Partido

Silky, thin and pale-to-medium Colorado, with a fine grain and almost invisible veins. On the palate it contributes sweetness and floral lift rather than power - light cedar, dried apricot, a faint sugary edge on the lips. Because it is grown in shade it is low in nicotine and burns readily, which is why it forgives an otherwise heavy filler. Its contribution is texture and aroma more than flavor weight.

Shade-grown wrapper priming is graded by position and leaf size rather than strength, and the middle primings give the best combination of size, elasticity and even color.

Deep red ferralitic clay-loam - the same rich soils that made the Havana hinterland prime sugar and market-garden ground. High fertility and good moisture retention produce a large, thin, fine-veined leaf that is exactly what a wrapper needs.

Hot and humid, with the crop grown under cheesecloth tents (tapado) that diffuse the light, raise local humidity and prevent the leaf from thickening. Without shade the same fields would give an unusable wrapper.

Partido was Cuba's premier wrapper district through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, supplying the fine claro leaf that defined the classic Havana look. The great vegas sat within an easy cart ride of Havana, which was both its advantage and eventually its undoing.

Much diminished - urban expansion out of Havana, land reallocation and the cost of shade cultivation have reduced it to a remnant of its former acreage.