How much does the wrapper influence cigar flavour

[bohdan.zaremba]

I often hear that most of the cigar's flavour comes from the wrapper, and the importance of wrapper to filler ratio. This is usually in context of gordo vitola, somebody will claim that a thicker cigar's taste is muted due to the low wrapper to filler ratio.

Personally, I am skeptical. While I am sure that a wrapper contributes to the overall flavour, I cannot see how a single leaf can contribute to most of it. And in the gordo argument, if the flavour is muted, I would bet it's due to the manufacturer using a lower quality leaf to pad the diameter. Maybe I will be proven wrong, but right now the "wrapper to filler ratio" sounds more like marketing mystique.

This is my first season growing tobacco, and I'll be putting this claim to the test in due time. I am curious what this forum thinks about this claim though.

 

[GreenDragon]

I am firmly in the “wrapper is only for looks” camp. I’ve rolled several batches of cigars with the same core but varied only the wrapper. I could barely detect a difference between them. Full transparency I usually roll around a 50 gauge. On a 30 gauge it probably makes more of a difference.

 

[bohdan.zaremba]

I am firmly in the “wrapper is only for looks” camp. I’ve rolled several batches of cigars with the same core but varied only the wrapper. I could barely detect a difference between them. Full transparency I usually roll around a 50 gauge. On a 30 gauge it probably makes more of a difference.

Thanks for confirming my bias

 

[OrlandoJoe]

I have a terrible palate, but im an avid cigar smoker. At the end of the day, it's probably a meaningless question, but from here , I do gravitate again and again to wrapper varietal. So in my opinion maybe at least 50%

 

[Luacino]

I think it depends on your blending style.

Some people like a tasteless but visually appealing wrapper, while others prefer a full-bodied, robust wrapper.

However, the quality of the wrapper definitely affects the experience; the oiliness of the wrapper is very pronounced.

Sometimes, a mismatch between the wrapper and other parts can make the cigar's flavor very vague, with nothing standing out.

 

[WillQuantrill]

I am firmly in the “wrapper is only for looks” camp. I’ve rolled several batches of cigars with the same core but varied only the wrapper. I could barely detect a difference between them. Full transparency I usually roll around a 50 gauge. On a 30 gauge it probably makes more of a difference.

I believe this is why the Corona vitola is supreme and the folks making cigars intuitively knew that a century ago. The perfect symbiosis of wrapper influence on binder and filler (disclaimer: I have no way of scientifically proving that). Although it is a solid experiment to smoke varied sizes of the same blend to note profile change which in some cases is quite drastic. In my humble opinion blending is much more nuanced than using an absolute value to wrapper influence, although such a value would speed up the process. At least in my own experiments it has alot more to do with many adjustments to a specific type of profile Im targeting. And sometimes, you just get lucky.

 

[bohdan.zaremba]

Thank you all for the opinions. I'm looking forward to putting this to a test

 

[deluxestogie]

Keys to a meaningful answer, you will need to standardize:

• tobacco growing location
• tobacco growing season
• fertilization schedule
• harvesting methods
• tobacco color-curing conditions
• tobacco aging temperature and humidity
• filler varieties with standardized priming level and leaf age
• binder variety with standardized priming level and leaf thickness and age
• wrapper variety with standardized priming level and leaf thickness and age
• combustibility of each component
• cigar filler density
• cigar cross-section (ring)
• cigar length
• cigar glue
• ignition method (e.g. burning match vs. burning gas)
• ambient smoking temperature
• ambient smoking relative humidity
• opening cut of the head
• human smoker (draw intensity, duration per puff and puff frequency)
• pre-smoke diet, beverage and ambient aroma

And don't forget about Bernoulli! Both the taste and aroma of a lit cigar vary by each puff, and vary significantly by the temperature of the combustion which, in turn, is impacted by the flow rate of air (and humidity) through the remaining length of increasingly moist tobacco.

Bob

 

[bohdan.zaremba]

Keys to a meaningful answer, you will need to standardize:

• tobacco growing location
• tobacco growing season
• fertilization schedule
• harvesting methods
• tobacco color-curing conditions
• tobacco aging temperature and humidity
• filler varieties with standardized priming level and leaf age
• binder variety with standardized priming level and leaf thickness and age
• wrapper variety with standardized priming level and leaf thickness and age
• combustibility of each component
• cigar filler density
• cigar cross-section (ring)
• cigar length
• cigar glue
• ignition method (e.g. burning match vs. burning gas)
• ambient smoking temperature
• ambient smoking relative humidity
• opening cut of the head
• human smoker (draw intensity, duration per puff and puff frequency)
• pre-smoke diet, beverage and ambient aroma

And don't forget about Bernoulli! Both the taste and aroma of a lit cigar vary by each puff, and vary significantly by the temperature of the combustion which, in turn, is impacted by the flow rate of air (and humidity) through the remaining length of increasingly moist tobacco.

Bob

Understood, this is a Sisyphean task

Joking aside though, it is possible to control some of these factors when home growing (fertilizer schedule, growing season and location, etc). For others, you'd need to roll a number of samples, and try to compare the averages between the two.

Perhaps the true takeaway here is "enjoy the smoke, and don't worry too much"

 

[deluxestogie]

"enjoy the smoke, and don't worry too much"

That's my conclusion as well. I've had different impressions of wrapper influence on my home-rolled, home-grown tobacco even when attempting to duplicate a cigar.

Bob

 

[Bamabaccy8a]

I often hear that most of the cigar's flavour comes from the wrapper, and the importance of wrapper to filler ratio. This is usually in context of gordo vitola, somebody will claim that a thicker cigar's taste is muted due to the low wrapper to filler ratio.

Personally, I am skeptical. While I am sure that a wrapper contributes to the overall flavour, I cannot see how a single leaf can contribute to most of it. And in the gordo argument, if the flavour is muted, I would bet it's due to the manufacturer using a lower quality leaf to pad the diameter. Maybe I will be proven wrong, but right now the "wrapper to filler ratio" sounds more like marketing mystique.

This is my first season growing tobacco, and I'll be putting this claim to the test in due time. I am curious what this forum thinks about this claim though. ,ive read the same. the wrapper only imparts taste onto the front of the tongue rather than in the more tasted inhaled smoke where i get the majority of flavors or notes

Imo, filler over wrapper. Wrapper does influence , initial sweetness maybe a little leatheriness , but the majority is in the filler where the notes of wood, leather, pepper, floral, grass.. etc are.