The Tobacco Plant and Its Varieties

Every premium cigar in the world begins with the same plant: Nicotiana tabacum. That a single species can yield cigars so different — pale and dark, mild and powerful — is the result of centuries of selection, of soil, and of which leaf position on the plant ends up inside the cigar.

One Species, Many Characters

Nicotiana tabacum originates in tropical America and is cultivated today in every major cigar-producing country. What determines a tobacco’s character is not variety alone: the same seed produces different leaves in the volcanic soils of Nicaragua than in the Cibao valley of the Dominican Republic. Growers therefore speak of an interplay between seed and terroir — much as viticulture speaks of grape variety and site.

The Major Cultivars

Four names recur constantly. Criollo — literally “native” — denotes the old Cuban landrace varieties from which most of today’s cigar tobaccos descend. Corojo was selected in the 1930s from Criollo plants on the Vega El Corojo in the Vuelta Abajo and was for decades Cuba’s classic wrapper; today Corojo grows mainly in Honduras and Nicaragua. Connecticut stands for two very different tobaccos from the north-eastern United States: Connecticut Shade is grown under fabric canopies in filtered light and yields silky wrappers in pale Claro tones, while Connecticut Broadleaf ripens in full sun into dark, robust Maduro leaves. And Habano seed of Cuban origin now thrives in new terroirs — in Nicaragua and Ecuador, for instance, where the same genetics produce a spicy, full-bodied character in one climate and a remarkably fine one in another.

The Leaf Primings

Just as important as variety is the position of the leaf on the plant. The lowest leaves, called Volado, are thin and mild but burn superbly — they keep the ember alive. In the middle sits the Seco: the most aromatic part of the plant and the backbone of many blends. Right at the top, closest to the sun, grows the Ligero — thick, oily and powerful, but slow-burning. Only the combination of these primings in the filler produces a cigar that burns evenly whilst also showing character — behind each leaf in a blend stand variety, terroir and priming position all at once.