Cavendish

Cavendish, despite what its name suggests, is not a tobacco variety but a processing and cutting method. Dried tobacco leaf — most often Virginia or Burley — is softened with steam and heat, pressed into cakes under heavy pressure, and left to ferment. The resulting dark, soft, sweet tobacco is considered the fundamental building block especially of aromatic blends.

The Process and the Origin of the Name

In typical Cavendish production, the tobacco is first steamed, opening the leaf's pores. The leaves are then pressed into cakes and put through fermentation, heated by fire or steam. Once fermentation is complete, the cakes are sliced and are ready to be blended. This process caramelizes the leaf's natural sugar; the tobacco's harshness softens and its sweetness becomes pronounced.

The name is said to derive from the 16th-century English seafarer Sir Thomas Cavendish. According to the account, Cavendish, on his 1585 voyage to Virginia, moistened tobacco leaves with sugar and bound them tightly, and the tobacco stored this way was found to taste noticeably better. This story, however, is poorly documented and is quite plausibly an origin legend attached after the fact. What is certain is that the name is now used the world over to describe this processing method.