It all started back in late December, when I joined this board - and did my first trade with CoventryCat. Included in the trade was a Hemingway Work of Art Maduro. (At the time, I had no idea what this was.) After receiving this stick, and reading various reviews of the different A.F. lines around the Web, I saw that Fuente was marketing a lot of different lines as high-end sticks, and many were quite hard to find. Prior to this point, I had only ever seen the 'normal' gran reserva line in my shop, so that's all I knew about.
This isn't a single review of a single cigar, but a summary of around 2 dozen+ cigars smoked over the last month and a half. Most were taken from the high-end or slightly rare lines (but a few from the cheapest lines). This is basically how I do anything in life - I find something I like (whether a cigar, an author, or a singer) and then sample across their entire body of work. After I've found my favorites - I move onto the next area. This post marks the completion of my Fuente exploring. I'm currently in the middle of exploring several ISOM brands (Vegas, Cohiba, and Upmann) along with Padron and Gurkha. Eventually, I'll probably have identified a few dozen favorites from the entire cigar world - and then be "caught up" and just try new things as they're released. Should take about 22.5 years at this pace.
This is a subjective summary of each line, followed by a comparison rating of my top-cigars across the lines.
- Hemingway: I tried several different natural versions of this line, as well as several different maduro versions, including a couple WOAM's. All had the same underlying taste, which I would describe as being composed of caramel and coffee as it's dominant flavor, with some nutty and woody tones coming in as you go. Some spiciness was evident, but not much for me. Different sticks varied significantly to me in terms of strength and finish. Overall, I ended up liking the WOAM the best in the end. The extra flavor and taste of the maduro wrapper made a difference, and I preferred the smaller cigars in the line to the larger (which is uncommon for me).
- Opus X: I worked though several of these, ranging from the largest sizes to the smallish ones. The Opus's all give me a strong foundation of spicy and leathery flavor, with lots of accents of chocolate/coffee and maybe some nutmeg. They vary in terms of strength and smoothness - and the older ones I had are preferred. Interestingly, much like the Hemingways, I preferred the smaller cigars as a rule, and probably like the #4 the best.
- Anejo: Had a few of these, including one dud, and found them to be pretty much what they were advertised as: Opus's with a different wrapper. Overall, I prefer them to the Opus - but they are almost overloaded with flavors. I have not had any of these significantly aged yet, and am curious to see how they change over time. My favorite was the Shark.
- Diamond Crown: I approached this line with some trepidation, as it appears to be considered overrated by many people whose opinions I respect. This line can be divided into two categories for me - the natural robustos (of varying lengths, from around 5 inches to 8.5 - all 54 ring) as opposed to the Torpedo Maduro and the Figurado Maduro. As far as the robustos went, I found them to have a similar taste pattern to the opus's, though slightly different and not as strong. The wrapper on the DC's was almost tasteless (to me) - so I could taste the core flavors more easily. Overall, I'd probably smoke the shorter robusto's when I wanted something relaxing - but just doesn't make the grade as compared to other smokes I like in this category. Now the maduro's in the line I would compare closely to Anejo's - though with a more relaxed flavor and strength. My favorite of the line (by a lot - to the point where it is really the only one I could say I saw what any of the hype was about) was the #6 Figurado Maduro. This is a big stick (over 64 ring in the thickest part) - and had more punch than all the others, and a wider range to its flavor (which can probably be attributed to the figurado shape). In the end, I just prefer a maduro wrapper around Fuente's higher end tobacco blends.
- Don Carlos: I'm running out of steam as far as fanciful descriptions go, but I'd describe the Don Carlos as a slightly more flavorful and stronger version of the hemingway mix - almost as if it is a cross between a hemingway and an opus in terms of the foundation flavor. I found these to be the smoothest of all the Fuente lines I tried (except for the DC lines - but the DC Naturals were dull and smooth - whereas the Don Carlos was smooth with some punch). The #2 was an easy favorite for me in this line.
Overall, if I was allowed to take 40 sticks from any Fuente line I wanted (for smoking, not collecting) - I've probably reached the point where I'd go for an even mix of the following 3 (#1 being my most favorite):
1) Diamond Crown #6 Figurado Maduro
2) Anejo Shark
3) Don Carlos #2
Even though I like them a lot, I don't think any Opus would make the top 10. I've only had a handful of the very hard to find Fuentes (BTL's, various Forbidden X's - but didn't find any of them better than the regular versions). If price were an object, then the Hemingways (assuming I can get them at MSRP or less) would come into the list quickly.
That's it. I'm still gathering Opi and other hard-to-find Fuente sticks as I go, but they'll go into passes as often as they're smoked. It is possible that the Opus's scored lower in my mind because they were soooo over-hyped.
Cheers,
- Oak
This isn't a single review of a single cigar, but a summary of around 2 dozen+ cigars smoked over the last month and a half. Most were taken from the high-end or slightly rare lines (but a few from the cheapest lines). This is basically how I do anything in life - I find something I like (whether a cigar, an author, or a singer) and then sample across their entire body of work. After I've found my favorites - I move onto the next area. This post marks the completion of my Fuente exploring. I'm currently in the middle of exploring several ISOM brands (Vegas, Cohiba, and Upmann) along with Padron and Gurkha. Eventually, I'll probably have identified a few dozen favorites from the entire cigar world - and then be "caught up" and just try new things as they're released. Should take about 22.5 years at this pace.
This is a subjective summary of each line, followed by a comparison rating of my top-cigars across the lines.
- Hemingway: I tried several different natural versions of this line, as well as several different maduro versions, including a couple WOAM's. All had the same underlying taste, which I would describe as being composed of caramel and coffee as it's dominant flavor, with some nutty and woody tones coming in as you go. Some spiciness was evident, but not much for me. Different sticks varied significantly to me in terms of strength and finish. Overall, I ended up liking the WOAM the best in the end. The extra flavor and taste of the maduro wrapper made a difference, and I preferred the smaller cigars in the line to the larger (which is uncommon for me).
- Opus X: I worked though several of these, ranging from the largest sizes to the smallish ones. The Opus's all give me a strong foundation of spicy and leathery flavor, with lots of accents of chocolate/coffee and maybe some nutmeg. They vary in terms of strength and smoothness - and the older ones I had are preferred. Interestingly, much like the Hemingways, I preferred the smaller cigars as a rule, and probably like the #4 the best.
- Anejo: Had a few of these, including one dud, and found them to be pretty much what they were advertised as: Opus's with a different wrapper. Overall, I prefer them to the Opus - but they are almost overloaded with flavors. I have not had any of these significantly aged yet, and am curious to see how they change over time. My favorite was the Shark.
- Diamond Crown: I approached this line with some trepidation, as it appears to be considered overrated by many people whose opinions I respect. This line can be divided into two categories for me - the natural robustos (of varying lengths, from around 5 inches to 8.5 - all 54 ring) as opposed to the Torpedo Maduro and the Figurado Maduro. As far as the robustos went, I found them to have a similar taste pattern to the opus's, though slightly different and not as strong. The wrapper on the DC's was almost tasteless (to me) - so I could taste the core flavors more easily. Overall, I'd probably smoke the shorter robusto's when I wanted something relaxing - but just doesn't make the grade as compared to other smokes I like in this category. Now the maduro's in the line I would compare closely to Anejo's - though with a more relaxed flavor and strength. My favorite of the line (by a lot - to the point where it is really the only one I could say I saw what any of the hype was about) was the #6 Figurado Maduro. This is a big stick (over 64 ring in the thickest part) - and had more punch than all the others, and a wider range to its flavor (which can probably be attributed to the figurado shape). In the end, I just prefer a maduro wrapper around Fuente's higher end tobacco blends.
- Don Carlos: I'm running out of steam as far as fanciful descriptions go, but I'd describe the Don Carlos as a slightly more flavorful and stronger version of the hemingway mix - almost as if it is a cross between a hemingway and an opus in terms of the foundation flavor. I found these to be the smoothest of all the Fuente lines I tried (except for the DC lines - but the DC Naturals were dull and smooth - whereas the Don Carlos was smooth with some punch). The #2 was an easy favorite for me in this line.
Overall, if I was allowed to take 40 sticks from any Fuente line I wanted (for smoking, not collecting) - I've probably reached the point where I'd go for an even mix of the following 3 (#1 being my most favorite):
1) Diamond Crown #6 Figurado Maduro
2) Anejo Shark
3) Don Carlos #2
Even though I like them a lot, I don't think any Opus would make the top 10. I've only had a handful of the very hard to find Fuentes (BTL's, various Forbidden X's - but didn't find any of them better than the regular versions). If price were an object, then the Hemingways (assuming I can get them at MSRP or less) would come into the list quickly.
That's it. I'm still gathering Opi and other hard-to-find Fuente sticks as I go, but they'll go into passes as often as they're smoked. It is possible that the Opus's scored lower in my mind because they were soooo over-hyped.
Cheers,
- Oak
