The Wrapper-Flavor Conundrum: A New Twist

[MadMonk]

Cuban cigars of moderate ring ga. use two binders! Now that I didnt know. I figured it was family or farmer practice.

This is where I have respect for my wife. She can imagine how things are going to taste together.
I think I going to send her to Cigar blending school. I'm gonna be rich!

 

[Fyodor]

If the wrapper only accounted for 5% of the taste you would think you would occasionally run across Maduro and Connecticut shade cigars that taste similar. If your experience is like mine it's never even remotely close. They are pretty much polar opposites in flavor, coincidence? Or perhaps I'm just delusional and think they are very different but I'm finding that pretty hard to swallow.

 

[half full monty]

This is an interesting thread. I have a more basic analogy, coffee.

Equate the different beans to the different blends of filler and binder. Some strong, some smooth, some bitter, sometimes all of the same origin (puro) sometimes not.

The wrapper can be the cream, sugar, whipped milk etc..... It adds that final flavor dimension, and can also completely change the flavor profile from say bitter to sweet. The percentage of flavor it adds is relative to the amount added, two teaspoons (panatela) or 1/2 teaspoon (corona gorda), and the flavor profile of the bean (dark roast arabica vs light roast kona). So if you add sugar, it's going to be sweet. How sweet? Depends.

Likewise, a heavily fermented sungrown wrapper (sugar) on an 858 blend (kona) will have a larger impact than a plain cuban wrapper (more coffee) on a Boli RC (Arabica).

IMHO.....