Connecticut Shade is a pale, thin-leafed, fine-veined tobacco developed around 1900 by the US government from the Cuban Hazelwood tobacco strain to grow in Connecticut under cheesecloth tents designed to approximate the humid tropical climates of Cuba and Sumatra. The Connecticut Shade tobacco grown on the 8000 acre plantation in the Connecticut River Valley is used as the exterior wrapper for some cigars, providing an pleasing look, aroma and flavor and an even burn, and is widely regarded as one of the finest wrapper leaves in existence.