Learn ›
Learn · WrappersCriollo Wrapper
Criollo is Cuba's "native" tobacco... one of the island's oldest seed lines, now grown across Central America with a rounder, softer profile than corojo.
Where it comes from
Criollo means "creole"... roughly, born here. The name covers the tobacco line Cuba grew for centuries, the base stock much of the island's cigar tobacco descends from. By one Cuban breeder's account, criollo still made up the whole Cuban cigar in 1937, wrapper included. Corojo took over wrapper duty from 1948, and criollo settled inside the cigar as filler and binder.
Two things changed that. First, disease: when blue mold hammered Cuban fields, the island's breeders crossed criollo and other Cuban varieties into tougher plants, and Criollo 98, named for the year it arrived, became one of the stars... resistant, consistent, and good-looking enough for wrapper work. Its parentage and its sibling hybrids are at hybrid wrapper varietals. Second, the diaspora: Cuban seed traveled, and criollo types now grow in Nicaragua, Honduras, and beyond.
One caution with the word: countries use "criollo" loosely, the way they use corojo. Sometimes it means the Cuban-descended seed line, sometimes just a locally adapted strain wearing the same name. As usual, the band gives you a direction, not a pedigree.
What it's like
Rounder than its cousins. People describe toast, nuttiness, cocoa, sweet earth, and a gentler pepper than corojo's black-pepper snap. It usually lands medium... flavorful without shouting. Where habano stretches from smooth to strong depending on where it grows, criollo mostly stays in the friendly middle lane. On the wrapper spectrum it typically shows up in the natural-to-colorado browns. You'll meet it most often on Nicaraguan-made cigars, where criollo grows widely and often works alongside habano leaf in the same blend.
Natural vs maduro
Criollo is usually presented natural. Its value is nuance, and the long, dark maduro treatment tends to steamroll nuance... blenders who want dark and sweet usually reach for thicker leaf instead.
Sources
- Cigar Aficionado, "A Passion For Seeds" (2015), Cuba's Criollo and Corojo lines and the disease-resistant hybrids bred to replace them. cigaraficionado.com
- Cigar Aficionado, "The Death of El Corojo" (2000), Corojo's disease problems, its end in Cuba around 1997 and the hybrids that replaced it. cigaraficionado.com
- Instituto de Investigaciones del Tabaco (Cuba), patent CU23758A1, "Criollo 98, nueva variedad de tabaco negro" (filed 2001), resistance to blue mold, black shank and mosaic virus. patents.google.com
- Tobacco Asia, "Cigars: Spotlight on Honduras" (2017), Jamastran, Talanga and Copán, Cuban exiles in the 1960s, Corojo and Criollo in Honduras. tobaccoasia.com
Keep reading
Reviewed at WSA since this page was written
Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua Maestro Review
The Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua Maestro is a Not Even Free (1/4) at $13.50 to $14.40 street... a bitey leather and minerality up front, a decent...
Diesel Uncaged Toro Review
The Diesel Uncaged Toro is a Five-Pack (3/4) at about $6.89 street... a near-perfect draw, big creamy smoke, and a sweet cream retrohale that kept...