I have notice some cellos turn brown like the one below while others stay pretty clear. I know the first answer is oils, but I thought they would crystallize too.

Image
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There really isn't one single answer. Many possible factors can include the manufacture of the cello, thickness of the cello, heat, oils, ammonia from the cigar, age, etc.
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Mmmm crispy brown cello...
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Always figured that the first factor, not the last. In any case, I always figured it a good sign.
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Airbrushing and or Photoshop
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They weren't listed in any particular order, but you want to get technical about it, age is actually a culmination of many of the other factors combined.

I once turned a pile of used but still clear cello to a dark amber resembling cello found on cigars 10-15 years old in a matter of just a few weeks just by sealing them in a tupperware with a ramekin of ammonia and setting the tupperware where it would be exposed to some heat.
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hah, chemistry at work. So, now here is an interesting idea. Take off all of these cellos, turn them dark amber, carefully get them back onto the ROTT cigars and then cell them as aged cello cigars!!!
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:-) I really hope you didn't mean to call fraud and deception "am interesting idea"

Much like plume or bloom, there really is no evidence that brown cello imparts any additional flavor to a cigar. But is a nice curiosity and always good for conversation. :-)
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The brown cello thing is great but from what I have seen means very little other than to hold it up and have people say "wow", smoked a '94 Upmann machine made the other night, en cello, the cello was barely discolored at all, yet the cigar was and you can quote me on this, freaking out of this world.
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Would have said age and chemistry over time, but Adam blew that right out of the water! :-)
At any rate, at one of my favorite local B&M's, people have been known to dig for those 'toned' wrapper sticks!
RR
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Re this, and on topic, what about those faux brown cellos resulting from fake oscuros whose wrappers have been dyed a dark brown or even near-black by something?

It isn't a common practice, but it happens.
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Strange thing is not all in the box turned so brown. No photoshop it is more pronounced on the white cutting board.
These are lot 23 natural from 2006.

:-)
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Bob, the other Adam and Rob, you've kind of hit on why I did what I did with a bunch of empty cello wrappers; to show that brown cello can mean nothing. Sure, it can mean old, but my point in that experiment was to disprove the commonly held incorrect belief that "yellow cello =(absolute)= aged cigar" and show that the creation of darker cello can be accelerated.

Meh. Most of the dyed nc cigars today (last 10 or so years) are are colored with a dye derived from crushed and boiled tobacco plant stalks or just simply boiled capa leaves. Cello isn't the same as your fingers or lips, it's unlikely it will absorb these compounds any faster than they would for a cigar sporting a naturally fermented capa of the same shade. In fact, boiled capa leaf might actually have a slower rate of yellowing as the oils and other compounds that might cause a cello to turn yellow all leeched out in the boil process.
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No, not strange at all.

Uneven yellowing after that age is normal. Unequal airflow, uneven heat, how close the cigars are packed and how gasses are trapped or oxygen flow is restricted can all affect the cello.
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so ... my take on this thread ... the more ammonia in the original cigar = the yellower the cello .

make sense ???

derrek
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Only you, Adam! I learned something new today! Had no clue that could be done.
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Makes sense to me!
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Wow, I've never owned a cigar long enough for the cellophane to turn color with age, but I have had a few old ones from friends- and never given any thought at all to why exactly the cellophane changed colors. Interesting topic!
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I don't think it can be pinned down to a single reason. There are too many possible factors and variables.
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