Does a Dark Wrapper Suggest a Strong Cigar?

Contrary to popular belief, a dark cigar doesn’t necessarily mean a strong cigar. The colour of a wrapper is only one component of a cigar, what's inside contributes to the strength too.

If you want to understand the connection between a cigar’s wrapper colour and its strength, you will need to understand what is meant by the strength of a cigar. The strength of a cigar refers to its nicotine content, a high nicotine content cigar is usually called full-bodied and a low nicotine content tends to be called a mild-bodied cigar. It is often mistaken for the strength of its flavours, a mild-bodied cigar can be full of flavour and a full-bodied cigar can have very little flavour. 

Before talking about the colours of the tobacco, it is important to understand the different components of a cigar and what they do for the overall strength. Although the wrapper is the most visible part of a cigar, it accounts for only a small part of tobacco inside the cigar. Most of the tobacco is in the filler, this is multiple tobacco leaves tightly packed in the centre of the cigar. Most New World cigars will use different leaves from various regions around the world. These tobaccos are bunched inside a binder tobacco leaf. This leaf needs to be strong enough to hold the filler leaves together and burn well. The wrapper leave is considered the prettiest leaf of a harvest but it also contains a lot of flavour too.

In most cases, a darker tobacco leaf means a higher nicotine content, however as most of the tobacco is found inside the cigar, the actual strength is more dependent on the colour of the filler tobacco. Due to this, the strength of a cigar can vary. A cigar with a darker filler and a lighter wrapper will be daily full-bodied, despite the low nicotine content of the wrapper. Likewise, a very dark wrapper filled with light tobacco will produce a relatively mld-bodied smoke. Using this logic, a blend of dark tobaccos wrapped in a dark wrapper will create a very full-bodied cigar.

So what does a dark wrapper tell you about a cigar?

While the filler determines the strength and smoking quality of the overall cigar, the different shades of wrapper can create amazing different flavours and textures. For example, the lighter the wrapper is, the more mild the flavour tends to be. Connecticut wrappers tend to have a light flavour with hints of spice and cedar, whereas a darker wrapper has a more robust flavour, which is rich in spice and pepper. The darkest wrapper tends to be a Maduro, they deliver a powerfully robust yet smooth and sweet flavour. Maduros acquire this unique flavour through a fermenting process.

Written by Oliver Partington