Quote:
Originally Posted by timj219
I was examining a cigar and realized the wrapper is only the thickness of one tobacco leaf. This made me wonder a couple things. If so little of the cigar is wrapper, how much can the wrapper contribute to the flavor? Does the contribution increase with a thinner cigar since it has a correspondingly greater wrapper/filler ratio? Is the wrapper leaf more powerfully flavored that the filler leaves so it can contribute to the flavor even though there is much less of it?
I've never smoked two cigars where the only difference between them was the wrapper leaf so I can't go by experience.
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Tim, it depends on the cigar itself, but I would say the majority of cigars gain it's primary flavors from the wrapper. The most upfront tastes and aroma like that come from cigars come from the wrapper. Both the filler and the binder are the backbone of the cigars, and provide the subtle nuances, and probably the nicotine kick.
For a second, consider something like Angostura bitters, although only one or two dashes are put in something like an Old Fashioned, immediately one can distinguish a difference between whiskey with the bitters and without the bitters. The same is true for cigars with a wrapper and without.
The easiest, and probably least fun way is to peel the wrapper off a cigar you're familiar with and try smoking just binder and filler. You'll definitely notice a difference.
Finally, yes most of the time there is a difference between ring gauge and flavor. Those cigars which have thicker ring gauges tend to balance between wrapper, binder, and filler and as a result, tend to be not as bold as thinner ring gauges.