Need insights on all the different cuban blends

[Ryan]

.. Bolivars use sungrown wrappers...

I've never heard of sungrown leaves used to make any wrappers for any Cuban cigar. I would have thought they'd be too thick and brittle.

Where have you heard this or seen this?

[Ryan]

In tobacco warehouses in Pinar del Rio, I've heard the term "Betune" mentioned, very quietly, regarding tobacco when it is fermenting in 'pilones'.

I've never seen any evidence of it and I've always been told that only water is used, at least nowadays.

[markmurase]

I know how its done...every year fidel draws a map of cuba. And he picks a chicken. This chicken will run around the map until it poops. That is where the Cohiba filler will be harvested. Then the next time, the binder, then the wrapper.

I think I sense a person who doesn't like Cohiba! It's true they are expensive and there are a lot of crap ones, but at their best Cohibas are superb

[jacksfull]

Having read that plant varieties grown for CC wrappers have changed several times over the years (and assuming the same is true of fillers), not to mention variations in tobacco output from year to year, it's difficult to believe that blends are entirely static.

Blending is often referred to as an art. That would imply that it takes expertise to make adjustments in order to maintain consistent flavors in the end result from year to year or batch to batch or even cigar to cigar. And on that note, we all know that "consistency" is not always consistent when it comes to CC's.

So, my thoroughly uneducated guess would be that tobaccos are selected for blending based on flavor and other qualities present in each fermented, aged, processed and ready-to-role bale. Perhaps leaves from individual vegas tend toward certain profiles, but if it's not there in a particular batch I would imagine a good blender would adjust for that in the blend or pass it on for use in another vitola, with some blenders better at it than others.

There is no doubt that "the Cuban flavor" is truly unique to Cuba. Many have tried to replicate it, but the best they can do, if they're lucky, is produce a lovely NC with it's own unique characteristics. So, it seems the fine tuning of a blend relies on the skills of the farmer, the tobacco processors, and the blenders... and all this in addition to terroir.