Cigar Weekly

truzoom · 04-28-2006, 06:37 PM

If anyone caught my post earlier this week in the "Smokin Post", I'm a newbie to the world of Cigars. Well tonight I decided to have a smoke after a long day at work.. a rainy wet day with scattered storms throughout, so the air was crisp and moist (as much as Oklahoma air can get).

Well the featured cigar for tonight is a Arturo Fuente Gran Reserva in Robusto (I assume). Bought it for ~$5 at my local Plantations store along with some necessary goodies.

Sorry, I wish I had taken a pic! I borrowed this pic off Google image search (credits obviously go to The Cigar Hut.

Picture 1

Initial impressions are that it is a pretty well made cigar, albeit it felt somewhat lumpy in spots? The tail portion is wrapped in a thin piece of Cedar I believe, and the tail is encased in a silky green ribbon. The aroma smells.. well.. like a cigar

, but it has a noticable spiciness.

Picture 2

So I used my no name double guillotine cutters and snipped off about 1/16"; left just a slight taper and luckily I didn't make the entire thing unravel.

Headed outside to my balcony with my box of matches given to me by the guy at the cigar store. Man this thing was hard to light! The main thing was I tried to get a nice even ring burnt onto the tail, which was successful, but it took maybe 4 or 5 matches to get the thing glowing.

So anyway the first thing I noticed about the taste was that it's pretty mild and somewhat creamy. Smoke was plentiful and thick and white -- it was nice to see it slowly drift away into the cool night air.

Picture 3

As you can see, I didn't get a very even burn, but it evened out decently later on. Anyway back to the taste-- spicy and light, not much of a prevalent flavor like the choclatey CAO Criollo I had a week or two before.

I had read somewhere that it's interesting to see how well the ash holds up, so I had to snap this pic.

Picture 4

The ash was pretty solid and didn't even respond to me giving the cigar a tap a few times. One thing I realized at this point was that the long ash does impart a unpleasant "ashtray" taste, but I was determined to see how long I could get it.

But then it fell..

Picture 5

Oh well, it was bound to happen.

At this point the flavor was pretty much the same as before, but with the ash gone and the burn closer to the head, I could feel the heat eminating from the foot. It actually got so hot eventually that I decided to call it quits as I was beginning to get light headed from drawing in hot smoke.

The Gran Reserva was probably a good cigar to start out like this with. It didn't leave too much aftertaste and it took me roughly an hour to "finish". The spiciness gave it a unique characteristic, but I think I'll look more for deep flavor in my next purchase.

My overall newbie rating: 6 out of 10

Hope you enjoy my review.

(image links reconfigured by jazznut)

04-28-2006, 06:37 PM	#1
truzoom Starting Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 7	A newbie's first accomplishment (PICS INCLUDED!) If anyone caught my post earlier this week in the "Smokin Post", I'm a newbie to the world of Cigars. Well tonight I decided to have a smoke after a long day at work.. a rainy wet day with scattered storms throughout, so the air was crisp and moist (as much as Oklahoma air can get). Well the featured cigar for tonight is a Arturo Fuente Gran Reserva in Robusto (I assume). Bought it for ~$5 at my local Plantations store along with some necessary goodies. Sorry, I wish I had taken a pic! I borrowed this pic off Google image search (credits obviously go to The Cigar Hut. Picture 1 Initial impressions are that it is a pretty well made cigar, albeit it felt somewhat lumpy in spots? The tail portion is wrapped in a thin piece of Cedar I believe, and the tail is encased in a silky green ribbon. The aroma smells.. well.. like a cigar , but it has a noticable spiciness. Picture 2 So I used my no name double guillotine cutters and snipped off about 1/16"; left just a slight taper and luckily I didn't make the entire thing unravel. Headed outside to my balcony with my box of matches given to me by the guy at the cigar store. Man this thing was hard to light! The main thing was I tried to get a nice even ring burnt onto the tail, which was successful, but it took maybe 4 or 5 matches to get the thing glowing. So anyway the first thing I noticed about the taste was that it's pretty mild and somewhat creamy. Smoke was plentiful and thick and white -- it was nice to see it slowly drift away into the cool night air. Picture 3 As you can see, I didn't get a very even burn, but it evened out decently later on. Anyway back to the taste-- spicy and light, not much of a prevalent flavor like the choclatey CAO Criollo I had a week or two before. I had read somewhere that it's interesting to see how well the ash holds up, so I had to snap this pic. Picture 4 The ash was pretty solid and didn't even respond to me giving the cigar a tap a few times. One thing I realized at this point was that the long ash does impart a unpleasant "ashtray" taste, but I was determined to see how long I could get it. But then it fell.. Picture 5 Oh well, it was bound to happen. At this point the flavor was pretty much the same as before, but with the ash gone and the burn closer to the head, I could feel the heat eminating from the foot. It actually got so hot eventually that I decided to call it quits as I was beginning to get light headed from drawing in hot smoke. The Gran Reserva was probably a good cigar to start out like this with. It didn't leave too much aftertaste and it took me roughly an hour to "finish". The spiciness gave it a unique characteristic, but I think I'll look more for deep flavor in my next purchase. My overall newbie rating: 6 out of 10 Hope you enjoy my review. (image links reconfigured by jazznut)