Editing Cigar (section)

== Composition ==
Cigars are composed of three types of tobacco leaves, whose variations determine smoking and flavor characteristics:

=== Wrapper ===
[[File:Cigar Wrapper Color Chart.jpg|thumb|alt=Cigar Wrapper Color Chart.|Darker wrappers reflect tobacco type, age, and greater fermentation]]

A cigar's outermost layer, or wrapper (Spanish: {{lang|es|capa}}), is the most expensive component of a cigar.<ref name=Bati27>Anwer Bati, ''The Cigar Companion: The Connoisseur's Guide.'' Third Edition. Philadelphia, PA: Running Press, 1997; p. 27.</ref> The wrapper determines much of the cigar's character and flavor, and as such its color is often used to describe the cigar as a whole. Wrappers are frequently grown underneath huge canopies made of gauze so as to diffuse direct sunlight and are fermented separately from other rougher cigar components, with a view to the production of a thinly-veined, smooth, supple leaf.<ref name=Bati27 />

Wrapper tobacco produced without the gauze canopies under which "shade grown" leaf is grown, generally more coarse in texture and stronger in flavor, is commonly known as "sun grown". A number of different countries are used for the production of wrapper tobacco, including Cuba, Ecuador, Indonesia, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Brazil, Mexico, [[Cameroon]], and the United States.<ref name=Bati27 />

While dozens of minor wrapper shades have been touted by manufacturers, the seven most common classifications are as follows,<ref>Richard Perelman, ''Perelman's Pocket Cyclopedia of Cigars.'' Perelman, Pioneer & Co., 2004; p. 12.</ref> ranging from lightest to darkest:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! width=20%| Color
! width=80%| Description
|-
| Candela ("Double Claro")
| very light, slightly greenish. Achieved by picking leaves before maturity and drying quickly, the color coming from retained green [[chlorophyll]].
|-
| Claro
| very light tan or yellowish
|-
| Colorado Claro
| medium brown
|-
| Colorado ("Rosado")
| reddish-brown
|-
| Colorado Maduro
| darker brown
|-
| Maduro
| very dark brown
|-
| Oscuro ("Double Maduro")
| black
|}

Some manufacturers use an alternate designation:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Designation
!Acronym
!Description
|-
|American Market Selection
|AMS
| synonymous with Candela ("Double Claro")
|-
| English Market Selection
| EMS
| any natural colored wrapper which is darker than Candela, but lighter than Maduro<ref>[http://www.cigarbox.net/cigar-info/wrappers/ "Wrappers,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150101005908/http://www.cigarbox.net/cigar-info/wrappers/ |date=1 January 2015 }} The Cigarbox.net, retrieved 20 October 2014.</ref>
|-
| Spanish Market Selection
| SMS
| one of the two darkest colors, Maduro or Oscuro
|}

In general, dark wrappers add a touch of sweetness, while light ones add a hint of dryness to the taste.<ref name=theCigar/>

=== Binder ===
Beneath the wrapper is a small bunch of "filler" leaves bound together inside of a leaf called a "binder" (Spanish: {{lang|es|capote}}). The binder leaf is typically the sun-saturated leaf from the top part of a tobacco plant and is selected for its elasticity and durability in the rolling process.<ref name=Bati27 /> Unlike the wrapper leaf, which must be uniform in appearance and smooth in texture, the binder leaf may show evidence of physical blemishes or lack uniform coloration. The binder leaf is generally considerably thicker and hardier than the wrapper leaf surrounding it.

=== Filler ===
[[File:Long-Filler.jpg|thumb|Long-leaf filler as used in a hand-rolled cigar (slightly crumbled during cutting)]]

The bulk of a cigar is "filler"—a bound bunch of tobacco leaves. These leaves are folded by hand to allow air passageways down the length of the cigar, through which smoke is drawn after the cigar is lit.<ref name=Bati27 /> A cigar rolled with insufficient air passage is referred to by a smoker as "too tight"; one with excessive airflow creating an excessively fast, hot burn is regarded as "too loose". Considerable skill and dexterity on the part of the cigar roller is needed to avoid these opposing pitfalls—a primary factor in the superiority of hand-rolled cigars over their machine-made counterparts.<ref name=Bati27 />

By blending various varieties of filler tobacco, cigar makers create distinctive strength, aroma, and flavor profiles for their various branded products. In general, fatter cigars hold more filler leaves, allowing a greater potential for the creation of complex flavors. In addition to the variety of tobacco employed, the country of origin can be one important determinant of taste, with different growing environments producing distinctive flavors.
[[File:Short filler cigar Balmoral sumatra.jpg|thumb|Short or chopped filler]]

The [[fermentation]] and aging process adds to this variety, as does the particular part of the tobacco plant harvested, with bottom leaves (Spanish: {{lang|es|volado}}) having a mild flavor and burning easily, middle leaves (Spanish: {{lang|es|seco}}) having a somewhat stronger flavor, with potent and spicy [[ligero]] leaves taken from the sun-drenched top of the plant. When used, ligero is always folded into the middle of the filler bunch due to its slow-burning characteristics.

Some cigar manufacturers purposely place different types of tobacco from one end to the other to give the cigar smokers a variety of tastes, body, and strength from start to finish.

If full leaves are used as filler, a cigar is said to be composed of "long filler". Cigars made from smaller bits of leaf, including many machine-made cigars, are said to be made of "short filler".

[[File:Largest cigar.jpg|thumb|World's largest cigar at the Tobacco and Matchstick Museum in [[Skansen]], Stockholm, Sweden]]
If a cigar is completely constructed (filler, binder, and wrapper) of tobacco produced in only one country, it is referred to in the cigar industry as a "puro", from the Spanish word for "pure".