What are Primings and How do They Influence the Smoking Experience? 2025 Edition

What are Primings and How do They Influence the Smoking Experience?

Cigar blenders have many techniques they can use to influence the flavor profile of a cigar. One such way is to assemble cigars with tobacco leaves taken from certain primings. What are primings? Primings refer to the process of harvesting tobacco leaves in a pre-determined order. 

Let’s break that down further here.

What are Primings?

A priming is a round of harvesting leaves from a tobacco plant. Primings break the plant down into several distinct sections and allow artisans to collect leaves with similar qualities. 

Tobacco plants grow in three “levels.” They are: the ligero (the top of the plant), the seco (the middle), and the volado (the bottom). Artisans harvest tobacco leaves from the bottom up in stages known as “primings.” Thus, the first priming includes leaves from the bottom of the plant. The second will be slightly higher up on the plant, and so on. 

On average, artisans complete about six primings per plant.

How do Primings Affect the Smoking Experience?

Primings affect the cigar smoking experience because leaves taken during different primings have different characteristics (even if they’re taken from the same plant). Indeed, *when* a tobacco leaf is harvested can have as much impact on its flavor profile as where it’s grown or how it’s stored and aged. 

Tobacco leaves taken during the first primings sit near the bottom of the plant. As a result, they grow primarily in shade and are often lighter in color, more delicate, and possess milder, subtler tasting notes than other leaves. On the other hand, cigars that use more ligero leaves will usually be darker in color and produce bolder, richer flavors. Remember, “Maduro'' comes from the Spanish word for “ripe,” so it only makes sense that these cigars contain tobacco leaves that have matured for longer.

Macanudo Gold Label: Cigar Primings 101

Macanudo Gold Label is (perhaps) the most famous cigar affected by primings. Gold Label contains a Connecticut Shade wrapper and a Mexican San Andrean binder. However, unlike other Connecticut Shade cigars, Gold Label possesses only wrapper and binder leaves harvested during the first and second primings. This means that the leaves used to craft Gold Label produce even sweeter, smoother, and creamier tasting notes than other leaves. 

For more information on Gold Label, including its newest size, click here. 

We hope you found this article helpful! For more content just like this, sign up for Cigar World today.