Cigar wrappers come in many finely distinguished grades of colour, and it is very important to ensure that all of these perfectly made Cuban cigars are the exact same color grade before fitting them in their custom made cigar boxes.
The colour of a Cuban Habano wrapper is purely natural in origin - no artificial process is used to make them. Leaves from the upper parts of the tobacco plant are naturally darker, and become darker still during the process of fermentation.
The "Escogedores" or color graders are some of the most experienced workers in the cigar factories. They work in pairs to match the cigar wrappers by color in their special cigar boxes or bundles of Habanos.
One Escogedor sorts the Cuban cigars, dividing them by colours and grades of each colour in a pattern of columns and rows that may well represent 60 or more finely distinguished color grades.
A second Escogedor then sorts these Cuban cigars within each grade, one box-full at a time, ordering them so that any slight differences in tone go from dark to light from left to right across the box.
The Escogedor also chooses which face of each Cuban cigar will face upwards in the box.