Anyone know of any stix that have this undesirable characteristic.

I know of one: El Major Espresso, color came off on my fingers....

I have heard (not verified) that RP Edge Maduro wrappers are steamed to get their color prior to rolling.

The only "artificially created color" wrapper that I can tell you for certain is the Partagas Black - it's boiled.

Never had that problem with a G5 or any other gurkha. I love the G5.

Yep...these nasty fuqers are dyed. I left most of a cigar out in the rain one time and watched the rain wash the dye off. It was (and I'm serious) candela under the dye. GROSS!!!

You can watch the burnline and see the green.

The easier question is "does Rocky make a stick he doesn't dye?"

WHERE'S ROCKY ?

Really? Care to explain?

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/1823/0561flyingpigtailroll1.jpg 

http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/7849/0562flyingpigtailroll2.jpg 

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/5068/0563flyingpigtailroll3.jpg 

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/496/0567flyingpigtailroll4.jpg 

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/6493/0568flyingpigtailroll5.jpg 

You can see the natural pigments from the cigar wrapper on her hands, the corners of the metal topped rolling block where it just kind of collects and builds up along with the rag she uses to wipe down the block before applying the wrapper.

Will dyes (which BTW, are typically made from stalks of the tobacco plant) come off, yes they can. But, the pigments will also come off of undyed cigars as you can see here.

And hey I could be wrong...But even if I am, and it is just the natural pigment. Why wouldn't they rinse it or apply some procedure so the smoker wouldn't have to worry about staining his/her hands?

There's a few ways to darken a wrapper:

-natural fermentation in the pilons, higher temps, longer fermentations, each manufacturer has their own unique way of doing things here. "Tricks" so to speak, some stack their pilons differently, different levels of moisture are kept in the fermentation rooms, some use weights on the pilons, some let them go to higher temperatures before breaking them down, some let their fermentation rooms climb to higher temperatures, etc..., none of these are bad or unnatural, just unique ways of doing things. The longer they ferment, the more evenly colored and darker the leaves get. Early on in the fermentation process, the leaves are often splotchy and many, many different shades. Eventually the splotchiness evens out and the colors become more similar. They still have to color sort the leaves, that way you receive a box of cigars that is relatively uniform in color, but not necessarily the same color as the next box.

-Dying: crush down the stalks, make a dye, apply it. Some manufacturers use this as a way of touching up the splotchiness, some use it to color the leaves, some use it to make every box the same. Unfortunately, it doesn't stick well to the oily leaves.

-Steaming: Cooking the leaves - will rapidly darken the leaves, but can leave them flavorless. Honestly, I'm not sure if any reputable manufacturer uses these machines. They were around a lot in the 90's to make wrappers in short order for the boom sales, where you had cigar fly-by-night cigar companies popping up in every parking lot and street corner.

-Boiling - Only one I know that uses this is the Partagas Black, it creates such a perfect, dark, dull, even coloration, no point even hiding that you're doing it.

There ya go again Marc......#-o

lettin' your fingers write checks, your ass (or brain I guess) just can't cash.

Although I am curious to hear your response to this one.

Go on.....I dare ya......

I remember seeing a guy smoke one and he looked like he had lipstick on about halfway through with it. I dyed laughing!