that do more applications than others would result in higher concentrations of these unwanted chemicals ending up in our tobacco. Definitely something to think about.

on a side note, I have always heard that some cigars throw off a ton of smoke compared to other brands. (Drew estate comes to mind)  I have alwyas wondered what it is about their process that makes their cigars behave differently. even though I heave heard good thigns about their brands, It has always made me a touch leery and wonder how they do it. (maybe it's a treatment process they do that no one else does?) I dunno.

[jazie]

I am no expert on the cigar making process, but I did go to school fro public/occupational health and environmental tech.

when I went to school we learned about something called bio accumulation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioaccumulation). this is when living things, are exposed to doses of chemicals that the plant or animal cannot get rid of. a good example of this is mercury or even the no longer used DDT pesticide. when we are exposed to it, we are never rid of it. it is stuck in our bodies and as we get more and more doses of it our body acts as a filter and traps all that mercury. in the food chain it works that all the critters build up concentrations of these and they end up most concentrated in the top species (apex predators  and usually, humans) this is called bio magnification. 

this effect is also true for pesticides. so I would think that places that do more applications than others would result in higher concentrations of these unwanted chemicals ending up in our tobacco. Definitely something to think about.

on a side note, I have always heard that some cigars throw off a ton of smoke compared to other brands. (Drew estate comes to mind)  I have alwyas wondered what it is about their process that makes their cigars behave differently. even though I heave heard good thigns about their brands, It has always made me a touch leery and wonder how they do it. (maybe it's a treatment process they do that no one else does?) I dunno.

Good points, accumulation or biomagnification etc I just assumed as bad as it is for the environment and perhaps the birds in those tobacco Fields most of anything that is left as far as residue would be burned off or simply broken down before it hits the market for our precious lungs.
Frankly I just don't want to think about it and try and enjoy my cigars haha

[wd123]

I should have said it was true for some, not ALL pesticides. but really, jazzie I am with you. If I was worried about the health effects of cigars I would not be smoking them at all.

[Sanchez]

  Cuba has been very organic. Other countries have been looking at their way of way of horticulture techniques.   Things may change as the US starts to infiltrate.

[vladdraq]

Imagine those pests feeding on Cohiba 50-th Anniversary wrapper leaves all day long. Happy mothrefckers aren't they?

[PolarBear]

The article below explains Cuba's approach to pest management for all agriculture including tobacco.

I am far from an expert but what I understand is young tobacco plants are sprayed early on and then they try to avoid pesticides the rest of the way.

They want to protect the plant when it is small but they do not want to affect the flavor as it grows and is harvested.

http://www.agrowingculture.org/2013/04/integrated-pest-management-and-biological-control-in-cuba-draft/

[Wolfman]

Someone mentioned Sir Winston Churchill and George Burns as men who had enjoyed their sticks well into ripe old age. I thought: "Yeah! That's true!" and then somebody else popped my rosy little fantasy balloon by saying: "Sure, but back in the day when THOSE guys were doing most of their smoking, the production of tobacco might not have been so industrialized."   Killjoys, I tell ya!   

[Wolfman]

...and of course there are genetics to be considered....better stop while I am ahead...and go smoke a cigar 

[Rye]

Nothing wrong with genetics in agriculture IMO.

[Wolfman]

I was referring to the health of old dudes who live to a hundred and smoke every day....but yeah it applies to aggie biz too 

[Bill Drake]

Hi - As part of research for a book I had some off-the-shelf brands tested by a top pesticide lab here in Portland. One brand randomly selected was Swisher Sweets. The pesticide load on those little cigars was heavy including DDT at 700x highest soil residuals anywhere. This shit is recent and kids love those sweet things don’t they? I haven’t tested any true cigars yet . By the way pesticides do have a ‘half life’ but there was plenty remaining in everything we tested. 
Anyway saw your interesting discussion and wanted to say hello. The book is ‘Smoke No Evil’. 

[Adrock]

I live on a tobacco farm and have my whole life. Tobacco is quite heavily sprayed with herbicide and pesticide. In Canada there are regulations as to what chemicals you can use and how often. As far as I know there is no or little regulation on crop spraying in countries like Cuba, Nicaragua, Honduras, and DR. I imagine they spray there there tobacco with much harsher chemicals and more often then here in Canada. This is a big concern for me.

[Daniel Jamar]

On 9/21/2016 at 7:21 PM, jazie said:

All of these pesticides are measured in half life, and there is nothing on the market in any form whether fungicide or herbicide or insecticide that has a half life longer than about 3 months. I am guessing any tobacco you smoke has been sitting around for a considerably longer time than 6 months I would guess at the very least before being rolled. Therefore no worries. As far as I am concerned anyways.

It always amazes me that anyone can write any nonsense they like and present it as fact. Heres a fact for you the max half life of chlordane is about nine years, and USDA residue limit for this deadly chemical in tobacco is 3 ppm.

[ToothlessCog]

On 8/20/2023 at 11:17 PM, Daniel Jamar said:

It always amazes me that anyone can write any nonsense they like and present it as fact. Heres a fact for you the max half life of chlordane is about nine years, and USDA residue limit for this deadly chemical in tobacco is 3 ppm.

Nice first post…

[Chitmo]

8 hours ago, ToothlessCog said:

Nice first post…

At 2am no less! 😛