Wrapper: Ecuadorian Colorado
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan, Dominican
Size: 4.125 x 56 Figurado
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $17.00-$80.00
The cigar received 12 months of naked humidor time prior to my receipt.
THE WHOLE MEGILLAH:
The rolling is truly artful. AF doesn’t telegraph its sources and methods like other brands, but it should. The air of mystery may sell cigars but disclosing the innerworkings may reach echelons of younger smokers who want the real skinny.
I love the smell of barnyard in the morning. Pungent aromas of baking spices, cinnamon candy, dark cocoa, vanilla custard, candied lemon peel, boutique coffee (not Starbucks), various spicy peppers, and roasted cashews.
I feared the draw might be tough. Despite its bulwark shape, the cigar is free and clear. My PerfecDraw can rest in its pearly sarcophagus which Charlotte sometimes uses to store my winter nuts.
The Nic leaves have me timbers shivering. Creamy start. Was expecting something much spicier. This is a nice changeup. My brain shifts gears…I hear grinding noises.
A bat shaped figurado scares the bejeezus out of us all. Will it burn correctly or will it be a gutter ball. I give the working end of the stick a tiny touch up and cross my legs in hope and apprehension.
Three minutes into the cigar and a wave of it’s alright mama hits the epicenter of my brain. The blend takes off like I knew it would. Uh-huh…Jump back. Hit me.
A spectacular array of essential oils splatters against the wall of my current mode of reality…no idea what that meant…I’m just typing here…
Strength is out of the gate at a very potent medium. Nice. The spicy black pepper is properly subdued without an overwhelming presence. Just right. No doubt that this is primarily a Nic blend. The Ecuadorian wrapper provides some sweetness and grassiness. The Dominican entrant is going to smooth things out as soon as the brash start settles down just a tad.
5 minutes in and the strength hits medium/full. Let’s admit it, you think of Arturo Fuente and two things pop us: Mild blends and OpusX. The Rare Pink feels like an anomaly.
While the shape of this cigar, the fat pig, has a strange appeal to smokers, it is a difficult cigar to suspend from one’s lips. An impossibility unless you have an extremely large bass mouth…and a delicate jaw.
Flavors: creaminess, milk chocolate, black pepper, almond cookies, floral honey, tart citrus, and strong coffee. Pretty much the standard three-hour tour of a good Nic cigar. There are finely tuned complex notes surrounding the customary flavors. But enough to warrant an extreme purchase requiring a lot of dough? So far, not so much.
The Dominican leaves are struggling to overtake the Nic leaves. Not an exceedingly astute commentary for a professional reviewer…but when Dominicana is in the mix, one expects more from a blend…especially a very expensive one. Ecuadorian wrappers have become the flavor of the month. Everyone is doing it. I like the cigar, but it feels like a fancy AJ.
CA gave the cigar a 91. Not exactly a stunning tribute.
It is unclear if this cigar is regular production or not. There are online retailers acting like pirates on the high seas asking $80 for a $17 stick. That ain’t right. Privateers.
And that is exactly what this cigar tastes like…a good $17 stick. This is the new middle ground we are seeing in 2024. The art of the deal. In which the cigar companies smile and stick it to their customers. What a deal.
Recently reviewed Lamperts and Casdaglis were in the same price range. Spectacular blends all. Would I rather have a box of those esteemed gents’ wares over Mr. Fuente’s? Hell yeah. The Rare Pink doesn’t taste all that rare.
2” burned and then the DR kicks in and surprises me all to hell. I was ready to write this cigar off as something very good but ordinary. I’m sorry but I cannot ignore the elephant in the room which is the cigar’s price point. Others may be able to put forward a good argument that price should never be part of the assessment. I don’t agree. It is always part of the equation. To ignore the price is noble. To include it in the valuation is realistic.
Not being able to dangle just a little is unnerving. I’m not a Chicago reporter from the 1940’s, but I enjoy a little dangle now and again. Sure, the shape is cool at the start of any herf, but after that give me the tubular bell all day long.
Despite my wavering, this is a good cigar. A good $17 stick. Is it worth more than that? No. Big time no. Don’t waste your hard-earned dough spending what the buccaneers are asking. It ain’t that good. Don’t fall for the hype. Don’t pay a dime more than $20.
I’ve reviewed 25 cigars since the start of 2024. 15 of those were in the $17 range. Clearly, the cigar industry has found a number it likes and is sticking to it until it can safely go out at night without fear of being mugged by the village people. I guess we must get used to it. When a Big Mac is $12, all common sense is adrift in a Viking funeral. Don’t let the media pull a fast one. Inflation is low. Corporate greed is up. Mega conglomerates, who own the media, would love you to believe that maybe you getting a higher paycheck is the reason why everything is so expensive. They’re laughing from their private beaches on the coast of France.
You can purchase Arturo Fuente cigars from my sponsors: Small Batch Cigar (10% off with promo code ‘katman’), Luxury Cigar Club (15% off with promo code ‘katman’), Renegade Cigars (10% off with promo code ‘katman’), and Cigar Page.
RATING: 93
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