четверг, 28 июня 2007 г.

The Rap on Wrappers

The wrapper must be supple so it doesn't split as the cigar is rolled. It is also an important contributor to the cigar's flavor and appearance. Ideally, a wrapper leaf should be of consistent color and have no prominent veins or blemishes. Because wrapper leaves must meet so many requirements, they are carefully grown, aged and selected. Wrappers come in many varieties and some of the most important recent advances in cigars have been innovative wrappers. Here are a few of the types of wrappers you'll want to experience:

CONNECTICUT SHADE: This wrapper leaf descends from the Hazelwood strain of Cuban Seed. Its distinctive golden color is attained by growing it in the shade of huge tents in the Connecticut River Valley.

CONNECTICUT BROADLEAF: Also from the Connecticut River Valley, this leaf is grown in the sun, which results in a coarser, darker, sweeter wrapper.

HABANA 2000T: is an exciting new wrapper made from Cuban Seed tobacco grown in Nicaragua.

MADURO: A shade of wrapper varying from a very dark brown to almost black. The color results from longer exposure to the sun, a cooking process or longer fermentation. Mexican wrapper leaves are often used as Maduro wrappers.

TBN: Shade-grown in Indonesia and carefully fermented, this dark wrapper was created by marrying special strains of Java with Connecticut tobacco.

Tobacco Regions:

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a major producer of top quality tobacco. The principal tobacco growing area in the country is the Cibao River Valley area in the northern half of the country near the city of Santiago.

Connecticut Valley

The Connecticut Valley is a major source of some of the world's finest wrapper leaves. This golden colored wrapper tobacco is highly regarded and praised by many cigar makers and connoisseurs. Connecticut Shade, which emanated from the Hazelwood strain of Cuban seed, is shade-grown under huge tents to protect the delicate leaf. Also from this area is Connecticut Broad Leaf. Grown in the sun, this wrapper tobacco is coarser, darker and produces a sweeter taste.

 Indonesia

Indonesia has gained an excellent reputation for wrapper tobacco. It is dark, tasty, and fragile in nature. In recent years, special strains of Java married with Connecticut tobacco have been cultivated with particular emphasis on the process of fermentation to produce a rich, flavorful and fine burning wrapper and binder tobacco. Grown under shade, it is commonly referred to as TBN.

Mexican

Many Mexican cigars are made with 100% Mexican grown tobacco. The San Andreas valley is world-famous for producing a sun-grown variety of Sumatra-seed tobacco - called Mexican Sumatra. This is used for wrappers. Dark tobacco, used for long fillers and binders, is also grown here. It is the finest burning tobacco grown, and gives the cigar a distinctive sweet, peppery, light texture. Mexican wrapper leaves are often used as Maduro wrappers.

 Honduras

Honduras produces quality Cuban seed and Connecticut seed tobaccos, both full bodied, with strong, spicy flavor and heady aroma. A Connecticut seed variety is shade-grown in Honduras and is similar to Connecticut grown shade leaf tobacco.

Brazil

Tobacco from Brazil tends to be dark, rich and smooth with a slightly sweet flavor. In fact, the Brazilian tobacco leaves are a deep brown after fermentation.

 Cuban

Cuban tobacco is acknowledged as some of the finest tobacco. The primary tobacco growing region is the legendary Vuelta Abajo area of the Pinar del Rio province in the western part of the country. Because of the take-over by Fidel Castro and the subsequent U.S. embargo in 1963, Cuban-grown tobaccos are not used in cigars sold in the United States.

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