The outer leaf
Cigar wrapper types
The wrapper is the outer leaf of a cigar, and it shapes much of the flavor and look. These pages explain the common wrapper types: where each grows, how it is processed and what it tends to taste like.
A process, not a plant: thick leaf fermented hot and long until it goes near black.
Connecticut shadeGrown under netting tents for a thin, pale leaf. Only 35 valley acres were left in 2025.
Connecticut broadleafSun-grown, stalk-cut and thick. The classic raw leaf for maduro wrapper.
HabanoCuban-seed leaf grown outside Cuba, plus where Habano 2000 came from.
CorojoThe Cuban farm strain that wrapped Havanas for decades, and its hybrid heirs.
CameroonA toothy, sun-grown African wrapper whose supply nearly vanished in 1993.
San AndrésMexico's volcanic valley and its native black leaf, fermented for maduro.
SumatraNamed for an Indonesian island, now grown largely from seed in Ecuador.
CandelaGreen wrapper, heat-cured in about three days so the chlorophyll stays.