Habano Claro

I was flipping through the January famous-smoke catalog, when something caught my eye. It's the wraper on the famous honduran 3000. The picture shows a mottled wrapper. It's like a maduro with natural splotches. According to the discription it's a Habano Claro.

As far as I know a habano refers to plant from cuban seed, and fermented in a traditional cuban way. And I thought claro was another term used for candela, which i believe is almost 'flash cured' locking in the green color. So what is a habano claro?

Many cigar manufacturers have numerous names for wrappers. From EMS,AMS, SMS, Maduro , Double Maduro, Oscuro, Claro, Claro Claro, Colorado Claro, Natural, Candela.
In fact if you get the JR’s catalog this month has a whole story on it. A lot is just selling technique by the cigar companies. They try to make their product stand out from the rest.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Paddy

Many cigar manufacturers have numerous names for wrappers. From EMS,AMS, SMS, Maduro , Double Maduro, Oscuro, Claro, Claro Claro, Colorado Claro, Natural, Candela.
In fact if you get the JR’s catalog this month has a whole story on it. A lot is just selling technique by the cigar companies. They try to make their product stand out from the rest.

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Some of it has to do with the shade descriptor too. I use the following spectrum:

Lightest -----> darkest

Double Claro-Claro-Colorado Claro-Colorado-Colorado Maduro-Maduro-Oscuro

EMS - English Market Selection
AMS - American Market Selection
Never heard of SMS.... what's that one?

Will

Quote:

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Originally Posted by badwhale

Some of it has to do with the shade descriptor too. I use the following spectrum:

Lightest -----> darkest

Double Claro-Claro-Colorado Claro-Colorado-Colorado Maduro-Maduro-Oscuro

EMS - English Market Selection
AMS - American Market Selection
Never heard of SMS.... what's that one?

Will

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Spanish Market - The only place I've ever seen it was on JR's

The Wikipedia entry on cigars has the color designations badwhale listed. It states that AMS is double claro, SMS is maduro and oscuro, and EMS is pretty much everything between.

My guess from "habano claro" is that it's using habano seed and processed to a lighter color. Then again, as has been mentioned, there are general guidelines for color, process, size, etc., but manufacturers can call whatever whatever they want.