A. Fernandez Signature Series

[drafter]

This is only my second cigar so take this review FWIW. Being that my first cigar was so bland I figured I'd give this big A. Fernandez churchill a shot. I'd come to regret that a bit later. :whistling:

After cutting the end I check the draw and I'm instantly smacked with enough spiciness that I let out a cough and think to myself, "this is going to be interesting". I toast the foot with my new torch lighter, which works better than the matches I'd previously been forced to use, and take a puff. The first third of this cigar was full of what I can only describe as almost a hot pepper spiciness with a touch of leather. Very nice.

As it got to the middle it started to calm down quite a bit. Not too mild, but nothing like the first third was. At this point I am starting to get a bit frustrated though because I'm having to fight an uneven burn. Rather than being able to just sit and relax i'm having to grab the lighter to keep this thing from going completely lopsided.

The last part of the cigar started to pick up the spiciness again just a bit, but at this point I've got a bunch of other stuff going on. Besides the burn issue I'm starting to feel like I've had one drink too many. My first buzz I guess. Not bad at first, but by the time I get to the last inch and a half or so I decide I'd better just put it down or I'm going to regret it. Total smoking time right at about an hour and a half.

I go back in the house and grab a handfull of candy hearts the kids have sitting on the table and proceed to go lay down in a sweat for about 45 minutes. I recovered, but glad I didn't go the extra 10 minutes that I probably could have.

Overall, other than the annoying burn issues, I really enjoyed this cigar. The churchill was just too much for me at this point, but I'm thinking this same cigar in the robusto size is going to be perfect.

I'm thinking I'm going to enjoy cigars.

 

[CRQuarto]

LOL, sounds like the first time I had an Opus X....on an empty stomach....with nothing to drink....

It was delicious, but man, afterwards I felt like I had just played a round of beer pong, and lost.

Great review though, not bad for a brand new cigar lover! Try drinking a couple cans of Coke if that happens again, it helps. :whistling:

 

[Kingantz]

Ahhh yeah, the good 'ol green, greasy, sweats! My first experience with it was one of my first partly plugged Cubans. I was drawing hard on it to get smoke out, good as hell, but little did I know where I'd end up. Holding on for dear life in the bathroom! :laugh: Man that was rough.

Great review by the way!

 

[The Black Cloud]

Drafter, keep up the reviews! It's nice to see the growth and experience of a new cigar enthusiast!

 

[swampcat18]

Thanks for the review. That was a great review for somebody who has only had 2 cigars. I'm still new to the cigar game myself. I've probably had 40 or 50, but I wouldn't feel comfortable giving a review and I'm certain I couldn't have done as good of a job as you did. I'm really interested in trying the Fernandez Sig Series. AJ Fernandez was behind two of my favorites sticks, the Padilla Habano and the Rocky Patel Fusion.

 

[drafter]

I just thought I'd post my first couple since it was somewhat of a big deal for me. Now that I've had a couple I think I'll probably just smoke more and "review" less, unless it's something odd that doesn't already show up in the reviews.

I've already placed an order for a pipe and some pipe tobacco so I can't wait to give that a try too.

I'm really enjoying trying some new stuff out.

This place has been great for learning about what's out there.

 

[Shamrocker]

Good review drafter. I've only gotten back into cigar smoking recently and took a shot at posting two reviews so far. I find it enjoyable to share your experiences with the others here. Keep up the good work!

 

[68tigers]

Nice review......I like a lot of AJ's stuff......he's one of the hottest blenders around right now, imho. I like the padilla habano and the Man O War.....the MOW's are a fuller smoke, so I wouldn't recommend them to a newbie. As for the burn issues, the signature series has fragile wrappers, imho. In fact, many of AJ's lines have fragile wrappers. One way to help with the burn issue is to lower your ph a bit....many state that you should store your cigars at 70%.......but others (myself included) will tell ya that, generally speaking, cigars burn better when stored closer to 65%.