Shades of a Great Cigar Wrapper

When selecting a cigar, you’ve got lots of wrappers from which to choose. Here’s an overview of the various wrapper options. You’ll learn what they are and how they may affect the smoking experience. We’ll start from light to dark. Double Claro: Sometimes known as a candela wrapper, the double claro is not often used. The shade is very light and may show slight hues of green as a result of the chlorophyll being fixed in the leaf during the curing process. Flavors you’ll encounter include hay and light wood. We carry some popular double claro/candela wrappers if you’d like to try one. Claro: The popular Connecticut wrappers are generally claro wrappers. Most claro wrappers are grown in the U.S. (Connecticut) or Ecuador, and they are shade-grown in order to keep the leaf from taking on darker shades. A version of the claro with a slightly richer hue is known as the Colorado claro. Claro wrappers offer hay/barn and earthy notes. Natural: This, as you know, is a very popular wrapper. If you smoke real Cubans or travel to the UK, you’ll hear these wrappers described as English Market Selection. Natural wrappers produce flavors of earth, leather, spice, and cedar. They’re ideal for full-flavored cigars. Rosado: The color of this wrapper is brown with distinct reddish (Rosado) hues. The Fuente Rosado Sungrown Magnum R, Opus X, and the Partagas Spanish Rosado are two of many cigars that sport a Rosado. The flavor is rich, smooth with notes of sweet and spice. Cameroon: Grown in the Central African Republic, these are dark, toothy wrappers with visible grain. They are often turned into Maduro wrappers, but we’ve included them separately because many cigars with these wrappers call them Cameroon. In a tasty Cameroon, you’ll find leather, black pepper and smooth flavors of butter and toast too. Maduro: This word means “ripe” in Spanish and is used for these leaves because they are allowed to ripen on the vine, usually on sun-grown plants. Maduro wrappers are fermented longer and maybe “cooked” to produce the desired coloration. You can expect a rich, slightly sweet smoke with notes of roasted nuts or caramel. A Colorado Maduro is a subset that is always sun-grown. As you would expect, Cigars Direct offers hundreds of cigars with Maduro wrappers. If you want the wrapper considered by many to be the quintessential Maduro, go with the Oliva Serie G Maduro. Corojo: The color of milk chocolate, Corojo wrappers originated in the Vuelta Abajo region of Cuba but are now grown in just two locations: The Jamastran Valley of Honduras and in western Kentucky. Corojo wrappers offer plentiful, peppery spice. Corojo wrappers have largely replaced Criollo wrappers which are slightly milder with notes of nuts and cedar along with medium spice. Oscuro: These dark wrappers range from deep brown through almost charcoal to black. Sometimes known as double Maduro (though double Maduro may also mean the cigar has Maduro wrapper and binder), they are fermented longer to produce a sweeter flavor than even Maduro wrappers offer.