CONNECTICUT SHADE WRAPPERS
With today's increasing trend toward ever stronger, fuller, darker and more robust cigars, it's easy to forget about Connecticut shade wrappers. So let's take a step back and have a closer look at these traditional premium wrappers, long-considered one of the very finest wrapper leaves available. Connecticut shade leaf is still the most popular wrapper of choice for premium cigar smokers in America, despite the recent tilt toward such full-bodied and powerful wrappers as Sun-grown, Maduro, Corojo, Rosado, Habana 2000, and other colors on the market today. The popularity of the Connecticut shade leaf owes to its attractive appearance, color, texture, taste, burning qualities and aroma, as well as its characteristically smooth, creamy taste. Not overpowering in flavor, it's often associated with mild and medium-bodied cigars.
To be sure, the state of Connecticut is not the first region you associate with cigars. Mention cigars the next time you're on the golf course with a buddy and most likely thoughts of Cuba, Dominican Republic, Honduras, etc. will come up. Yet, Connecticut wrappers from the Connecticut River Valley right here in the USA, is some of the most sought after leaf in the world.
Connecticut "shade" tobacco is so called because it is grown under large tents that protect the leaves from the sun. Grown in direct sunlight, the leaf would be coarse and tough. But by shading it, effectively the sunlight is filtered, yielding a thinner, more elastic leaf that cures to a lighter, even color. Today, shade-grown Connecticut wrapper leaf is one of the world's most expensive agricultural commodities. Since the wrapper provides a major portion of a cigar's taste, what is it about this region that makes this leaf so sought after? For one, it's gorgeous. Aesthetically, the sight of the silky, smooth, thin and elastic look of Connecticut shade wrappers is beyond compare. Another is the even burn. The thin, elastic nature of this leaf offers a smooth, slow and even burn and gives a cigar balance.
Of all places why has Connecticut historically been the source for such prized wrapper leaves? A combination of good soil, adequate rainfall and abundant sunshine has made it one of the world's premium tobacco growing regions. Although experiments have been done transplanting wrapper leaf seed varieties from Connecticut to grow in other regions such as Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico, Panama and others, no one has yet been able to duplicate the color, flavor and texture of the Connecticut Valley leaf.
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