The Quiet Return of the Cameroon Wrapper

For most of the twentieth century, Cameroon-grown wrapper leaf was prized for its delicate, peppery sweetness — the wrapper of choice for the Fuente Hemingway, the Partagas 150, and a generation of refined Dominican cigars.

Then, in the 1990s, blue mold and political instability nearly wiped Cameroon production out. The leaf became scarce, prices climbed, and most blenders quietly switched to Ecuadorian Sumatra as a substitute.

In the last five years, growers in West Africa have rebuilt seedstock and brought Cameroon back to commercial volume. The new harvests are good — not yet the equal of the legendary 1980s crops, but close. If you have not had a Fuente 858 Cameroon in a while, it is time.

— Eric Schleien