Cigars are composed of three types of tobacco leaves, whose variations determine smoking and flavor characteristics:

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Wrappers

A cigar's outermost leaves are its wrappers, which come from the widest part of the plant. It determines much of the cigar's character and flavor, and as such its color is often used to describe the cigar as a whole. Colors are designated as follows, from lightest to darkest:


Double Claro – very light, slightly greenish (also called Candela, American Market Selection or jade); achieved by picking leaves before maturity and drying quickly; often grown in Connecticut
Claro – light tan or yellowish. Indicative of shade-grown tobacco.

Natural – light brown to brown; generally sun-grown.
Colorado Claro – mid-brown; particularly associated with tobacco grown in the Dominican Republic

Colorado – reddish-brown (also called Rosado)
Colorado Maduro – dark brown; particularly associated with Honduras-grown tobacco

Maduro – dark brown to very dark brown
Oscuro – black, often oily in appearance; tend to be grown in Nicaragua, Brazil, Mexico, or Connecticut


Some manufacturers use an alternate designation:


American Market Selection (AMS) – synonymous with Double Claro

English Market Selection (EMS) – can refer to any color stronger than Double Claro but milder than Maduro
Spanish Market Selection (SMS) – either of the two darkest colors, Maduro and Oscuro


Lighter colors indicate earlier picking and milder flavor; darker colors indicate later picking, stronger and sweeter flavors due to the presence of sugars and oils, and longer fermenting.


Fillers

The majority of a cigar is made up of fillers, wrapped up bunches of leaves in its cigar's interior. Fillers of various strengths are usually blended to produce unique cigar flavors. The more oils present in the tobacco leaf, the stronger (less dry) the filler. Types range from the light-flavored (dry) Seco, through the medium Volado, and on to the strong Ligero. Large-gauge cigars have a greater capacity to contain filler, and thus have greater potential to provide a full body and/or complex flavor.


Fillers can be either long or short; long filler uses whole leaves and is of a better quality, while short filler, also called "mixed", uses chopped up leaves as well as stems and other bits.


Binders
Binders are elastic leaves used to hold together the bunches of fillers.