Making Our Smokeless Products

Two factory workers, both in white hair nets and blue long-sleeved buttoned-down shirt standing in front of machinery.

Our processing facility is in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, which is where we receive from local farmers only the finest dark-fired and dark air-cured tobacco that is used in our products. We use 100 percent American-grown tobacco in our leading brands.

We blend and store that tobacco in hogshead barrels for aging over three to five years. Finally, it's transported to our plants where all of our brands are manufactured, packaged and shipped for distribution. We have manufacturing operations in Nashville, Tennessee and Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

Maturing

Field of tobacco with the sun setting in the background and a bank of tall trees in shadow on the right.

Tobacco matures around early August.

Harvesting

Farm worker in blue top and pale gloves inspecting leaves of tobacco in the field.

Workers use special knives to cut the tobacco stalk at the base of the plant.

A combine depositing just picked tobacco leaves into a container in the field.

After the tobacco has been cut, workers lay it in rows in the field so they can collect it.

Hanging

Two farm workers in shadow hanging tobacco stalks in barn.

The "hanging" process follows. The tobacco is spiked through the stalk with wooden sticks, fitted with spears, allowing the tobacco plant to rest on the stick. Once the tobacco has been spiked, workers load it onto scaffold wagons to take it to the curing barn.

Curing

Two racks of hanging tobacco stalks in front of an open bard with a tractor wheel in the foreground.

Tobacco cures in a barn or shady area to prevent burning or blistering. At this point, plant wilting is a desirable trait.

Housing

Farm worker in blue shirt and straw hat hanging green stalks of tobacco with two other workers.

The housing process is very labor-intensive. Workers line up and pass the tobacco sticks from the wagon to the top of the barn.

After the tobacco has been housed, the farmer waits for it to turn yellow which indicates the crop is ready for the firing process.

Firing

White man in jeans and black top standing inside a tobacco drying barn with brown dried tobacco hanging from the roof.

Hardwood slabs are placed throughout the floor of the barn and covered with hardwood sawdust. The number of hardwood slabs in the barn will determine the amount of heat. The amount of heat needed depends on the climate.

Shadowed man in cap standing at the open door of a drying barn with tobacco hanging from racks on either side.

The sawdust is placed over the slabs to create a smoldering, smoky condition. Firing generally occurs from September through November. The tobacco producer must become an expert in firing in order to maintain a successful crop.

Close up of tobacco stalks hanging in a drying barn with steam from the heat rising from the floor.

The firing process is critical because the smoke sticks to the tobacco and gives the tobacco flavor. Once the tobacco reaches a certain color and acquires the proper amount of "finish," the firing process is complete. "Finish" is the amount of smoke and flavor on the tobacco.

Purchasing

Man in cream shirt holds dried tobacco leaves while standing next to bundled and tagged dried tobacco leaves.

Company representatives inspect the tobacco for grade and quality.

Packing

Open barrels of dried tobacco leaves, still in the barrel shape.

Once purchased, the tobacco is delivered to our facility in Hopkinsville, Ky. The tobacco is sorted by grade and processed. Once the tobacco is processed, it's placed in wooden barrels or "hogsheads" and aged before we create the final product.

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