How much does the wrapper influence cigar flavour

[TigerTom]

Haven't done the test myself yet, but this is what I'd expect to observe. It's a factor, but I don't expect it to be the major source of the cigar's flavour.

I agree. Aladino makes a couple of cigars that allow one to test the effect. Their Corojo line is just that, only corojo tobacco for wrapper, binder, and filler (marketed as "authentic" corojo). Their Maduro line is the the same corojo binder and filler but with a San Andres wrapper and a box press. Smoking, say, the robustos from the two lines allows one to appreciate the effect of the wrapper.

 

[StoneCarver]

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

Heh, is that all there is to it? and here I was overthinking things.