Connecticut "shade" tobacco is so called because it is grown under large tents that protect the leaves from the sun. Grown in direct sunlight, the leaf would be coarse and tough.
But by shading it, effectively the sunlight is filtered, yielding a thinner, more elastic leaf that cures to a lighter, even color. Today, shade-grown Connecticut wrapper leaf is one of the world's most expensive agricultural commodities. Since the wrapper provides a major portion of a cigar's taste, what is it about this region that makes this leaf so sought after?
For one, it's gorgeous. Aesthetically, the sight of the silky, smooth, thin and elastic look of Connecticut shade wrappers is beyond compare. Another is the even burn. The thin, elastic nature of this leaf offers a smooth, slow and even burn and gives a cigar balance.
Wrappers That split are typically caused by cigars which have experienced cycles of being over-humidified and then under-humidified.
It is the end result of the cigar's wrapper being stretched by the expanding filler when moist and the subsequent shrinkage when it dries. Basically they are just like "stretch marks."
These are very common in vintage cigars even if kept within ideal conditions. Over time the continuous shifting of a couple of points of %RH will result in wrinkles.
Also, this is not that uncommon in cooledors since the humidity tends to shoot up and down drastically with opening and closing. Unlike a wooden humidor, a cooler's plastic is unable to retain an ambient RH. The longer a cigar has been stored the more likely wrinkles and splitting are to occur.
Wrappers will become more brittle as the wrinkling continues to occur and may eventually lead to cracking and splitting.
