Wrapper affect on taste

[Sver]

Hi everyone,

I've been thinking about wrapper influence on taste. I keep seeing on different forums how people gravitate towards smaller rg for increased flavor from the wrapper.

Then, I've also been trying to roll my own cigars and watched hours upon hours on cigar rolling videos. One guy that really makes alot of sense in his videos is Timothy Torres a former cuban cigar roller who says the wrapper is "just a dress" Like a dress on a beautiful woman, the beauty is what is under neath that dress, or wrapper for that matter.
Of course the wrapper contributes to the flavor of a cigar, wrapper leafs are the most expensive part of the cigar (usually) since they need to be absolutely flawless aesthetically, but i wonder if the leaves are picked for their look, are they just as much picked for the flavor?

Just a thought that had been in my mind for a while..

So, i turn to ye wisemen & women, what are your thoughts on wrapper flavor contribution?

Here is a video of Torres rolling a cigar, explaining why he rolls the way he rolls

Have a fantastic weekend everyone, smoke something good, life is short so smoke something good

p.s

Pardon my english, it is not my native language, i hope everything was clear

-Sver

[yannis]

if you will read Zino Davidoff s book on havana cigars, youll see that he is saying ''the wrapper is so important on a

cigar s flavour as 40% of the cigar itself''.

After many years of smoking cigars, I can say he is right!The aroma of a beautiful wrapper is a key factor on the smoking experience

[Sver]

Thanks for the input Yannis

That is one thing i definitely considered, the aroma. For me the difference between the different wrapper aroma and taste of a Siglo & a Oscuro like a Liga Privada is definitely going to impact the wrest of the blend.

[Rye]

Try taking the wrapper off a cigar and smoke it, then smoke another from that box and compare for yourself.

[busdriver]

I read this not long ago and found it fascinating:

http://www.friendsofhabanos.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=68081&page=1entry68081

[PapaDisco]

How do we reconcile that the wrapper is such a small percentage of the total tobacco in a large cigar yet provides the majority of flavor? I concur that it's the most expensive tobacco in there, and it can certainly be the most flavorful, but the rest of the blend (filler, binder) would have to be akin to shredded paper in order to be overwhelmed by 2% of the total tobacco (in a big cigar).

[planetary]

That two-part video with Timothy Torres was fascinating!

[Smallclub]

This guy is a joke???

at 1:08 "the quality of a cigar doesn't come from the land where the tobacco is grown, but from the tobacco itself"

the sentence is so absurd and senseless, I don't know where to start…

[Sver]

I read this not long ago and found it fascinating:

http://www.friendsofhabanos.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=68081&page=1entry68081

Right on, I had forgotten about that one. Thanks for the reminder

[monkey66]

Sometimes important to remember that just because someone is a cigar roller they are not automatically experts on all matters regarding cigars, even if they may assume they are.

[Webbo]

The wrapper on my first VI has certainly just had a dramatic impact on the taste of the cigar, the POS wrapper was so thick and heat resistant that it would not burn at all and therefore gave me a somewhat unique flavour for a cigar, that of sodding fresh air as I hurled it off my patio into the woods with an anguished expletive laden cry of anger and frustration.

[Sver]

Sometimes important to remember that just because someone is a cigar roller they are not automatically experts on all matters regarding cigars, even if they may assume they are.

That goes without saying, it would be foolish to think otherwise

[Stogieninja]

How do we reconcile that the wrapper is such a small percentage of the total tobacco in a large cigar yet provides the majority of flavor? I concur that it's the most expensive tobacco in there, and it can certainly be the most flavorful, but the rest of the blend (filler, binder) would have to be akin to shredded paper in order to be overwhelmed by 2% of the total tobacco (in a big cigar).

I think you the answer to your question lies in what you wrote. It's the most flavorful of the tobaccos, and in a large cigar it makes up a smaller percentage of the total product... which would also mean in a smaller vitola it makes up a larger percentage. Hence the reason some folks seek smaller rg, so that the wrapper makes up a much larger portion of the flavor.

I don't think anyone would argue that the wrapper generally "overwhelms" a blend, it's not 60 or 70% of the flavor; it's more like 25-30% ("up to 40%" perhaps in some cases). Large enough percentage to very seriously impact the flavor, but the blend is still incredibly important. A great wrapper on a crappy blend is still going to be a crappy cigar, I don't think anyone is arguing otherwise.

[Colt45]

I've tried it (and posted on it) myself. I smoked a cigar near half way with the wrapper intact, then removed it for the second half. I was actually quite surprised at how much the flavor immediately changed - for that one cigar.

I do believe that wrapper imparts flavor, but I don't think it's linear - always the same. My thought is that perhaps it depends on the quality of the wrapper. If a cigar has the perfectly grown and processed wrapper and that were taken away, it might have more of an impact than a cigar with an "average" wrapper.

[garbandz]

wrappers make the cigar.

A little boutique in New Orleans sells three cigars that share the same blend,but have three different wrappers.

the difference is unmistakable.

The cigars I roll are usually the same filler with different wrappers,they are also instantly discernible as different.

There is wrapper that is so bland that it adds very little,you will find it on cheapies that sell for spare change.......

Almost daily Rob shows us gorgeous boxes of cigars,sometimes he shows us the crappy ones he finds.

why would anyone not buy the rich,oily looking cigars if available?

[Merovius]

This guy is a joke???

at 1:08 "the quality of a cigar doesn't come from the land where the tobacco is grown, but from the tobacco itself"

the sentence is so absurd and senseless, I don't know where to start…

Ever had a shitty custom or "fake" knockoff from Havana? I think that's what he's referring to.

As for his comments about "just a dress, the beauty lies beneath" it's a nice romantic way to put things but not entirely accurate.

[ElPuro]

wrappers make the cigar.

A little boutique in New Orleans sells three cigars that share the same blend,but have three different wrappers.

the difference is unmistakable.

The cigars I roll are usually the same filler with different wrappers,they are also instantly discernible as different.

There is wrapper that is so bland that it adds very little,you will find it on cheapies that sell for spare change.......

Almost daily Rob shows us gorgeous boxes of cigars,sometimes he shows us the crappy ones he finds.

why would anyone not buy the rich,oily looking cigars if available?

Many people argue, fwiw, that too much sheen is an indication that the wrapper was not fermented long enough. I do not have enough experience to have a personal opinion. Just read it a bunch of times elsewhere.

[Smallclub]

The wrapper accounts for perhaps 5% of the taste of a cigar.

This kind of assertion comes from knowhere. It's meaningless if you don't take in account the width of the cigar and the quality of each wrapper.

Take 2 cuban panatelas from the same box, one with a thin claro or rosado wrapper, the other with a thick, oily, dark wrapper: the difference in taste will be closer to 80% than 5%, from my experience of thousands of cigars not sourced from Dunhill…

[PigFish]

In general, almost none. The wrapper is just that, the 'paper' over the box...

While the post above makes a valid point, it depends on the leaf, if the leaf is chosen for aesthetics, and that is the point of the wrapper, then I again proffer that it offers little taste.

The wrapper does not make the cigar. There are fine looking wrapped cigars that taste like hell. The internal construction of the cigar matters. The majority of flavor comes from ligero and seco, not wrapper or filler. These more pungent tobaccos are grown for this flavor, and not for the looks.

As SC indicates, if you wrap a cigar in a pungent leaf, on its own perhaps considered a seco or liger leaf, that will indeed affect the taste of a cigar drastically.

This kind of assertion comes from knowhere. It's meaningless if you don't take in account the width of the cigar and the quality of each wrapper.

Take 2 cuban panatelas from the same box, one with a thin claro or rosado wrapper, the other with a thick, oily, dark wrapper: the difference in taste will be closer to 80% than 5%, from my experience of thousands of cigars not sourced from Dunhill…

It depends on the leaf. This is a very astute observation.

Cheers! -Piggy

[shlomo]

Only part of the cigar to touch your lips is the wrapper. When you take a pre light draw and you get chocolate or salty or pepper or leather notes, that's the wrapper.

Simple test is to smoke 2 of the same cigar simultaneously. One with and one without. Rinse and wet lips prior to switching between. I've done this a couple times and the difference is night and day. Not sure how to accurately quantify it, but it was like smoking completely different cigars. I'm not a supertaster, but the wrapperless cigars tasted like a cigar and nothing else. The standard cigars tasted the way I have come to expect them to taste. Wether it be wood, leather, peanuts...whatever.

The wrapper is extremely important imo.

[drunkbuckeye]

I agree with shlomo. I also find the wrapper makes a bigger impact on flavor with smaller cigars than the bigger sizes.

[DoubleDD]

This topic never dies. It reminds me of the topic of the egg and the chicken, which one came first?

[PigFish]

... I have removed a wrapper, inverted it and rewrapped the cigar and it has given me twice the flavor in half the time! Of course I was standing on my head at the time!!!

I do have one question though. If you light the head of a cigar instead of the foot, do you blow rather than draw???

-Piggy

[Blakes]

My opinion is wrapper does play a fairly significant role on the taste of a cigar. I do think it depends on what that cigar blend is trying to achieve though. There are certain cigars where I'll want certain wrappers, others it's not as important.

Everyone talks about ligero, seco and volado in regards to the blend (filler) but rarely mentions them when talking about the wrappers.

Yes the plants used for wrappers are shade grown. But the plants still have ligero, seco and volado with their respective qualities. Dark oily wrapper - ligero. and so on...

Notice how most people agree cigars with dark wrappers.. have stronger darker flavours and take slightly longer to age? and the very pale, dry anaemic ones are usually tasteless but burn bloody good! I wonder which is which?

For example a Monte 2 or whatever wrapped with ligero is going to taste different to one wrapped in seco or volado .. surely?

....and for me they do! Like I mentioned I think the importance of it for cigar to cigar is different, some it's not so important and some it's very important t get the right wrapper, but again it's all down to personal tastes and what you look for in a particular cigar.. and everyone is different.

[RijkdeGooier]

If anyone is interested in doing a little experimenting try the La Aurora Perfectos series. Same blend different wrapper for each color of tube.

There you can get an idea of the influence of the wrapper on a medium strength blend.

On a triple ligero Cain the wrapper influence is less marked.