Not long ago, we talked about the senses that intervene when enjoying a cigar, being the sight the one which spots the wrapper’s appearance. This layer acts as a fancy jacket that dresses the binder. It is also responsible for the cigar’s presence and personality, accentuated by the use of a high quality leaf which provides texture and elasticity. The colour is the first thing that calls our attention, being an important element when we are making up our mind about the cigar we are about to enjoy. Although the leaf is always green when picked up from the field, the different drying and aging processes define its final tone.
The hands of the crafty torcedores are in charge of selecting the colours following a criterion of evenness. Once the process concludes, the cigars are placed into boxes respecting their detailed tonality. The main tones are seven:
- Doble Claro (light greenish brown)
- Claro (pale yellowish brown)
- Colorado Claro (light natural brown)
- Colorado (reddish brown)
- Colorado Maduro (dark brown)
- Maduro (dark coffee brown)
- Oscuro (dark blackish Brown)
However, the colour does not give us any clues about its taste before we light up. We must not follow the false belief which states that colour equals intensity. Is not the wrapper what defines strength and aroma. The nuances are created by the cigar’s essential composition as well as by the tobacco combined in the filler.
Its tonality will, instead, detail the range of seeds used for its cultivation, its exposure to the sun, place or height of the leaf within the plant it belonged to as well as the drying and fermentation processes. For example, the Oscuro tone is a consequence of selecting leaves from the higher part of the plant. Colorado Claro tells us that the plant has grown under the sun’s rays while Colorado is the tone of the plant which has developed in the shade.
KOLUMBUS‘s family range is composed by three tones which cover the main colouring realm: Claro for our K-Azul, Colorado Maduro the K-Rojo and Oscuro for the K-Negro.
May 3, 2016 at 5:53 pm
Great post! Like it!
May 6, 2017 at 7:34 pm
And amazing assortment of flavors !