Wrapper Grade

Classification of wrapper leaf by size, color, texture, and freedom from damage, assigned at the escogida and refined at the rezagado bench. Systems differ by country and factory: shade-grown Connecticut is sorted into numbered grades, while Cuban wrapper is sorted into named color and size classes before it reaches a roller.

Grading is the reason cigars from one box look alike, since only a small fraction of any wrapper crop is clean enough to face outward.