Good idea...

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JUST ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE...

a question of body came up in THIS THREAD
i figured that it would be a good addition to the "blending 101" thread:

Husker44:

What makes the difference in body? The type of leaf? The age? The length of filler? Im just trying to understand a bit as to how to know by description what is mild/med, med/full and full

besides that most cigar descriptions will tell you if it is full mild or medium there are a few other ways of telling.

all of the factors you listed play a roll except for length of filler. (as far as i know)



lets see how short i can keep this...

from the beginning...
every strain of tobacco has a different strength to it. the tobacco that is used in pipes is different than the tobacco used in cigarettes is different than the tobacco used in cigars.
the first way of having a more or less mild cigar is to use a strain of tobacco that is more mild or more full.
Most cigar tobacco has been derived from cuban tobacco at some point or another. from there its been selected from one generation to the next to embody one trait or another. For instance, Connecticut Broadleaf is much more mild the classic Corojo.

the second way to change the strength of the tobacco is by growing it in different ways. Shade grown tobacco has a smoother/milder quality to it because the sun is partially blocked, so the leaves cannot produce as many nutrients. conversely, sungrown tobacco will be stronger because the sun will allow the plant to have more nutrients. this thickens the leaf, and adds more flavor.

another way to change the strength is how long the leaf is on the plant.
when tobacco is harvested for cigars it is often done in primings. Primings are pairs (groups) of leaves on the plant. the lower on the plant the earlier they are picked. the earlier they are picked, the less time they have to soak up the sun and nutrients in the soil. therefore, they are lighter in body.
the higher up the priming, the more body the tobacco leaf will have. Ligero is one of the top primings. it is well known to be one of the strongest leaves in a blend. this leaf is on the plant much longer than the seco, or valado, or any other priming (unless the carona leaves are used)

if you leave the leaves on the plant so long that they begin to cure on the stalk then you are running into what couldl become Oscuro wrapper leaf. Many of the stronger blends have oscuro wrappers because of the extra time giving it more body and character.

the soil also plays an important roll in strength. generally speaking, the richer the soil, the fuller the body. a few key nutrients do ply a roll, nitrogen being the most notable. Nitrogen increases nicotine content, plant yield, leaf width, weight per unit leaf area.

region can play a roll as well but not so much more as in the past. new technology and fertilizers enable a farmer to manipulate this a bit. there are still generalizations that exist. Indonesia, the Dominican Republic, and Ecuador have been known to make good mild tobaccos, where as Nicaragua, Cuba, and Honduras have been known to produce a fuller bodied leaf.

another huge influence on body is the curing and fermentation process. all tobacco needs to be cured. usually after the leaves have been cut off the stalk they are hung to cure. this is the traditional way of curing. another type of curing that can increase the body of a cigar is Stalk-curing. this is where the leaves are left on the stalk and not primed. when the leaves are on the stalk, they will steal more nutrients from the stalk as it cures, making a bolder taste, and fuller body.
when it comes to fermentation, in very general terms, the more you ferment the tobacco the more it breaks down, the more mild it becomes.
a maduro wrapper has been fermented and "cooked" in tight bales so much so that the sugars are drawn to the forefront and the color of the leaf darkens. this process smooths, calms, and sweetens the tobacco. the leaf is now more mild.
it is very possible to "over ferment" tobacco, thus destroying essential oils.

this leads right into age. the older a tobacco leaf is, the more the essential oils have had time to break down. this usually has a calming effect of the leaf. harsh notes are smoothed over. spice is reduced. body is tamed. a full bodied leaf will not be as full 18 years down the line. in fact, tobacco can over-age and lose all its flavor. a milder leaf may do this in less than 10 years. a fuller bodied leaf may take 20+ years.
age does not just apply to raw leaf.
cigars, once rolled will continue to age until they are smoked. the same things happen to a cigar as an individual leaf. they become mild as they age. it is again possible to over age a cigar.

blending is critical in determining body of a cigar. in short, the milder the tobacco used, the milder the cigar.
it is possible to have a mild body tobacco with full flavor paired up in a blend with tobacco that has very little flavor but a ton of body.
these different blends need to be balanced with flavor and can make it difficult to get a desired flavor in a cigar.

this is again why so few people are master blenders.

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Kuzi's cigar catalog blending 101 developing your palate

in a way this is a response to THIS thread. i responded in that thread with what i thought he was asking. then corrected on what the question was asked i posted this:



I recently had the pleasure of blending my own cigar at the Placencia Factory in Estali, Nicaragua.

i found myself in the blending room with hundreds of tobaccos at my disposal. this is a bit overwhelming. you cant just randomly pick out some tobacco and expect it to be good in a blend. I had to step back from the situation think about what i liked in a cigar.
I tend to like a nutty flavor.
i want it to be a bit sweet.
i want there to be warm undertones.
medium in body


this basic flavor profile will help guide me as i blend.

since most of the flavor of a cigar comes from the wrapper, this seems like a logical place to start.
I find that Honduran tobacco tends to have the nutty tones to it, so i know what country to start with. I am looking for a good rich flavor from the wrapper so i cannot have it be seco (lowest priming) it will be to mild and will get over powered by the rest of the blend. I cant have it be Ligero due to burn issues and the tendency for ligero to be spicier than i am looking for. this narrows it down to viso. I dont want the leaf to be too fermented or it will lose some of the nut tones that Honduran tobacco has and it may make sweet the dominant flavor. I settle in on a Viso criollo Colorado Intermedio (medium hue and therefore fermentation compared to a maduro or natural colorado) From the Azacualpa region of Honduras.

the binder seems like the logical next.
I am looking for a sweet leaf that is hearty. this should be able to give me the bit of sweet that i am looking for while still holding the cigar together. When many people think sweet tobacco, they think of Cameroon tobacco. The sweetness and the overall neutrality of the tobacco should compliment the wrapper well. The binder cant be to strong of a leaf because it will over power the wrapper so ligero is out (ligero is also out for combustion issues as well), but i want it to have some impact so Seco is out as well. Viso is again the way to go. I used a Natural Cameroon Viso leaf as binder.

Filler can be tricky.
the filler has to not only compliment itself, but it needs to go well with the wrapper binder combination. much of the body of the cigar is decided in the filler. I want some body to it but i dont want it to be overbearing. So i will need some ligero. Ligero tends to add a depth of flavor that other tobaccos cannot. I feel that the Ligero is the most important leaf (leaves) in the filler as far as taste is concerned.
i am looking for a warm undertone almost like a mild cinnamon. my first thought is the Dominican Republic. many of the puros i have had from the DR have had these warm undertones. (the LG, OpusX, Puro deOro, etc...) so this may be the way to go. the dominican usually produces tobacco that is a bit milder than that of other countries so i can have the ligero and get the flavor without having the spice and lack of balance.

the next leaf in the blend i want to reflect the nutty notes. i dont want the nut flavors to be one dimensional so the filler should also have a Honduran tobacco. the Jamastran Vally of Honduras Produces some of the richest tobaccos the country can provide, but since i am not looking to add ligero and i am just looking for support to the wrapper i will be using seco. its rich for seco, but mild for the plant it came from. i am using a Habano seco from The Jamastran Vally in Honduras.

i want an element of complexity in this blend. Nicaragua produces some of the most complex tobacco in the world, and i want some of that in there. the problem is that it can get spicy and powerful quickly. Ligero is right out. seco may get lost in the mix so i am aiming that viso will work well. with any luck this combined with the Dominican Ligero will give me the Cinnamon tones that i am looking for.


so now we have our blend:
wrapper: Viso criollo Colorado Intermedio From the Azacualpa region of Honduras
Binder: Natural Cameroon Viso
and filler: Dominican Ligero, Habano seco from The Jamastran Vally in Honduras, Nicaraguan Habano viso.

all of that is before the first taste.

Hand this list to a roller and tell him to aim for a ring of 46 (to make the wrapper and binder leaves more prominent) and 6.75 inches long (to get complexity from the filler).
he rolls it up and hands it to me.


here are my tasting notes:


the first puffs bring on a sweetness on the front of the tongue. the flavor becomes nutty with a warm but mild cinnamon undertone. the finish has a different type of nut flavor to it but it is still clearly nuts.

as it develops, the nut flavors stand out more and can be tasted on the lips as well. A hops note develops on the finish. the cigar is medium full in body.

as it progresses a sweetness develops in the finish as well. it compliments the hops. i was not expecting sweet in the finish and i wasnt expecting hops at all. but they work well together.

the final third brings on a bit more spice as the sweet on the finish fades. the smoke warms near the end but the nut and sweet still show up strong.




i didnt get the opportunity to go back and tweak the blend. if i had the chance i would use a bit less nicaraguan in the filler, maybe half as much, and replace that amount with the Honduran that was already being used in the filler.

i would taste from there and maybe tweak again. this process can take days, weeks, or even years. rarely does a blender get it 100% perfect the first time.

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Kuzi's cigar catalog blending 101 developing your palate

That sounds like fun, could you have asked them to roll up a box for you?

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"It is incumbent upon every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle, which if acted on, would save one half the wars of the world" Thomas Jefferson

Amos Umwhat:

That sounds like fun, could you have asked them to roll up a box for you?

i got a bundle of 20.

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Kuzi's cigar catalog blending 101 developing your palate

Wow that sounds great for a first blend attempt. Who knows maybe you can work with Alex to tweak the blend.
Good stuff Kuzi.

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John's Twisted Studios
Balloons on Steriods

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kuzi16:

Amos Umwhat:

That sounds like fun, could you have asked them to roll up a box for you?

i got a bundle of 20.

Nice!

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"It is incumbent upon every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle, which if acted on, would save one half the wars of the world" Thomas Jefferson

That sounds like an amazing time and a great blend! I almost felt like I was right there with you blending this bad boy.

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'Il faut d'abord durer' - Hemingway

Amazing description of your thought process! The whole thing sounds incredibly intimidating though, were there any people with you who didn't have your level of knowledge and experience? Were they given any help in the process?

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xmacro:

If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it.

Ken Light:

Amazing description of your thought process! The whole thing sounds incredibly intimidating though, were there any people with you who didn't have your level of knowledge and experience? Were they given any help in the process?

yes. there were a few, my wife being one of them. myself and the guy running the trip helped her with her blend. she did very little but she did come up with the flavor profile that she wanted. she wanted it to be a sweet vanilla and black pepper with a nutty undertone.
she ended up with a brazilian maduro wrapper, jalapa honduran binder and a mix of honduran fillers with different degrees of fermentation.

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Kuzi's cigar catalog blending 101 developing your palate

kuzi16:

Ken Light:

Amazing description of your thought process! The whole thing sounds incredibly intimidating though, were there any people with you who didn't have your level of knowledge and experience? Were they given any help in the process?

yes. there were a few, my wife being one of them. myself and the guy running the trip helped her with her blend. she did very little but she did come up with the flavor profile that she wanted. she wanted it to be a sweet vanilla and black pepper with a nutty undertone.
she ended up with a brazilian maduro wrapper, jalapa honduran binder and a mix of honduran fillers with different degrees of fermentation.

Sounds like a nice cigar, did you try one of these?

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'Il faut d'abord durer' - Hemingway

nikostewart:

kuzi16:

Ken Light:

Amazing description of your thought process! The whole thing sounds incredibly intimidating though, were there any people with you who didn't have your level of knowledge and experience? Were they given any help in the process?

yes. there were a few, my wife being one of them. myself and the guy running the trip helped her with her blend. she did very little but she did come up with the flavor profile that she wanted. she wanted it to be a sweet vanilla and black pepper with a nutty undertone.
she ended up with a brazilian maduro wrapper, jalapa honduran binder and a mix of honduran fillers with different degrees of fermentation.

Sounds like a nice cigar, did you try one of these?

yes but only a puff. i dont remember too much of it right now. i have a bundle of 20 of those as well.

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Kuzi's cigar catalog blending 101 developing your palate

What factory did you do the blending session at? Drew Estate? I've heard their blending sessions are killer. Talking to a guy right now who has a bundle of 100 lances he blended with drew a few weeks ago, t-52 wrapper, awesome filler blend, sitting in the aging room at the factory right now waiting for the next time he goes back haha.

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SMOKE INTO OBLIVION CIGAR BLOG

the placencia factory.
i have heard the one at drew estates does not have as much tobacco selection on hand.

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Kuzi's cigar catalog blending 101 developing your palate

Thanks for sharing your experience with us. That was a great read!

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