J. Fuego Americana | Cigar Review

By Cigar Reviews by the Katman on June 9, 2014 • ( 1 )

Wrapper: Pennsylvanian Sun Grown Broadleaf
Binder: Costa Rican Cuban Seed Corojo
Filler: Honduran Corojo, Nicaraguan Criollo
Size: 5 x 50 “Robusto”
Body: Full
Price: $10.00

There is zip about this cigar. Nothing. Nada. Not even on the Fuego web site.

This is what I found out: The cigar is in limited release and made its online store debut in April. Badda-Boom!

The cigar comes in four sizes: Robusto, Toro 6 x 54, Grande 7 x 58, and Original 5 x 44 in tins. The other three come in 12 count boxes.

The tobacco is semi exotic.

And now you know everything I know about the cigar.

Fuego has done no PR work on this cigar so it is strictly word of mouth and that’s why Atlantic Cigars has all the cigars you want.

Initially, the release was only supposed to be several hundred cigars.

Construction is solid. Like a rock with the right amount of give. It has a gorgeous, oily mottled dark coffee bean color. Seams are invisible but there are loads of veins, big and small. The triple cap is perfect. The stick is extremely toothy.

The double cigar bands are simple to the point of disappearing into the cigar itself.

I clip the cap and find aromas of strong coffee, wood, spice, leather, something sweet as my nose moves from the cap to the foot along the shaft. It is the perennial black cherry. There are also slight herbal and tea notes.
Time to light up.

The first puffs on any cigar pretty much taste the same. A good solid dose of premium tobacco along with earthiness. The only variation is when you get a really spicy meatball.

The draw is excellent. The stick is solid but smokes like a champ. Sweetness begins to shows its pretty head. Like me.

Then, a wallop of black pepper. Yeow! And then something more…a woody, toasty flavor. Followed by a nutty element. I can barely taste some creaminess in the background too shy to come out to play. You ever play doctor when you were a kid with the neighborhood cutie? I am Jewish so I played a heart surgeon. I know, you’re thinking why not an OB/GYN? Too messy. I was only 7 for chrissakes, you pervs!

I am getting a bunch of either unfamiliar flavors or too early to properly discern. This is very unusual.

As I have just completed 1” of burn, the flavor profile blossoms. Here are the flavors: Spice, earthiness, wood, sweetness, creaminess, nuts, herbal notes, black cherry, and new leather.

The ash is hanging tough and when I try to tap it off, it won’t go. So I will play Cigar Ash Roulette with only one round in the chamber.

And I lose the game with 1-1/2” of solid ash now on the dining room carpet. I know how to make a wife happy.
As the second third begins, the cigar hits a very close to center flavor bomb status. There are no typical Nicaraguan flavors because, matey, it ain’t got hardly no Nicaraguan leaves in it.

This is a very unique blend. The tea and herbal notes become very strong. The sweetness moves to the center of the list. Creaminess creeps up a tad but it is not a Nicaraguan creaminess. It is more like putting your finger in some half and half and licking it. Momentary.

The spiciness has been the constant. And the earthiness. I’ve only had the sticks a couple weeks and there is always the possibility it is not long enough. I am getting a big dose of excellent potential; but from what I could glean from descriptions of the cigar, I am getting the blender’s intent. There is no Barnum & Bailey flavor show after a few more weeks of humidor time.

There is some real disinformation going around with a lot of inexperienced, or young, reviewers. All of them don’t tell you the humidor time because they bought, or received the cigar the same day they reviewed them.
They give the cigar a so so review; or even worse: a glowing one because they don’t have a defined palate yet.

So always be wary of a bad review that never mentions the humidor time that the reviewer allowed. I ran into that on FB a couple days ago where a reviewer posted a photo of some stick, that I have waiting in my humidor for review, and asked him how long should I wait.

He tells me to read his review. Gee, thanks.

So I read the lame review and no mention of the humidor time. I go back to FB and tell him that there is no mention of humidor time. He fesses up that he bought the stick at a local B & M and raced home to review it. Ah-ha. And this is a reviewer you’ve probably read many times.

At the halfway point and the flavor profile begins to act and taste like what we all consider a normal flavor bomb. Here are the flavors: Creaminess, red pepper, sweetness, cocoa, earthiness, wood, nuts, strong tea and herbal notes, black cherry, and leather.

The first half was an interesting tease. The second half digs in with a typical flavor profile.

I remove the cigar band and there is too much damn glue on it. So it will look like shit in my photos.

I’ve neglected to discuss the strength. The first third was classic medium body. The second third sees an uptick in strength. At the halfway point, the strength moves to medium/full.

The construction has behaved. No need for touch ups to the foot. IN fact, it has been nearly razor sharp the entire time.

The last third becomes a pipe bomb. The strength moves to full bodied. The flavor profile just explodes.

Flavors are exactly the same as the earlier list but now are massive in proportion to what they started as. The cigar finds its balance and complexity with a very long chewy finish.

As Fuego does not say how limited release this cigar is, there is no way of predicting how long they will be on the market. So now is the time to strike.