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candela wrapper

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jekylnz

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Can anyone elaborate on what make a green wrapper a true candela. ..I Havana a bit of Havana that dried this way. ..but wasn't sure if it's what you would call "candela" or just compost??? I think it got too cold while curing over winter to color properly. ..I've rolled a couple of stog's they didn't taste too bad..maybe more time and a kiln may help?? Any input would b apprieciated...
 

deluxestogie

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If you set up a flue-curing arrangement (starting with fresh, green leaf), but skip the yellowing phase, the wilting phase (rising to ~120-125ºF over the first day) will cook the leaf green (and give off the aroma of cooking asparagus). The leaf drying phase and stem kill phase will then fix the green color, which is essentially preserving the chlorophyll, while denaturing the oxidizing enzyme. I've made candela accidentally during my first flue-cure run, by using a yellowing temp above 104ºF.

To make a reasonable candela, you will need to start with a fairly thin leaf cigar wrapper variety. Some have suggested that candela is fire-cured, but I have never detected a smoky taste in commercial candela.

Bob
 

CT Tobaccoman

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This is pretty old business, but I remember in the 1970s some candella being made in Connecticut from shade. Before firing with the normal propane stoves, the sheds were wrapped in plastic, and the temperature used was hotter than normal. I never took part in candella myself, but basically, they were fire cured just like Conn shade only much hotter--to set the green color without really any curing.

A lot of shade tobacco grown by General Cigar in the DR is used for candella wrappers on their Garcia e Vega machine mae cigars.
 
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