Shaggy Foot Cigars

A shaggy foot cigar can be known as a wilde cigar. They are designed to look deliberately unfinished or frayed at the foot (the end you light). On most cigars, you will see the wrapper leaf extends over the entire length, giving it a nice clean appearance. Meanwhile a shaggy foot cigar stops slightly short, leaving the binder and filler tobaccos exposed.

Due to the slightly shorter wrapper, the smoker gets to experience the flavour of just the binder and filler tobaccos when first lit. Once the burn reaches the wrapper, the flavour profile evolves, providing a unique transition as the wrapper’s influence becomes more apparent. This creates a more dynamic experience as the flavour changes significantly after the wrapper ignites.

The advantage of a shaggy foot cigar is that you’re going to get two distinctive smoking experiences. The first part, without the wrapper which provides a large percentage of the flavour in most cigars, is designed for you to sample the inside of the cigar first and then after the burn reaches the wrapper, the cigar becomes a different experience.

Shaggy foot cigars are produced by some premium brands as a way to showcase their blending skills. A great example is the Tabak Especial range from Drew Estate, they infuse the leaves with coffee, creating an ambience with the natural tobacco flavouring. The shaggy foot lets you taste the tobacco inside first before the coffee comes through in the wrapper leaf.  Another brand who uses this technique is Oscar Valladares. The Mcfly is a great example of letting you taste different components of the cigar, first you get to try the delicious Honduran binder and long filler tobaccos from Honduras, Nicaragua & the Dominican Republic and then followed by the oily Mexican San Andres wrapper.

A shaggy foot may look strange, however they really can unleash some new flavours you wouldn’t get from your standard cigar.

Written by Oliver Partington