Arturo Fuente Chateau Series Short Cigar Review
Pre-Smoke
Full disclosure, I like Fuentes. They are quality cigars and some of the upper level Fuentes are good. Hopefully, this one is great as well.
This cigar comes with a cedar sleeve, which means something or another. After taking off the cedar a very nice looking cigar is revealed. There are a couple of minor veins but that is the only thing wrong with this Arturo Fuente Double Chateau Fuente Natural (6 3/4″ x 50). Not very oily.
Smoke
Spice, creaminess and some burnt wood are the first flavors. The draw is good and the burn starts out evenly but then begins to stray. It is a medium bodied cigar with some above average flavors.
A sweet spice flavor starts to develop after about the one inch mark. The burnt wood flavor has shed its burnt-ness and is now more of a clean oak flavor. The flavors are nowhere near exceptional but it is an enjoyable cigar. There is a foul, almost bleach-like aftertaste that comes in after the halfway mark.
After-Smoke
It’s a good cigar with some good flavors. That foul flavor that comes on after the halfway mark takes away any shot it had at 4 points for me. But it isn’t enough of a big deal to make this a bad cigar. As long as you focus on the flavors when inhaled and the ones you get after exhaling out your nose it is quite enjoyable.
3 points
Price: $6.00
Another take from Cigar Inspector
Sancho Panza Extra Fuerte Barcelona Cigar Review
I recently posted a Sancho Panza review and I thought it was a good cigar. It got 88 points. This will be my first Sancho Panza Extra Fuerte review and this one is better than it’s conventional brethren.
It has pretty good construction. Box pressed cigar with an imperfect cap. Deep, chocolate brown wrapper. Supposed to be a really full bodied powerhouse of a cigar from what I’ve heard. We’ll see. Drinking Wild Turkey and a Cherry Coke.
Cigar Stats
Toro
Length: 6 1/2″
Ring Gauge: 48
Wrapper: Honduras
Binder: Honduras
Filler: Honduras, Nicaragua
Price: $4.00
Late Night Fire!
It is not overly full bodied – not nearly as strong as I was led to believe. Draw is a little tight but not too bad. Mellow maple syrup flavor. Smoky flavor as well.
Not burning evenly. Some kind of licorice tinged spice coming to the fore in this cigar.
A third of the way through and there is a mild sweetness to it. It really is beginning to smell like a barnyard. The burn has thankfully evened out though.
Two-thirds of the way through now and I have found that retrohaling it makes it a lot better, much more enjoyable. I was already retrohaling it (blowing the smoke through my nose) but now I’m concentrating on it more. When I retrohale I get mocha and some spicy notes. I’m glad I concentrated on retrohaling this cigar.
Nearing the end and I am getting chocolate notes when I retrohale. Very complex flavor profile. The flavors, individually, are not great but when you add them all up it becomes very, very good.
90 points
I had a hard time giving this cigar 90 points. But, after careful consideration, the total grouping of flavors added up to something special. The imperfect burn and draw prevents me from going any higher than that.
Here’s what others have to say:
A Cigar Smoker’s Journal: This was actually a guest reviewer on Barry’s blog, who went by the name of TriMarkC (either a nickname or he had some mean parents, just kidding). He found that the cigar had pepper and leather notes. It was medium-full bodied for him and he gave the cigar, the Madrid, 87 points mostly because it had a horrible burn to it. “A lot of variety in flavor as you progress through the cigar. The inconsistent burn was an issue, and the constant relighting might have added to some of the bitterness I tasted at the end.” Great review, you need to read it.
Cigarfan: He noted the spice and “It starts out with a nice woody bang and a pungent aroma, like being next to a camp fire. The flavor is slightly sweet and quite woody with very little aftertaste.” He also said that it was kind of a boring smoke. He was smoking that Pamplona (robusto).
Romeo Y Julieta Habana Reserve Toro Cigar Review
This cigar has a slight sheen of oil. It looks perfect and it’s the second cigar I smoked after the CAO Vision. Very big cigar. Drinking Wild Turkey and a Cherry Coke.
Cigar Stats
Toro
Length: 6″
Ring Gauge: 56
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Honduras, Nicaragua
Price: $5.00
Go Light!
This cigar is on the verge of being too fat. Yet, the draw is perfectly fine. I usually end up having draw problems with the thinner cigars anyways. I’m not getting a ton of flavor from this cigar however, which is somewhat surprising.
Feels like a medium bodied cigar, which is shouldn’t be. It should be full bodied. The only flavor I’m getting from this cigar is that it’s a little nutty. Cashew? Maybe. There is also a mild sweetness to it that’s nice.
About halfway through now and it is just a boring cigar. There really isn’t that much flavor to it. No spice or anything that would push the limits of my palette and nothing that makes me think that this is a full bodied smoke.
It does burn evenly though. But who cares if it burns well if it’s boring? I would rather have a cigar that was more of a technical problem and tasted wonderfully than a cigar that was technically perfect, like this cigar, but is just boring. Even if it had some more good flavors to it but it doesn’t – so I don’t like it.
84 points
Other Takes:
Cigar Aficionado: Here is what they had to say about the churchill vitola “An oily cigar that draws well but burns a bit unevenly. It is mostly nutty in character with a touch of sourness on the finish.” They gave this cigar 88 points.
Kear Brothers Cigar Journal: They called this smoke a “classic.” They thought it was mild and has a nice spiciness to it along with some cinnamon and leather. They really like it.
CigarMonkey: This cigar got 86 points from CigarMonkey. “This smoke is far milder than the 1875 Series and the Real Reserva. It was very light and spicy.”
Padron 4000 (Natural) Cigar Review
The Padron 1964 Anniversary is my favorite cigar to date so I must admit that I do have high hopes for this cigar. No, I do not think it’s going to even come close to the 1964 Anni but I do expect great things from this one. But the presentation of this cigar has me a little worried. This cigar is very bumpy with some raised veins. There is also this small stretch mark near the foot. Very little amount of oils. Drinking Wild Turkey and a Cherry Coke.
Cigar Stats
Toro
Length: 6 1/2″
Ring Gauge: 54
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder: Nic
Filler: Nic
Price: $7.00
Ball of Fire!
Leather and spice and everything nice. Perfect draw. More spice than leather, I have to say. Not burning evenly though. Wow, very spicy cigar and, as you may know, I really do like spicy cigars.
There’s also a steak flavor with this cigar. Meaty and slightly salty. Juicy even. Not a sweet cigar at all. Not as good as the 1964 but it is still a very good cigar. The burn isn’t even after 1 1/2″ but it isn’t too bad either.
Halfway through the cigar now. Had to correct the burn a little bit. That spicy flavor is almost gone now and I am a little disappointed about that. The meaty taste is what is strong now. Full bodied. The saltiness is even more pronounced at this point, which I am not ecstatic about. It’s not a big negative but it is a minor annoyance that the salt is coming through stronger.
Three quarters of the way through and the saltiness has, thankfully, vanished leaving the meaty flavor to take over. It’s a great cigar and I will definitely be smoking more of these in the future.
90 points
What others have said:
Cigar Fan: The wrapper’s appearance is bad but the flavors are good. Spice that fades, wood, cocoa, and nuts. The burn can become bad. There’s also a review of the 7000 maduro here.
Cigar Jack: He reviewed the 6000 maduro and found that the construction can be hit and miss. The flavors are predictably different for the maduro. They start out woody and morph into coffee and earthy flavors. Some spice and chocolate flavors come through after a while.
Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur (Natural) No. 3 Cigar Review
I smoked this one a while ago so I’m just basically going off of my notes.
There’s a decent amount of oils on the wrapper but there’s also a minor stretch mark in one area. Other than that stretch mark it looks like it has perfect construction. Right before this I smoked a crappy Don Tomas and a second one (forget what it was at this point) that was just as bad. So there’s a chance that they can adversely affect this cigar. Drinking Maker’s Mark, Cherry Coke, and a water.
Cigar Stats
Toro
Length: 6 1/8″
Ring Gauge: 48
Wrapper: USA/Conn
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Dom Rep, Nic
Price: $6.00
Night Light!
Mild-medium bodied. Slight amount of spice. Perfect draw. Third time is the charm tonight!
Mellow cigar. Very creamy smoke. Slight nutty flavor. Honey and this mildly sweet coconut flavor as well. It may not have a lot of strength but it has a lot of flavor.
Slight problem with the burn. I’m over halfway through now and the burn hasn’t affected my enjoyment of this cigar.
Now, this won’t be a favorite of mine but it’s damn good. It belongs somewhere around the 90 point neighborhood.
Near the end it gets somewhat harsh with an ashy flavor. Knocks of a point or two.
89 points
Note: After looking at some other people’s review of this cigar I think those previous cigars I smoked must have had a bigger impact on this cigar than I thought.
Cigar Jack said this cigar is medium-full bodied with a lot of bold spice.
Her Humidor had a maduro version of this cigar in the Crusader size and she gave it great praise saying that it might be her favorite cigar of the year. She found it full bodied but it also had a poor burn.
Zen Cigar: “It is a medium-bodied cigar; I taste a slight creaminess with wood, leather and some tobacco on finish.” Zen gave it 86 points.
You decide for yourself, it’s worth a try.
