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Learn · WrappersCandela Wrapper
Candela is the green wrapper... a leaf cured fast with heat so it keeps its chlorophyll, and for a couple of decades the default color of the American cigar.
Where the green comes from
Candela isn't a plant or a place. It's a curing choice. Most cigar leaf air-cures slowly over weeks, browning as the chlorophyll breaks down. Candela leaf goes into a heated curing barn and dries in a matter of days... fast enough to lock the chlorophyll, and the green, in place. The color class sits at the far light end of the wrapper spectrum, past even claro, which is why you'll also hear it called double claro. Its polar opposite is oscuro, the scale's near-black end.
What it's like
Grassy and light. People describe fresh hay, green tea, and a mild herbal sweetness, sometimes with a peppery tickle at the edges. Strength usually stays low. It reads more like a crisp white wine than the usual brown-liquor comparisons cigars invite... a daytime smoke, not a dessert. Makers almost always hang it on a mild blend; a powerhouse hiding under a candela wrapper is rare.
The rise and fall
Mid-1900s America ran on candela. Green wrapper earned the trade name American Market Selection (AMS), and by some estimates it covered the overwhelming majority of cigars sold in the US through the 1950s and 60s... figures as high as nine in ten get quoted. Then tastes turned. Brown English Market Selection naturals took over through the 1970s and 80s, and candela slid from standard issue to curiosity within a generation.
It never quite died. A handful of brands still release candela lines, the leaf keeps a small, loyal following, and it gets its annual moment every March around St. Patrick's Day. If you meet one, you're not looking at a gimmick... you're looking at what your grandfather probably smoked.