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the wrapper combines both the quality and
craftsmanship of a fine cigar. The Wrapper is usually made
from the finest leaf tobacco and puts the finishing touches on a
premium cigar. also, wrappers come in a variety of shades that
have a subtle effect on the flavor. Below is a guide of these
shades.
Claro-claro:
light green, these wrappers are usually found on what are termed
"mild" cigars. Cigars using this type of wrapper can taste
rather sharp to the palate.
Claro: light tan, sometimes with a greenish cast. The
smoke coming from these cigars is said to be light and mild.
Natural: also referred to as EMS or English
Market Selection, this wrapper is medium brown both in color
and strength. It offers a good combination of richness,
smoothness, and balance of flavor.
Colorado or Rosado: there is a reddish cast to this
wrapper. Less often found than the Natural, it is usually
spicier and may possess a bit more strength.
Maduro: a dark brown wrapper. Maduro cigars tend to scare
off the novice cigar smoker because of their intimidating color,
but in truth the maduro wrapper is rich and smooth - not strong.
At present maduro cigars are in great demand.
Oscuro (Double Maduro): darkest, coffee-black wrapper,
usually having a distinctive richly-flavored taste. |
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Binder and Filler
Just under the wrapper lies the binder,
the blanket that holds the filler in place. It is a specialized
leaf in that it has to be strong enough to hold the filler in
place and still add a complementary flavor to the filler and
wrapper. Often the binder in a high quality cigar is composed of
a single leaf that has cosmetic flaws that keep it from being
used as wrapper leaf.
Filler is the "heart" of the cigar, and can be made up of long
leaf (strips of tobacco that travel the length of the cigar in
one piece) or short filler (smaller pieces of tobacco). Long
leaf filler is the most expensive and has come to be associated
with high quality cigars, while short filler is usually
associated with machine-made cigars. When you see a long ash on
a cigar you can be assured that the cigar in question has long
filler; short filler ash would crumble before attaining any
substantial length.
The overall blend of a cigar is composed of the interaction
among the wrapper, binder and filler. The filler in a premium
cigar is usually composed of two to as many as five different
tobaccos - with the smaller ring gauge cigars having a less
complex blend due to the impracticality of trying to stuff five
different types of filler into the body of a small ring gauge
cigar. Thus the small ring gauge cigars of a given brand may
taste somewhat different than larger sizes from the same maker |
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Store hours
Mon - Thurs. - 10 AM to 10 PM PST, Fri. & Sat - 10AM to 11 PM PST, Sun - 11am to 9pm
Phone: 562-439-8284 | 202 Nieto Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90803
Copyright 2005, 2006 2nd Street Cigars. All Rights Reserved.
2ndstreet-cigars.com™, 2ndstreetcigars.com™, 2nd Street Cigars™
are operated by and are trademarks of 2nd Street Cigars.
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