Cigar wrappers are either shade grown or sun grown. Shade grown plants are grown under cheese cloth like material that helps filter out UV rays and produce smaller veins in the leafs. Sun grown plants are grown with no protection from the sun and usually develop a thicker and darker leaf.
At least that is how I understand it and if I am wrong, someone will be along shortly to correct it.
As I understand it, if they go out of their way to tell you it's a sun grown wrapper, they want you to know that it stayed on the plant longer before harvest and therefore produced more oils in the leaf due to sun exposure and also produced a more potent and desirably flavorful leaf.
To me, it's easy to imagine but, difficult to be precise about wrapper leaf types. I only know enough to know I sure as heck don't know much.
Some tobacco is grown under the artificial shade of cheesecloth, as in Connecticut Shade wrapper. (Connecticut Valley Wrapper?) And, in Ecuador the natural climate of cloudy, misty weather naturally shades tobacco grown there. (Ecuadoran Connecticut Wrapper)
Anything grown in direct sun could be considered sun grown I suppose but, there are lots of wrapper leaf that is grown in direct sun but they don't necessarily promote the term sun grown in the name of the cigar or in describing the wrapper either. Connecticut Broad-leaf is sun grown but not explicitly described as sun grown in most cases.
Did I screw any of that up? Are there any errors? Feel free to help me out.
Comments
At least that is how I understand it and if I am wrong, someone will be along shortly to correct it.
To me, it's easy to imagine but, difficult to be precise about wrapper leaf types. I only know enough to know I sure as heck don't know much.
Some tobacco is grown under the artificial shade of cheesecloth, as in Connecticut Shade wrapper. (Connecticut Valley Wrapper?) And, in Ecuador the natural climate of cloudy, misty weather naturally shades tobacco grown there. (Ecuadoran Connecticut Wrapper)
Anything grown in direct sun could be considered sun grown I suppose but, there are lots of wrapper leaf that is grown in direct sun but they don't necessarily promote the term sun grown in the name of the cigar or in describing the wrapper either. Connecticut Broad-leaf is sun grown but not explicitly described as sun grown in most cases.
Did I screw any of that up? Are there any errors? Feel free to help me out.
Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy cigars and that's close enough.