Knowledge
What you should know about Swiss tobacco.
Knowledge pages without marketing. How tobacco is grown, fermented and processed in Switzerland - with history, numbers and sources. Written for anyone who wants to understand what stands behind a single leaf of Swiss tobacco.
Topics
All knowledge pages
N°01Swiss Tobacco - Origin, Cultivation and Tradition
Where tobacco grows in Switzerland, why 75 percent of it comes from the Broye Valley, which varieties are cultivated and how cultivation has developed since the 17th century.
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N°02What is tobacco fermentation?
The biological process behind maturation. Why Heimat ferments for at least 18 months in Payerne and what sets this apart from industrial fermentation.
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N°03What does natural tobacco mean?
Casing, artificial flavours, added sugar, ammonia - what goes into industrial tobacco and why natural tobacco does without all of it.
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N°04Virginia vs Burley - two varieties, two characters
The two tobacco varieties grown in Switzerland. How they differ in the field, in the curing barn and in flavour - and why Heimat needs both.
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N°05Honest tobacco - what it means at Heimat
Not a marketing label but a list of things we leave out. Why Heimat documents every step - from seed to finished cigarette.
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N°06Growing tobacco in Switzerland - a year in the field
From the seed in March to the last harvest in September. How a Swiss tobacco year unfolds, what the 130 growers do and why every summer tastes different.
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N°07A history of Swiss tobacco
From the mercenary who brought seeds back from Holland in 1697, through the Brissago manufactories, to today's growers' association. Four centuries of tobacco in Switzerland.
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N°08Terroir - how soil and climate shape tobacco
What terroir means for tobacco. How soil type, slope, rainfall and daily temperature swing form the leaf - and why Swiss tobacco tastes so distinct.
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N°09Lake Constance tobacco - the last fields of eastern Switzerland
Where tobacco still grows around Lake Constance, why the lake climate suits Burley and the role of Andreas Schum as the last Thurgau tobacco farmer for Heimat Original.
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N°10Swiss cigarettes without additives - what's really inside
What 'without additives' actually means at Heimat, which flavours, humectants and burn accelerants other brands use, and how to recognise an honest cigarette.
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N°11What does Swiss tobacco cost? Prices & breakdown 2026
What a pack of Heimat cigarettes costs, how the price breaks down between tobacco, tax, manufacture and retail - and why Swiss tobacco is more expensive than imported leaf.
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Sullana - Swiss Tobacco with Oriental Blend, Produced in Steinach
What Sullana is today, who produces the traditional Swiss brand (Heimat Manufaktur in Steinach), and the effect of Oriental tobacco in the blend. Background, ingredients, and the difference from Heimat Original.
Coming soon