Umami Blend ™
World's first umami fermented tobacco for cigars ™
Jan lived in Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and the Dom. Rep. (for 14 years 2004-2018) to follow his dream of bringing not only Danish cigars back on the market, but to bring something entirely different to cigar aficionados. With years of experiments and great scientific help from a Danish friend with a PhD in food science, they managed to release the first Umami fermented tobacco. Search google for "Umami Blend" and you will find a lot of pictures. Fermenting tobacco paved the way to whisky and Sherry before his new venture Copenhagen Culinary Center.
— Jan Vistisen, owner of Royal Danish Cigars
About Umami Tobacco
Royal Danish Cigars Umami Blend Fat Robusto Collection | Cigarworld.de |1761 × 1682 jpeg| 10 yrs ago - Image first appeared online on or before 5 August 2016.
Now we are in the year of 2026 and its over a decade ago Jan released the World's First Umami Cigars. He has moved on to other fermentation projects due to tobacco regulations, but like to share the story behind his Umami Blend. It was a combination of enzymes and small-scale Ultrasound-Assisted Fermentation(UAF). What started as a secret artisanal experimentation with a sonic bath(a simple USD 200 ultrasound jewellery cleaner) highly superior to a sonic stick because it distributes the acoustic waves evenly through a liquid medium without creating a localized "kill zone" or extreme thermal hotspots. We managed to create the Umami flavor according to many consumer reviews, the Umami Blend became one of Royal Danish Cigars bestsellers.
How to do it: The Sealed Bag Method (Solid-State Fermentation) If you want to ferment whole leaves without washing away all their natural water-soluble sugars and flavors into a bath, you must use a vacuum sealer.
How it works: You mist the tobacco leaves lightly with water (and enzymes), seal them tightly in a high-quality vacuum bag, and submerge the sealed bag into the water-filled ultrasonic bath.
The Catch: Ultrasound travels through solid plastic and liquid easily, but it is completely blocked by air. The vacuum seal must be absolutely perfect with zero air pockets. Any air gap inside the bag will reflect the sound waves and stop the sonication process dead.
Jan knew that both food and cigar tobacco fermentation rely on microbial and enzymatic activity to break down complex macromolecules into rich, flavorful, and aromatic volatile compounds. These shared biochemical processes reduce harshness, develop distinct profiles, and convert raw organic matter into a refined mature aromas.
Traditional cigar tobacco fermentation takes months to years because enzymes must slowly penetrate tough plant cells. Sonication bypasses this slow bottleneck using acoustic cavitation—the rapid formation and collapse of microscopic bubbles in a liquid medium. Cell Wall Disruption: The intense mechanical forces of cavitation shatter tobacco cell structures. This forces intracellular material and trapped plant enzymes out into the open.
Sonication can significantly reduce fermentation time and increase savory flavors like umami in cigar tobacco. Bio-engineering and food-science research applied to agriculture confirms that applying ultrasound waves (sonication) or electric field amplification radically accelerates the traditional biochemical aging timeline while altering taste profiles.
The Sonic Execution: Run your ultrasonic bath at its absolute upper safety limit of 45°C to 48°C. The combination of acoustic energy and mild heat accelerates the Maillard reaction, binding the newly formed glutamates with sugars to produce deep, roasted, savory, and complex umami aromatic compounds.
Success killed the project: When these compounds interact with the tobacco's natural chemical structure, they create a rich, savory, mouth-coating sensation that cuts down on harsh bitterness and rounds out the smoke. Using an ultrasonic bath makes this process exceptionally fast. However you only apply this process to one of the filler leafs, even the process is fast you need a lot of "sonic bath time" to create a big batch of Umami cigars. So one can say the success of the Umami Blend killed the project.
You can learn more about Ultrasound-Assisted Fermentation and why you use a Sonic bath and not a sonic stick on one of his other culinary websites UltraFermented.com - Jan founded the Copenhagen Culinary Center - Rewiring Mood Through Food ♥️ Join the Psychobiotic diet!
Today Royal Danish Cigars only make the copyright protected 24kt Gold & Swarovski Cigars
If you are interested in our 24kt gold cigars- the world's most besutiful cigars - all handmade art pieces since 2013, and where to buy them you can learn more from Cigar.ee
If you are interested in the 200 year old history of Danish cigars you should visit Royal Danish Cigars
About Jan Vistisen(on linkedin) - foodie and cigar aficionado for over 40 years, made over 300 shop events in stores all over Europe and organized the first Cigar Smoking World Championship outside Croatia. He is still part of this amazing organization as an international judge since 2012. He created the world's first fusion spirit of Rum and Cognac called RUMNAC and went on to establish the Spanish Whisky Club and produce single malt whisky in Spain and later spend a couple of years in Jerez as he fell in love with Sherry wines looking for the best SherryCasks.es for whisky(see also SherryMan.com). However his biggest passion is air-cured ham from Free roaming pigs in EU. He has visited the most interesting artesenal producers across Europe. After fermentation(preservation of food), ham curing is the oldest tradition in Europe. Jan is educated in Madrid as a Cortador Profesional de Jamón and Meastro Cortador. See all the pictures and learn more on PataNegra.dk