NORTHERN BLACK SOILS (NBS): The black soils located in the districts of Karimnagar, Khammam, East and West Godavari constitutes the Northern Black soils. The crop is grown under rain fed conditions.The crop is planted in October and harvested in Dec-Feb.

The tobacco produced is good bodied, lengthy leaf, lemon orange flashy in colour with medium nicotine.

CENTRAL BLACK SOILS (CBS): The black soils existing in Krishna and Guntur of Andhra Pradesh constitute the central black soils. The crop is planted in Oct-Nov and harvested in
Dec-Feb.

The crop is grown under rain fed conditions. The Tobacco produced in this tract is almost similar to that of Northern black soils.

SOUTHERN BLACK SOILS (SBS): The black soils present in Prakasam and Nellore districts nearer to the coast constitute the Southern black soils. The crop is planted in Oct-Nov and harvested in Dec-Feb. The tobacco produced is of lemon to lemon-orange in colour, medium bodied. This tobacco is rated better in quality than the NBS/CBS tobaccos and excellently amenable for blending with other styles of tobacco in cigarette manufacturing.

SOUTHERN LIGHT SOILS (SLS): The light soils existing in Prakasam and Nellore districts constitute the southern light soils (SLS). The soils are suitable for growing good quality tobacco as a semi monsoon crop. The crop is planted in September-October, harvested in Nov-Jan. The leaf is lemon to lemon orange in colour, thin to medium bodied, ripe and open grain with good aroma and low in nicotine.

NORTHERN LIGHT SOILS (NLS): The light soils existing in East and west Godavari and parts of Khammam districts constitute the Northern light soils (NLS). The soils are sandy to sandy-loams. The crop is raised with the help of 7-8 irrigations producing semi flavorful tobacco. The crop is planted in Sept-Oct and harvested in Dec-Feb. The leaf is medium to heavy bodied, ripe open grained, orange to deep orange in color and fluffy in nature.

EASTERN LIGHT SOILS (ELS): The light soils existing in Vijayanagaram of A.P and Rayagada area of Orissa are termed as Eastern light soils. The tobacco is similar to NLS in quality.

KARNATAKA LIGHT SOILS (KLS): The light soils existing in Mysore, Hassan, Shimoga, Davangere, Coorg, Chikkamagalore and Chitradurga districts constitute the light soils of Karnataka. The crop in this transitional zone is raised as a monsoon crop with sufficient rainfall during the crop growth period. The crop is planted in the last week of Apr-May and harvested in July-Aug. The tobacco produced is light to medium bodied, lemon orange to orange in color, soft in nature, open grained with nicotine of 1.5 to 2.2.