Maduro Wrappers - Boiled or Natural?

Derived from the Spanish word for “ripe,” the Maduro wrapper is one of the darkest types of wrapper there is for cigars. But did you know that the term “Maduro” used to be used to classify a specific shade of a cigar wrapper? Nowadays the term is used to determine a type of cigar wrapper.

Although there are a wide variety of Maduro wrappers, the main two types are Natural Maduro and Boiled Maduro. The main differences between these two lies mainly in the process of how the tobacco leaves processed.

When it comes to the Natural Maduro, the way the leaves are processed is like natural selection for survival. Not every tobacco leaf that pledges gets into the frat, and certainly not every tobacco leaf can survive the hazing process. So how exactly do companies make sure they find the right tobacco leaves for Natural Maduro? Unlike Boiled Maudro, Natural Maudro’s process is done in a more “natural” way. The right tobacco leaves should have strong genetics and morphological features. In order to find the ones that possesses these features, they are put to the test when they go through fermentation that takes a much longer time than usual in order to weed out the ones that can be used as Maduro and the ones that cannot. If the tobacco leaves come out with a dark smooth color, then those are the ones that not only possess those desired genetic features, but also the right flavors that are essential to a cigar.

Boiled Maduro on the other hand, may be considered controversial because unlike Natural Maduro, it is not processed “naturally.” When processing tobacco leaves for Boiled Maduro, it does not matter if the tobacco leaves have the same genetics that Natural Maduro tobacco leaves have. Instead of being selected from birth, Boiled Maduro is created by mixing different ingredients together with the tobacco leaves in order for it to have the desired result. The ingredients used to make Boiled Maduro can be from anything like sugar, citrus juice, rum, tobacco stems, and other various materials. The material is mixed together forming a black liquid that gets boiled with tobacco leaves which soaks up the ingredients that it is being boiled with. However, the industry continues its practice of “boiling” Maduro with minimal repercussions.

At nextCigar, we only carry premium cigar brands that distributes only Natural Maduro cigars, available only through years and experience of cultivation.