So…you say you like a strong cigar, eh?
You enjoy the rush…soaking up the Vitamin N. You love the way your smoke elbows you in the gut while still satisfying with flavor. Understandable – who, among us full-bodied smokers, doesn’t appreciate a cigar that packs a punch?
The primary reason a cigar is strong: Ligero. These leaves are the high primings, found near the top of the stalk. As the lower leaves are harvested, the plant focuses more of its growing energy and nutrients into the sun-soaked leaves that remain. Some growers even let them over-ripen to brew a little more power, body, and complexity. More sun = thicker, more powerful tobacco. If you look at the foot of a cigar, it is often the Ligero – those darker leaves – that you see at the core.
It’s important to remember that strength and body are not descriptive twins – they’re more like blood brothers. Strong cigars can be full-bodied, but not all full-bodied cigars are strong; one is a comprising quality of the other.
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