Connecticut Shade Tobacco

What is Connecticut Shade?

The Connecticut Shade wrapper is one of the most misunderstood in the cigar world.

Cohiba Brand Ambassador Sean Williams explains that the Cohiba Connecticut — despite the name, its wrapper isn’t grown in Connecticut, and it’s not even grown under shade.

How is Connecticut Shade Grown?

The term Connecticut Shade comes from how this style of tobacco and wrapper and how it was grown under cheesecloth to filter sunlight. This produced a lighter, creamier leaf. Today, most “Connecticut Shade” wrappers come from places like Ecuador, where natural cloud cover creates the same effect.

For the Cohiba Connecticut, the wrapper comes from Ecuador’s Las Ríos region. It delivers the smooth, creamy profile you expect, but we added fillers from Nicaragua’s Jalapa Valley, a San Andrés binder from Mexico, and Brazilian Mata Fina to give it more body and complexity.

What you get from a Connecticut shade wrapper (one that that's treated properly) you're going to get a milder, creamier more approachable smoke that has broader appeal which is what we were going for with the Connecticut for Cohiba.