Tapado is the Spanish word for the covering over a shade grown tobacco field. The cloth filters direct sun, raises humidity under the tent, and reduces wind. Cigar Aficionado notes that traditional covers were cheesecloth and that modern covers are usually nylon or another synthetic, and that covering an acre takes on the order of thousands of yards of cloth.
The goal is thinner, more elastic leaf with finer veins — the traits factories want in wrapper. Connecticut shade is the best-known historical example of tapado farming. Some regions, notably parts of Ecuador, rely more on cloud cover than on cloth for a similar filtered-light effect. See growing cigar tobacco.