My go to wrapper was WLT H2K habano for the longest time. All my best matalotos were wrapped in this. Color, strength, flavor, burn all impeccable. Then, all of a sudden, his next batch came thru fireproof. Then his Honduran H2k was full of holes and would not burn. Then his next batch of H2k was wonderfully aromatic but absolutely fireproof. I'm sure it's just as frustrating to him as to everyone else. I gave away bunches of this stuff in hopes that someone else could figure out how to make it work. Sounds like nobody did. I'm using it now as a center thread of filler in order to harness the aromatic wunnerfullness of it.
Jorge = not for me. That intense raisin smell tells me it isn't finished fermenting. Smelled super great but smoked rank & stinky. Threw out big batches of gars rolled with his stuff. Plus, the veins were ginormous.
I'm currently enjoying some fine Ec Seco Shade leaf from LO. I don't see why people complain it's fragile. I have zero probs with it breaking. You have some you don't like, I'll swap you. To me, the thinner the wrapper the better the finish. The Ec shade ligero is ok, but not my flavor fave. The Ec shade viso I found musty. I way prefer the seco, for flavor. The LO Mata Fina I got is equally terrific. Here's some of that in action:
See, that's delicate wrapper in action. Just be careful with it and it rocks.
LO's Nicaraguan, however, was a mixed bag. First batch was smallish leaves with no strength & no stretch. The sort of stuff that when you dampen it, it wants to dissolve. The next batch was leaves twice as large, delicate, not very stretchy, but smooth. I'm smoking thru a batch of Uppowoc Jackals wrapped last summer in this leaf. The flavor is inconsistent. Sometimes I'm really into them; sometimes not. See here:
I have zero experience of CT shade from either supplier. I score my CT shade from FX Smith's. First batch, I sent the last of that to Bliss; but the best of it was gone. Some of these leaves were two feet long and sixteen inches wide. Craig Smith tells me he was getting six or eight wrappers from a leaf. Fabulous leaf. I went back there this last weekend cause I promised Bliss I'd try and score some more. Alas, his current batch is nowhere near as large. Craig tells me he struggles to get three or four wrapper from a leaf of this. He said the samples that the salesman showed him did not at all resemble the batch he got. I imagine Don at WLT and whoever buys at LO go thru the same frustration. Lookit this older batch:
Is that gorgeous or what?
That's laid on the same breadboard as this new batch:
What a size diff, eh? I have not tasted this new batch yet.
FXSS cuts their wrapper using patterns like this:
Air sucks thru those holes to hold the wrapper in place on the machine. That slot on the left is where a mechanical flipper holds the wrapper to the foot of the gar. That rounded top on the right, that becomes the cap. Overlap is only 1/4".
The Tobacco Butcher's stuff is not aged & fermented the way your imported stuff is. Neither is it carefully graded. But his portions are so effin big that you can't go wrong. I love his Silver River. Hope he grows more of that this year. I have a batch of PA Broad from him too, but have not used it yet. Been letting it age. I don't have a clear picture of the Silver River in action; but hee's an idea:
