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Cigar Myths 102: Stronger Cigars Have More Flavor
Apologies to my fellow lovers of the leaf for taking last week off. I
was too busy ringing up Powerball to type this. (Insert Shameless
Plug) Don't forget to come in and buy your tickets too! If you win,
the boss wins too, and I will probably win a free Yellow Band Coheeba
or something. Gotta love the trickle down effect!
The other day a guy on vacation stumbled in the store. He wanted some
help picking out a strong cigar. He proceeded to tell me that he
likes strong cigars cause they have more flavor. Let's stop right
there.
In all cigars strength and flavor are two different things. It's
possible to make a cigar with good flavor and not have it knock you
down and stomp you. Strength pertains to the amount of ligero in the
cigar. 'Ligero' is the leaves from the top of the tobacco plant. They
receive the most sunlight and nutrients, so they contain the most
nicotine. The thing is, power can overwhelm flavor. One of my
favorite "strong" stogies is Joya de Nicarauga. It is a Nicaraugan
puro and contains a high percentage of ligero. Flavorwise, it's one
dimensional.
Let's turn to flavor. First, different countries' tobacco have their own
distinct flavor. By blending Honduran, Nicaraugan, Dominican, and
even Mexican tobacco, unique blends can be created. Taking that one
step further, a tobacco plant has three main classes of leaves.
Starting at the top of the plant is the aforementioned ligero, in
the middle is the seco and at the bottom is volado. Strength decreases
as you go down the plant. The different leaves have unique
characteristics that contribute to a blend.
As I said before, the Joya de Nicarauga is a strong cigar - 100%
Nicaraugan tobacco. Generally, Nicaraugan is strong tobacco. However,
it can be used to create a cigar that has good flavors with little
strength. The difference is in which primings of the plant are put
into the blend. Take, for example, the Perdomo Champagne. It also is a
Nicaraugan blend with a Connecticut shade wrapper. With this blend,
the Perdomo tobacco is aged for five years, which tends to mellow strength, before it is rolled into
cigars. This creates a cigar that is full of unique flavors, but is
mild to medium.
So next time you hear someone say that stronger cigars have more
flavor, you can set the record straight. Stay tuned for more exciting
cigar info from the Cigar Savant!
Next week's topic: "I don't need a humidor, I can just keep these
cigars in this plastic bag."
Posted by Richard Alley at May 25, 2005 04:09 PM