I
Soil
A leaf always carries the story of the soil it grew on.
Heimat Original · Swiss Made
Origin.
Craft.
Conviction.
Heimat Original is the world's only cigarette made from 100% Swiss tobacco. From the Swiss field through traditional fermentation to refinement on Lake Constance, every step stays in Switzerland. Nine growing regions. One origin. A story of provenance, time and character.
A culture, more than 300 years old
Tobacco has grown on Swiss soil since 1680. First in the Basel region, later in Ticino, today mainly in the Broye, the Seeland and along Lake Constance.
Swiss tobacco is cultural heritage.
Shaped by mineral soils, by the foehn, by the mist of the Broye and by farmers' hands that have passed on their craft across generations.
What began in the 16th century as a medicinal plant in a Basel monastery garden grew into a quiet constant of Swiss agriculture. Today, around 140 grower families together cultivate some 470 hectares and bring in around 700 tonnes of tobacco each year, at a quality that commands premium prices internationally.
Heimat stands in this lineage. We buy directly from Swiss family farms in Vaud, Fribourg, Bern, Jura and Thurgau, ferment in Payerne and refine in Steinach with mountain spring water. Fair, guaranteed purchase prices via the SOTA tobacco fund and long-term supply contracts secure a reliable income for growers for their hard, highly specialised work.
Growing cantons
Where Heimat
grows today.
Around 90 % of Swiss tobacco ripens today in the Broye plain between Vaud and Fribourg. In total, nine Swiss cantons carry the culture - from western Switzerland to Lake Constance. Each with its own soil, its own climate, its own character.
≈ 700 t
Swiss harvest / year
≈ 470 ha
Cultivated area today
≈ 140
Grower families
SOTA
Guaranteed purchase prices
AG
Aargau
Mittelland
BE
Bern
Seeland
FR
Fribourg
Broye / Plateau
JU
Jura
Ajoie
LU
Lucerne
Pre-Alps
SH
Schaffhausen
Klettgau
TG
Thurgau
Lake Constance
VD
Vaud
Broye plain
ZH
Zurich
Unterland
Five things
What a tobacco
truly needs.
There are marketing promises. And there is what really counts. Five things we cannot replace, and would not want to.
II
Climate
Swiss summers, foehn valleys, morning mist. The climate redraws the year each season.
III
Time
Some things can be accelerated. Character is not one of them.
IV
Craft
Machines can deliver precision. Experience and a sure touch they cannot.
V
Conviction
Quality is not made in machines. It is made in decisions.
Character
Some things can be accelerated.
Character cannot.
Every leaf passes through weeks of fermentation. Only there do the aromas emerge that make Heimat. Carried by the soil, by the summer, by patience.
We do not measure in units. We measure in vintages.
The journey
From the field into your hands.
- 01
Seed
Non-GMO. True to variety. From Swiss hands.
- 02
Growth
A hundred days between sowing and ripeness.
- 03
Hand harvest
Leaf by leaf. In the right moment.
- 04
Fermentation
In Payerne. For weeks. Patiently.
- 05
Stripping
Sorted. Inspected. Prepared.
- 06
Refinement
Steinach on Lake Constance. With mountain spring water.
- 07
Finalisation
Small batch. Packed. Ready.
⟶ Heimat
Craft
"We work slowly, with control and a standard machines alone cannot meet: feeling."
The people behind HeimatNine regions
A small Switzerland
in every leaf.
From the Broye plain to Thurgau. Nine landscapes, nine climates, nine soils. Each with its own signature.
Explore the map- Broye plain01
- Fribourg Plateau02
- Jura03
- Seeland04
- Aargau05
- Lucerne06
- Zurich lowlands07
- Schaffhausen08
- Thurgau / Lake Constance09