Wrapper leaf
San Andrés wrapper
San Andrés wrapper is tobacco from the San Andrés valley in Veracruz, Mexico, and its native black leaf, San Andrés Negro, is one of the main maduro wrappers in premium cigars.
A volcanic valley on the Gulf Coast
The San Andrés valley sits in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas, a cluster of volcanic peaks rising off Mexico's Gulf Coast plain in the state of Veracruz.
The town at its heart is San Andrés Tuxtla, under the San Martín volcano. Wikipedia calls it the center of Mexico's fine-tobacco production. Tobacco arrived around 1830 with Cuban and European settlers, who started making cigars for export.
The soil tells the story. Alberto Turrent, whose family has grown tobacco there since 1880, described it to Cigar Aficionado as very rich, volcanic soil.
Town, valley, tobacco: three names to keep straight
San Andrés Tuxtla is the town, the San Andrés valley is the growing area, and San Andrés Negro is the native black tobacco.
Turrent corrected the mix-up himself in a 2009 interview: the town is San Andrés Tuxtla, and the tobacco is San Andrés Negro, or San Andrés Criollo. Cigar bands shorten all of it to "San Andrés" or "Mexican San Andrés."
One more wrinkle. The valley grows other seeds too. The Turrents also plant Sumatra and Habano 2000 there. So "San Andrés" on a band names the place for sure, and the black native leaf most of the time. When a maker writes "San Andrés Negro," you know which plant it is.
Why is San Andrés used for maduro?
Blenders reach for San Andrés Negro because the black leaf takes a long, hot ferment well and comes out dark and sweet.
Cigar Aficionado's glossary says it makes superb maduro leaf and is used around the cigarmaking world. At the magazine's 2015 maduro seminar, Drew Estate's Willy Herrera called it his second favorite wrapper, behind broadleaf, for its sweetness and nuttiness. It's not as strong as broadleaf, he said, and that's the point. Broadleaf can overwhelm a blend. San Andrés tends to mesh.
Harvest has changed over time. The glossary still lists it as stalk-cut, like Connecticut broadleaf. Altadis U.S.A.'s Larry Palombo told the same seminar that farmers largely stopped cutting whole stalks because it broke too many leaves.
Firewood, steam and the 140°F pile
San Andrés leaf is dried in curing houses heated with firewood and steam, then fermented twice in big piles.
Wikipedia describes the valley's curing houses drying and fermenting leaf over fifteen days with firewood and steam. The leaves are then rehydrated for deveining and rolling.
Cigar Aficionado's 2020 visit to the Turrent operation filled in the fermentation. Black tobacco goes into pilónes of 5,000 kilos each. One pile they measured hit an internal 140°F. The leaf goes through two fermentations. Then it ships to clients, who finish it to the exact shade of maduro they want. The general method is on the maduro page.
The valley by the numbers
Most hard figures on San Andrés come from the Turrent family, the largest grower of cigar tobacco in the region.
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Tobacco history in the town | Since 1830 | Wikipedia |
| Dormant volcanoes in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas | More than 180 | Cigar Aficionado, 2020 |
| Turrent family growing in the valley | Since 1880 | Cigar Aficionado, 2009 and 2020 |
| Black tobacco planted by the Turrents each year | About 440 acres | Cigar Aficionado, 2020 |
| Harvest from those acres | About 530,000 lb | Cigar Aficionado, 2020 |
| Size of one black-tobacco pilón | 5,000 kg | Cigar Aficionado, 2020 |
| Internal pile temperature in fermentation | 140°F | Cigar Aficionado, 2020 |
These are one grower's numbers, not the whole valley's. Nobody publishes a valley-wide total we could find.
Sweet, earthy, and gentler than it looks
San Andrés maduro tends to taste sweet and earthy with a nutty edge, and Cigar Aficionado's 2020 report credits San Andrés tobacco with a little sweetness.
Cocoa, coffee and dark earth are the usual descriptions. It looks black, yet Herrera rated it gentler than broadleaf. Treat these as tendencies, and check the blend on the strength and body scale. The wrapper color chart shows the dark shades it usually lands in, and the flavor wheel names the notes.
San Andrés tobacco questions
Is San Andrés a maduro?
San Andrés is a place and a tobacco, not a shade, but its native black leaf is mostly used for maduro. Cigar Aficionado's glossary says San Andrés Negro makes superb maduro leaf.
Where is San Andrés tobacco grown?
San Andrés tobacco grows in the San Andrés valley around San Andrés Tuxtla, in the state of Veracruz on Mexico's Gulf Coast, under the San Martín volcano.
What is San Andrés Negro?
San Andrés Negro, also called San Andrés Criollo, is the native black tobacco of Mexico's San Andrés valley. The town is San Andrés Tuxtla; the tobacco takes the valley's name.
Is San Andrés wrapper strong?
Not especially. Drew Estate's Willy Herrera said it is not as strong as Connecticut broadleaf and meshes well with a variety of blends. The filler still sets most of a cigar's strength.
Where the San Andrés facts come from
- Black Gold (San Andrés valley), Cigar Aficionado
- San Andrés Tuxtla: tobacco and cigars, Wikipedia
- Te-Amo's Alberto and Alejandro Turrent, Cigar Aficionado
- Glossary: San Andrés Negro, Cigar Aficionado
- Mysteries of Maduro Cigars (2015 Big Smoke seminar), Cigar Aficionado