Guide
Cigar wrapper guide: Connecticut, Habano, Maduro, Cameroon and more
8 min read
The wrapper is a small part of a cigar's tobacco but a large part of its character. It is the first thing you see, the first thing your lips touch, and it shapes both flavor and burn. Learn a handful of wrapper types and the cigar shop becomes much easier to read.
Wrapper, binder and filler
A premium cigar has three parts. The filler is the bundle of leaves in the centre and carries most of the strength. The binder holds the filler together. The wrapper is the single, carefully grown outer leaf. Because it burns right at the lip and its oils and sugars are concentrated, it contributes a large share of what you taste, especially in thinner cigars, where it makes up more of the tobacco.
The colour scale
| Colour | Looks like | Tends to taste |
|---|---|---|
| Candela | Green | Grassy, tea-like, fresh |
| Claro | Pale tan | Mild, creamy, light wood |
| Colorado Claro | Light reddish brown | Mild to medium, nutty, cedar |
| Colorado | Reddish brown, also called Rosado | Spice, cedar, a little sweetness |
| Colorado Maduro | Dark brown with a red tint | Rich, earthy, gently sweet |
| Maduro | Dark brown | Sweet, cocoa, coffee, earth |
| Oscuro | Almost black | Very rich, heavy, bittersweet |
Candela
- Looks like
- Green
- Tends to taste
- Grassy, tea-like, fresh
Claro
- Looks like
- Pale tan
- Tends to taste
- Mild, creamy, light wood
Colorado Claro
- Looks like
- Light reddish brown
- Tends to taste
- Mild to medium, nutty, cedar
Colorado
- Looks like
- Reddish brown, also called Rosado
- Tends to taste
- Spice, cedar, a little sweetness
Colorado Maduro
- Looks like
- Dark brown with a red tint
- Tends to taste
- Rich, earthy, gently sweet
Maduro
- Looks like
- Dark brown
- Tends to taste
- Sweet, cocoa, coffee, earth
Oscuro
- Looks like
- Almost black
- Tends to taste
- Very rich, heavy, bittersweet
Colour hints at flavor but not at strength. Darker wrappers have been fermented longer or grown in more sun, which usually brings more sweetness, not more nicotine. See cigar strength explained for what actually makes a cigar strong.
The main wrapper types
Connecticut Shade
Grown under shade cloth in the Connecticut River Valley, and today very often in Ecuador from Connecticut seed, where steady cloud cover gives natural shade. Shading keeps the leaf thin, smooth and pale. Expect mild, creamy, nutty and woody notes. A good first wrapper for new smokers.
Connecticut Broadleaf
The same valley, but sun-grown, thicker and veinier. It is almost always fermented dark and used as a maduro wrapper. Expect sweetness, chocolate, coffee and earth.
Habano
Cuban-seed tobacco grown outside Cuba, mostly in Nicaragua and Ecuador. Reddish brown and often oily, with spice, pepper, cedar and leather. Probably the most common wrapper on Nicaraguan cigars.
Corojo
A Cuban variety named after the El Corojo plantation in the Vuelta Abajo, now grown mainly in Honduras and Nicaragua. Peppery and spicy with a toothy, oily leaf. If you like Habano, try Corojo next.
Sumatra
Originally from the Indonesian island, now widely grown in Ecuador from Sumatra seed. Earthy with sweet spice and cedar, usually medium in body.
Cameroon
From West and Central Africa. A thin, delicate leaf with a visibly bumpy (toothy) surface. Known for a distinctive sweet spice, nuts and a smooth finish. Hard to grow and handle, so it is less common than its reputation suggests.
San Andrés
Grown in Mexico's San Andrés Valley and used mostly as a dark maduro wrapper. Cocoa, earth, coffee and a mineral edge.
Maduro and Oscuro
These are not varieties but treatments: leaves fermented longer, and sometimes harvested higher on the plant, to darken them. Broadleaf, San Andrés, Habano and Brazilian tobacco are all used as maduro wrappers, and each tastes different. Oscuro goes further still.
Candela
Also called double claro. The leaf is dried quickly with heat so it keeps its green chlorophyll. Grassy and light, a style that comes and goes with fashion.
How to use this when choosing a cigar
- New to cigars or prefer smooth and creamy: Connecticut Shade (Ecuadorian or American).
- Like coffee, cocoa and sweetness: a Broadleaf or San Andrés maduro.
- Like spice and a bit of pepper: Habano or Corojo.
- Want something different and elegant: Cameroon.
- Comparing two cigars of the same line: many lines come in two or three wrappers on the same filler, for example a Connecticut and a maduro version. Smoking them side by side is the quickest way to learn what a wrapper does.
Keep track of what you learn
Wrapper preferences show up quickly once you note them. aficio shows the wrapper, binder and filler for the cigars in its catalog, so as you rate your smokes you can see which wrappers keep appearing among your favourites. To learn to name those flavors, read the 12 flavor families.
Questions
- Which cigar wrapper is the mildest?
- Connecticut Shade, grown under shade cloth in Connecticut or Ecuador. It is pale, smooth and creamy, and paired with a mild filler it makes the gentlest cigars.
- Is a maduro cigar stronger?
- Not necessarily. Maduro describes a darker wrapper from longer fermentation, which usually makes it sweeter and richer. Strength comes mostly from the filler.
- What does Habano wrapper mean?
- Cuban-seed tobacco grown outside Cuba, typically in Nicaragua or Ecuador. It is known for spice, pepper and cedar.