Cigars - What is Color?
Along with the basics of type, shape and size, there is a very important characteristic of cigars worth knowing about: color. Since the word refers to the shade of the outer wrapper leaf, you might think it has little bearing on the taste of the cigar. Oh, not so.
Today there are about a dozen different shades, though sometimes one will blend gradually into another. Whether the tobacco used in the wrapper is grown in Honduras or Connecticut, Ecuador or Cameroon it will have an effect on the flavor. After all, you don't merely smoke the interior tobacco, but the burning wrapper as well.
The six major color grades used today are:
1. Natural. This is a light brown to medium brown tobacco that is generally grown in the shade. This gives the wrapper tobacco a very light touch and a delicate flavor. Thus, it doesn't overpower the main ingredients.
2. Colorado. Colorado is a darker brown than Natural, shading off sometimes into reddish-brown. Not a heavy leaf, though, it adds only subtle aromas to the main ingredients, while having a mild flavor.
3. Claro. A tan leaf, grown in the shade that is so delicate it adds only the lightest aroma and flavor to the main ingredient. This neutrality is highly favored by those looking to emphasize the cigar, not the wrapper.
4. Maduro. Maduro, by contrast, is a dark-brown wrapper with a full, pungent aroma. The oily compounds produce a full-bodied flavor that mixes with the main ingredients.
5. Oscuro. This 'negro' or very dark tobacco leaf is from very ripe plants. Using it as a wrapper produces a noticeable effect and many find that its full taste adds decisively to a good cigar.
6.Candela. This green leaf has traditionally been associated with lower quality cigars and, hence, has fallen out of favor as a wrapper in recent years. But many enjoy its distinctive taste, the result of applying heat to the leaf before use.
As an agricultural product, cigars will vary in quality and taste from year to year. Though modern quality control methods have produced much more uniform products, much of cigar manufacturing - at least for high quality cigars - is still carried out largely by hand.
As a result, you can't judge a cigar predominantly by its color. Nevertheless, it's one component that shouldn't be ignored. Experiment and you'll discover for yourself which you prefer. That, in the end, is the only truly important fact.
