Time to shake off the dust on my cigar notebook today, after a solid 3 months without posting I feel bad about not updating you, my fellow readers on my cigar adventure. This brief hiatus was due to me not having a digital camera and I sorta felt bored with the blog in general. I hope this blog would of spread like wildfire once I released it, but to my avail it didn't. I did capture the attention of a few and for that I'm thankful for y'all not giving up on me. But enough chit chat and circle jerking, its review time. Today I bring you a rather infamous cigar. The Arturo Fuente Anejo. After 1998's hurricane swept through the Caribbean it left a huge aftermath. The Fuente farm found itself without its Rosado Wrapper leafs. After some digging the Fuentes found a Aged Maduro leaf, (hence the word "Anejo") and with the new found leaf and previous filler tobacco they created the Anejo. So if this cigar is about fresh starts and here's mine.
SPECS-
Size-8x49
Wrapper- Conne. Broadleaf Maduro
Binder-Dominican
Filler-Dominican
Price-~$14
Cut-Straight
Smoke Time-1 hour and a Half
Drink-Coke
FIRST IMPRESSIONS-The wrapper leaf on this cigar looks weather worn. The dark brown leaf presents thick veins and small discolored spots. But in between the lines is a smooth fragrant cedar leaf. This cigar had very good overall construction with just a small soft band near the band. The leaf was slightly salty on the lips and the near perfect draw had woodsy sweetness almost contradicting the rum and raisin scented foot.
FIRST HALF-The cedar in this cigar seems like a big flavor in this cigar. As the cigar develops the initial puffs are of a dry cedar with an undertone of red pepper. The initial dry finish is soon replaced by chocolate and a rum sweetness, this is what I describe as a Anejo signature taste. I've smoked lots of Anejo's and they all seem to have this main flavor. Exploring the flavor it presents a vanilla wafer after taste and is slightly musky.
LAST HALF-In the last half the volume in the last half picks up tons of smoke. The main Anejo flavor now gets slightly tart but still maintaining its original flavor. The cedar turns sweeter and the pepper is at its most pleasant at this point hiting the nose smoothly. Through out the smoke the flavor never really changes up, that main flavor usually is completed by slight woodsy flavors. sometimes cedar and oak with slight Cinnamon backdrops is ussually hinted but never remain.
FINAL IMPRESSIONS- A. Fuente does tend to make some epic cigars from time to time. But what Fuente is really more famous for is being a hype machine. I believe they can get their regular Gran Reserva line, slap a new band on it and say only 200 cigars were made people would swear by them. The Anejo is not one of those cigars. Overall the Anejo line is good, the flavors are deep,pleasant and overall a great experience. But if you're not one of those lucky few that can get these in season this experience might cost you $30.
Rating-88
Buy It Again? Sure.
Suggest It? Sometimes, while its season is a great smoke.
