Thursday, March 03 2011
A Wrapper Experiment
By David "Doc" Diaz
The first two articles in this series have discussed how cigar geometry can contribute to overall flavor in a cigar and described the relationship of tobacco varietal, leaf placement and blending philosophy on the contributions of the wrapper and filler to overall flavor. This final article in this series will describe an experiment that was conducted by the author, along with Hendrik Kelner Jr., that demonstrated the effect of wrapper type on the flavor of a cigar.
When I visited The Dominican Republic in early 2008, one of my first stops was the Davidoff factory in Santiago where I spent the day with Hendrik Kelner Jr., part of the management team at the factory. Hendrik gave me a tour of the factory and then we came back to his office, which he shares with Eladio Diaz, and we began chatting about different topics while smoking our cigars. As we talked about how wrappers influence the overall flavor in a cigar, Hendrik was struck with an idea for how we could demonstrate how different wrappers would contribute in differing amounts to the overall flavor in a cigar.
First, Hendrik pulled three of the same type of cigars out of the
humidor in the office. The cigars that were chosen were cigars with a fairly mild
blend and were identical, in
ring gauge, length, filler,
binder and wrapper. He then called down to the factory floor and asked one of the supervisors to bring up a few wrapper leaves of different types.
Eladio took the wrapper leaves off of two of the three cigars and replaced them with two different ones. I became the lucky research assistant who got to smoke the results. The first cigar, had the original wrapper, which was a Connecticut Shade grown in Ecuador. This cigar exhibited grassiness and a light spice. The second wrapper, which was a hybrid of Cuban seed and Connecticut seed also grown in Ecuador, displayed rich tobacco sweetness and had medium spice. The third cigar wrapper was a Cuban seed grown in the DR. This cigar was very full in spice and had woody flavors and aromas. All three were very different, even though the filler and binder were identical. I never expected that the differences would be so dramatic, but it was clear that, when the filler blend is fairly light, the flavor of the wrapper leaf will be able to assert itself more easily. I was thoroughly impressed with the experiment and the results. But, as it turned out, we weren’t done yet…
Hendrik called back down and ordered up two more cigars and two more wrappers. These were identical cigars again, but this time they had the same wrapper leaf… yet with a twist. The two wrapper leaves, though from the same tobacco type, were taken from different parts of the plant. One was taken from a higher part of the plant (5th priming), and the other a lower part of the plant (2nd or 3rd priming). Again the differences in flavor were substantial. The cigar with the wrapper from the lower priming was light, grassy and had some light spice, while the cigar with the wrapper from the higher priming was full-flavored with rich tobacco sweetness and full in body. Once again, there was a big difference, attributable only to the difference in wrapper leaf. This experiment was the actual proof that the wrapper leaf can contribute hugely to the flavor of a cigar.
In summary, there are many factors that contribute to the flavor in a cigar. A wrapper that is bold in flavor and strength can be a major factor, especially when the filler has been blended mild to medium. Another factor is the ring gauge of the cigar. In cigars with the same blend and wrappers, those with smaller ring gauges have a higher wrapper to filler ratio and, thus, the wrapper will contribute more to the flavor.
Of course, many master blenders will tweak the cigar blend in cigars with smaller ring gauges. I have talked with different master blenders and they all have different philosophies when it comes to blending cigars of different ring gauges. Some will change the blend (i.e., the number of leaves of each tobacco type) so the wrapper will not have too much influence. But others will not change the blend recipe. They keep the same recipe of filler leaves and understand that the smaller ring sizes will have more contribution by the wrapper.
While all of this is interesting, the fact remains that, regardless of the contribution of the wrapper, only you can say if the cigar is to your liking and whether you will buy more for your humidor.
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Missed part of this series? Click the links below:
A Wrapper's Contribution to Cigar Flavor: Part 1
A Wrapper's Contribution to Cigar Flavor: Part 2
David "Doc" Diaz is the publisher of Stogie Fresh and the editor of the Stogie Fresh Cigar Journal. He has served as an educator, researcher and writer and has taught in the Health Education and Health Science field for over 30 years. He possesses an earned doctorate from Nova Southeastern University.
