A strong Fonseca?

After getting JMitch hooked on a mild cigar, the Fonseca 5/50, I was interested in trying other cigars in the line. Perusing cbid I came across the Series "F" line from Fonseca. The "F" is for Fuerte, which is Spanish for "strong" or "full flavor." T

As far as appearance goes, this is a nice looking stogie. The cigar is a robusto, 5" long, with a 52 ring gauge . The wrapper is dark brown and the filler is a mix of Dominican and Ligero Cuban seed. It feels good in the hand and was compact.

The sucker was hard to light, and at first burned unevenly. I also struggled keeping it lit, most likely an indication that it was still wet despite sitting in my humi for 3 weeks. Once you got it hot, it smoked great, but it required a lot of attention, so I'll be curious how the 2nd one smokes after drying out some more.

I'm never sure how to describe "flavors" in a cigar. So I think I need to break down my reviews a little better into 4 different categories. Wrapper taste, the cigar/smoke taste, smell, and cigar potency.

That said, the wrapper had a mild taste to it, nothing special, but also nothing distracting. The cigar smoke was woody and uneventful the first half of the cigar. Around the halfway mark it started to get spicy and peppery and also started to provide a kick that provided a great buzz. I still wouldn't label this as a strong or full bodied cigar, but its potency was a solid medium strength. Finally, the smoke was plentiful and the aroma it produced was pleasant. It did not linger on my clothing as much as other cigars.

On my scale of 5, I'll give this cigar a 3.5, not quite enough taste or strength to give it a 4, however the great price that you can get these at (around $2 a stick) makes for a fine smoke. I'll be watching out for more of these as potential fillers when I want to combine shipping savings on cbid. If the next one burns better, I'll revisit this rating.

See how others rated the Series "F" at top25cigar.com

Arturo Fuente Flor Fina

Saturday night I smoke an Arturo Fuente 858 that I picked up at a cigar shoppe in Kansas City. If you've heard of the 858 it was most likely the sun grown version which is in short supply and a highly regarded smoke. Unfortunately, the store had none of the sun growns, so I decided to try the Flor Fina, a natural wrapper, and for around $4 this was a solid smoke.

As far as looks go, the 858 is 6" corona with 47 ring gauge, a perfectly sized cigar in my book. The wrapper is cameroon, and the guts are dominican. The wrapper is a little rugged, with large veins running through it, and it held up throughout the entire smoke.

The 858 has a mild, woody flavor. Nothing overpowering or distintive, just constant and pleasing. The smoke it produced was plentiful and smelled great, very pleasing. The burn was perfect, and the ash held up. The contruction on this cigar was excellent, I've been impressed with the handful of AFs I've smoked.

The othe nice thing is this cigar gave me a nice buzz, although that may somewhat be attributed to my first ever glass of Booker's bourbon. The combination was awesome, coupled with the weather, and a raging fire in the fire pit, it proved for an excellent, relaxing smoke.

I'll give the 858 a 3.5 out of five. I would definately smoke one again, the only thing holding this stick back was the mellow flavor, a little bit more punch and I would not have hesitated giving this a 4+ rating. The fact that it is so moderatley priced also makes it a must try cigar.

See how others enjoyed the 858 at top25cigar.com.