Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican
Size: 5.75 x 50/64 Box Pressed Pyramid
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $32.00

My cigars have 5 years of box aging and 3 months of naked humidor time.
The binder and filler are aged 5 years in cognac barrels and then wrapped in the Maduro and aged an additional year.
This cigar was originally released in 2000. Regular production twice a year. Quantity not disclosed.

THE WHOLE MEGILLAH:
I reviewed the #55 in 2013. Liked it.

The wrapper’s aroma is licorice and barnyard. My two favorite things to smell after my morning coffee.

The draw is plugged like a guy that just finished 3 large cheese pizzas. My PerfecDraw is hiding behind a beaver pelt, but I can hear fragmented breathing. As I call out its name, the breathing stops. Like Jay Silverheels getting his fully due royalties, I sneak up on the little bastard and yell, ‘Excelsior!’ I ram its proboscis into the cigar, and I hear squeaking that tells me the airhole is clear. The shit I do for a good review. The shit you endure to read this crap.

Toasting the square 64 ring foot is like setting fire to the Angelyne billboard on Sunset Blvd. That thing was a sight to see when I was a kid. Holy shit. She’s 73. The woman’s real name is Ronia Goldberg…figures. We Jews just never made it big in Hollywood.

Smooth and rich at the start that gives off flavors of dark chocolate, salted nuts, espresso, creamy tart berries, and black pepper. OK…not exactly earth shattering. A good $18 cigar starts this way. Back in the day (2022), the same good cigar could be had for $12.

Minutes later. I think the Broadleaf Maduro wrapper is having too much influence. Not a huge fan of this leaf. The BM comes with a stark flavor that is anything but subtle. Meanwhile, the smoothness of the Dominican leaves fight for breathing room. Will it be a battle? No idea as I could only afford one stick. I’m not like the big industry sites who have budgets for their purchases…and who can write them off on their taxes.

Still, I may be jumping too early as I have two hours+ ahead of me. I shall shut the fuck up for a while until the cigar makes some progress.

OK. So, I can’t shut the fuck up…I noticed that Chazz Palmenteri is pushing a vanity cigar project called A Bronx Tale…what else? The guy who has never made a cigar in his life is asking $24 per stick. The fucking nerve. Cancel culture should stamp his ass ‘received.’ I am disgusted…so I bought a fiver. HW has a video of Palmenteri making an ass of himself as the man says his grandpa was a big smoker…but forgets to add that he himself doesn’t smoke cigars. Nothing worse than a guy in his 70’s still hanging on. You can read what CA has to say about it here. I should add that the man has a new second release of a reasonably priced blend called ‘Calogero’ that hangs in the $12-$13 range. I will report in 3 months if the first outing worked. I know. No one really gives a shit. I am a prisoner of my own vanity.

I shall consult the flavor wheel. Toasty. Yes. At my age, I don’t know what I’m thinking unless I read it first.

I consult amazon music and play the Stevie Wonder station. Superstition. Jeff Beck. I dig a pony.

The broadleaf calms. The Dominican rises. Super complex an inch in. I don’t like torpedoes because you gotta lop off a sizeable portion of the cap to allow for that airhole. It makes accurately measuring the cigar for a review near impossible. If I could do math, I wouldn’t have become an engineer.

A good but not mind-boggling blend. It doesn’t stand out as something I’m going to remember. So many cigars with similar blends. Sure, Fuente espouses magical and mystical tobaccos are used for their expensive blends…but they aren’t so supernatural in the 2020’s. So many good blenders in the last few years are producing cigars every bit as good as Fuente and his list of iconic blends. You know who they are.

The Dominican surges at 2” burned. Bordering on great but not there yet. I saw the usual suspects hawking this cigar for upwards of $70. Fuckers.

The fuck up is that the binder and filler are doing their jobs, but Fuente should have chosen a wrapper that would be a cohesive leaf that enhances the Dominican choices. The current flavor of the month is Ecuadorian. It melds perfectly with other similarly subtle selections. The broadleaf gives the cigar an edge it could do without.

Strength is medium/full and climbing. Not a morning cigar.

‘Billie Jean.’ Love that song. I failed miserably at learning how to moon walk. Bass players have no rhythm or physical coordination.

The cigar is a very slow roll. It would be great with wildly expensive bourbon whisky or scotch. I buy the Costco stuff that has a huge white label that just says ‘Whisky.’ For sophistication, they placed a worm in the bottom of the bottle. I think it’s a worm.

Earth, wind, and leather. I use this term ad nauseum. Great band to do the hump and pump to.

I bought another 10-count box of Luxury Cigar Club Choshi by Artesano Del Tobacco Blended by AJ Fernandez. If you haven’t tried this wonderful $12.62 ($10.73 with promo code) cigar, you should. My buddy Mark S. reminded me of this blend. I’m so pliable and prone to suggestion. You can read my 2023 review here. I gave it a better score than I’m going to give this Fuente. And it’s 1/3 the price. Can’t beat that with a Fleet Enema. This is Mark’s take on the Choshi: “Oh my! That taste of aged tobacco, so many lovely changes and flavors that I couldn’t count them! Pure bliss! I immediately ordered 2 more boxes and am awaiting the tax return for more. I did get just over an hour with it. I will never understand how some of these flavors can be in a cigar without infusing them. But, alas, I grew up on a street that had a sign that read, ‘Slow Children At Play.’ That probably explains some of my issues.”

As I lean into the second half, the strength becomes full tilt. Which is what I’m doing in my Big & Tall office chair. The nicotine is raging. Yikes. I need more coffee to make the journey even more jittery.

This blend is not a flavor bomb. Flavors remain the same with dominant dark chocolate, malt, nuts, black coffee, creaminess, black pepper galore, cinnamon, and raisins.

At 2-1/2 hours, I’m spent like an oft used Trojan. Don’t smoke this cigar without some food in your belly. A newbie killer.

Fuente does better with milder blends.

Don’t spend $32 for this cigar. Other sizes of this blend are nearly half the price.

Non-sponsor Holt’s Cigar Co. has some sizes available for sale from $15.00-$18.00. These cigars can be had by other sellers, but they are privateers that want to rape and pillage your wallet. I won’t endorse them.

Simply Stogies does a very nice review with lovely photos. They rated the 2022 release a 9.25. Perfectly accurate.

RATING: 93

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