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| 8. Roberto is placing the cigar into a mold which gives it the shape desired. There are different molds for box-pressed and figurado cigars as well as the one shown for traditional cigars. |
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| 9. After the mold is full Roberto puts the lid in place and places the entire box into a screw press. The press operator will usually break down the press once, turn the bunch inside the mold and then rebox and press the bunch again, for a total pressing time of about an hour. |
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| 10. Roberto continually sprays the cloth containing the wrapper leaves. The wrapper leves are of extremely high quality, so keeping them moist is imperative. |
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| 11. The wrapper leaf is important because it gives the cigar one of its primary flavor components. |
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| 12. After picking the wrapper leaf, Roberto spreads it out over his rolling board, preparing it to be cut to size. |
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| 13. Using his Chaveta, or roller's knife, Roberto makes a cut to form the wrapper into the optimum shape for rolling the cigar. |
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| 14. After the wrapper is cut, Roberto removes a molded bunch (filler) from the press. During this time he inspects the bunch in order to assure that there are no abnormally hard or soft spots. |
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