different tobacco regions
ilikebigbutts-cigarbutts
Posts: 56
I am looking for some insight on what regions of tobacco has what characteristics. I am talking for the most part such as do nicaraguan tobacco supply more of a spicy aspect versus a honduran tobacco that has more of a creamier milder taste versus dominican which is more earthy. thats just examples so please dont read into thats what i think. just trying to figure out my tastes and what cigars i should lean towards. so for the cigars i smoke are predominantly honduran. although this will help i will still venture out and try new cigars as i said before each region has variety but just wanting to know what is the norm of each region.
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I will do my best tomorrow to respond.
....once i get the beer out of my system
arrogant b@$t@rd to be exact....
lets start with the biggie: Cuban tobacco.
Cuban tobacco is usually described as spicy and more full bodied. it is highly aromatic, and usualy complex. In my opinion There is nothing amazing about the tobacco itself, its just a very good version of tobacco. the "forbiddin fruit" makes it more tempting. Dont get me wrong, if cubans werent so hard to get id smoke em as often as i could.
the DR:
this country produces a lot of tobacco and it seems that many of the strains from the DR originated in cuba. this combo tends to yield some very complex cigars. i find dominican tobaco to be not as spicy or as full bodied as cuban. The best cigar i have ever had was a dominican puro.
Ecuador: this region's tobacco is usally a bit on the mild side compared to the same strain grown in other areas. personally i find cigars with primarily ecuadorian tobacco a bit on the "simple" side. not to say it isnt good, because it is (the 5 vegas limitada uses it as a wrapper) its just a toutch mild.
Honduras: this is one of my favorite areas to have tobacco from. the tobacco is full bodied and round in flavor. spice is hit or miss. the aroma is usually strong.
Mexico: Not usually known for its amazing tobacco. the leaves are strong and stand up to fermentation well. they are also used as binder because of the heartyness
Nicaragua: This tobacco is very close to honduran tobacco. i find it less "round" than honduran but dont get me wrong, its still some of the best tobacco in the world.
Connecticut: one of the widest used wrapers in the industry. usually on the mild side. connecticut shade is more elastic and connecticut broadleaf is heavier and has more veins. Broadleaf is a common go-to for the maduro proscess.
Indonesia: Most sumatran tobacco comes from indonesia. the tobacco is "neutral" in nature. there isnt usually too much of any one flavor. this sometimes can be described as a "classic" tobacco taste
Cameroon: this region also produces very "neutral" tobacco. it is originally a sumatran seed that was imported to the area so it has the charactaristics of the sumatran strain just tamed down even more. because of the neutrality of the leaf it can be used to bind/wrap very complex fillers.
other countries grow tobacco but most of the tobacco you will find in cigars is from the above mentioned.
I have smoked tobacco from other areas/countries (italy, the philapines) but they were not the focal point of the cigar. (the italia has italian tobacco in it but i still wouldnt call it the focal point of the cigar. the honduran wrapper is)
i hope that helped.
All that said IMHO the country has less to do with the outcome of a cigar than you would think. Particular types of tobacco are grown in different areas of the world bc they do better there. i.e. the Conneticut Shade in Ecuador or the cuban seed corojo or crillio grown in Nicaragua. Find a particular wrapper you like FIRST, then try and discern how it tastes when grown in different countries IF it is grown in different places. FYI the wrapper is 40-60% of the flavor of a cigar.
I am not a mild cigar smoke however, I do occasionally enjoy a conneticut wrapper cigar on a hot day with a glass of water. I do not care for Conneticut wrapper grown anywhere but Ecuador, it is not only mild but limited in complexity IMO.
I tried to keep it as generic as i could. like you said a corojo grown in honduras will be different than a corojo grown in peru. but those will be more simaler to eachother than a connecticut shade grown in honduras vs. a corojo grown in honduras.
on the old forum i was a part of a blind taste test where i had to guess the country of origin of five debanded cigars. i got 3 right. One of them i even named the brand name. i dont know how i would do in a true blind taste tes where i couldnt see the cigars, because sight did help alot on that one.
playing of this thread a bit, i am working on a major project that i will call "blending 101" and with any luck i will have a SERIOUS wright up of the basics of blending. there is a bunch of typing and a bit of research that has to happen before it gets to the point where i can post. should be up in a few days ( i hope)
though it is the basics of blewnding it is still a VERY complex subject. I hope i do it justice...
gott: ill PM you with how i pictured it in my head when its ready to be made interactive. I hope it isnt too complex. Im not much of a computer guy and the way this would work could be very hard to program.
wish me luck guys. Ill go balls to the walls on it in the AM
Don't know if anyone has this idea in the works, but I think it'd be awesome to have it interactive where you could pick your wrapper, region, blend, filler, and anything else you'd like and after you picked all your points of a great cigar (after reading up on all the great info Kuz will provide) the site would actually tell you what cigars actually match what you've chosen!
Just like you could pick a strength, a flavor, a wrapper etc. and then you could get ideas on what cigars match your choice AND you could find out what cigars are LIKE your fav's to try and enjoy!
Oh man! This could be sweet!
this isnt my vacation. My wife wont even let me take a laptop on vacation because she doesnt want me spending time on the forum. I guess i understand....
i have six major catagories with seemingly endless possabilities within those. this is brutal.