Review: Arturo Fuente Special Selection Maduro

• Price: ~$3
• Size: 6.5" x 43
• Filler: Dominican Republic
• Wrapper: Connecticut Maduro
• Time to completion: ~45min

Smoking Experience: 


The holiday weekend is unfortunately over, and today was business as usual. I am on call for work this week, which means a lot of time sitting around at home waiting on emergencies to come on in. I took a quick call at around 6, and the Sons of Anarchy Season Premier was at 7, so it has been a good night so far. My girlfriend got home from school around 7ish so once the show was over, we headed downstairs to have a smoke.

I did get to swing by the cigar shop on the way home to pick up some fodder for a trade I am doing this month, and while there I saw this stick and figured I would give it a go. It is a "seconds" selection which means it has not made the cut as far as quality controls go (supposedly) and it looked like it was wrapped by an apprentice, but for the $3 price tag, I was willing to give it a shot.

I went through the bin they were in and while some of the sticks looked to be in less than great shape, this one didn't appear to have any major construction issues out side of not looking so pretty. There were no major soft spots, but the cap was sloppy as was the wrapper. There were no tears but some of the leafs had some discoloring.

Aesthetics were the only place this cigar lacked. I was able to cut the cigar with 0 problem. The pre-light draw was a little loose, but good. Lighting this stick was easy and even after lighting it a bit crooked (my lighter was out of fuel so I had to use matches) it evened out on its own and burned perfectly.

The cigar burned nice and cool for the first 3/4, the burn speed was consistent, and it gave off a good amount of smoke for a smaller cigar. It really was much more than I expected it to be.

The ash on this cigar was a bit loose, but burned as a medium grey and broke off every 2-3 inches.

Flavors:


I was pleasantly surprised by the flavors in this cigar. The first few puffs of this cigar have a nice sweet and spicy blend. Really mild, but you know they are there. The smoke isn't incredibly thick, but there is a nice consistency to carry the flavors.

As you get to the end of the first third, there is an undertone of chocolate/coffee that sort of leaves the spiciness in the background. There are some short bursts of sweetness along with the coffee taste that sort of lingers in your mouth as you blow out the smoke. Very nice, very smooth and mellow.

The trade off of spice and sweetness has sort of a rolling feeling, where one gradually leads into the other and back throughout the cigar, it is nice, never too harsh, never to mild, just a smooth and almost creamy blend of the two.

The finish of the cigar brings a noticeable change to a mild tobacco and spice taste, which I very much enjoyed. I am not a big fan of most plain tobacco flavors, but this was smooth and just sweet enough (with some hints of that chocolate) to be very well received by me.

Overall this was a cigar that I didn't have high expectations for but really shocked me. I will certainly go hunting for a few more in that bin the next time I am at the shop as they make a nice smooth smoke on an evening and something I could keep around for friends who don't smoke frequently or don't really like the big bold flavors of some of the other cigars I have come to enjoy. Apprentice rolled or not, this cigar is a winner.