What is a cigar wrapper?
A cigar has three parts: the filler inside, the binder that holds it together, and the wrapper, the outer leaf you see. Wrapper leaves are chosen for appearance and texture as well as flavor.
What do wrapper colors mean?
Wrapper color names describe shade, roughly from lightest to darkest:
- Claro – light tan
- Natural or Colorado Claro – light to medium brown
- Colorado – reddish brown
- Maduro – dark brown
- Oscuro – very dark, close to black
Color tells you about the leaf's look and processing. It does not by itself tell you how strong a cigar is.
What are the common wrapper types?
- Connecticut Shade – grown under shade cloth, usually a light color.
- Connecticut Broadleaf – a thicker leaf often used for maduro wrappers.
- Habano – from Cuban-seed tobacco, grown in several countries.
- Corojo – another Cuban-seed variety.
- Sumatra – a seed variety originally associated with Indonesia, now grown elsewhere too.
- San Andrés – Mexican tobacco often used for dark wrappers.
Where can I see a cigar's wrapper on Ranked Cigars?
Each cigar page lists the wrapper, binder and filler when we have them. If a detail is unknown, we leave it blank rather than guess. You can filter Discover by wrapper.