Tobacco Production in Costa Rica: From Field to Hand-Rolled Cigars

Introduction

In February 2025, I photographed tobacco cultivation and cigar making with IGM Cigars in Costa Rica. The assignment took me from the company’s plantation in Puriscal, where the process begins with young plants, to its rolling workshop, where prepared leaves are made into cigars by hand.

The work was commissioned by Thomas Frazier for Chatteclectic, as part of the development of a cigar business in the United States. Alongside a photographic record of production, we created portraits, editorial imagery, product photographs and digital video for different uses. What interested me most was seeing how much of the process depends on the knowledge of the people doing the work.

Learning Before Photographing

We began with a meeting with the IGM Cigars team. They introduced us to the basics of cigar production, explained some of the decisions involved in choosing and preparing tobacco, and made samples for a tasting session.

That conversation changed how I approached the following day. Instead of photographing a series of disconnected activities, I had a better understanding of the stages we were about to see and the details that mattered to the people responsible for them.

At the Plantation in Puriscal

The next day we traveled to the plantation in Puriscal. We began at the seedbeds, where the youngest tobacco plants were growing, and followed the work into the fields, observing the care the plants require and the choices involved in harvesting.

The family behind IGM Cigars has Cuban roots and substantial experience working with tobacco. As they walked us through the plantation, they spoke about leaf quality, the condition of the plants and the timing of each stage. They also described Puriscal’s temperature, sunlight and cloud cover as particularly favorable for their crop.

I noticed the ease with which the team discussed the plants and worked alongside the employees. Those relationships, and the knowledge exchanged during the visit, became an important part of the photographs.

Drying and Preparing the Leaves

We continued to the tobacco house, where harvested leaves were hanging to dry. Their arrangement, changing color and texture offered a very different visual language from the fields outside.

The team showed us the characteristics they look for as the leaves change and explained why handling and timing matter before the tobacco can move on to later processing stages. I photographed the textures and repetitions of the hanging leaves, but also the people checking and explaining them.

The assignment included drying and further preparation of the tobacco. The exact technical names of each processing stage should be checked with IGM Cigars before publication.

The Rolling Workshop

The later part of the assignment followed the work inside the cigar-rolling workshop. I photographed the hands, tools, tobacco leaves and repeated movements involved in making cigars, as well as portraits of the people doing that work.

The workshop called for several photographic approaches: candid documentary coverage of the process, carefully framed editorial details, portraits and controlled photographs of finished cigars. We documented the work through cigar rolling, but not final packaging.

A Family and a Regional Tradition

During the visit, the family described the history of tobacco growing in Puriscal and their part in developing production there today. They spoke about an industry that had diminished locally and their intention to build it again while producing for international brands.

That history deserves separate verification before being stated as a definitive account of the region. What I could see directly was the family’s involvement in the work, the experience shared with employees and the care that went into the process from plant to cigar.

Assignment Credits

Photographer and video: Christopher Alga
Commissioned by: Thomas Frazier, Chatteclectic
Producer and locations: IGM Cigars, plantation in Puriscal, Costa Rica, and cigar-rolling workshop in Pavas, Costa Rica.
Date of assignment: February 2025
Subjects: Tobacco cultivation, harvesting, drying, leaf preparation, cigar rolling, portraits, product photography
Not documented: Final packaging