A NC worth trying!

[ChanceSchmerr]

Today I went for a change of pace, as I've been exclusive with Cubans these days...

I pulled one of the cigars I bought last year in a CA top 25 spending spree, the #5 cigar last year, the Fuente Don Carlos Edicion Anniversario (It's like they name the cigar depending on the fatness of it!) Double Robusto. I had low expectations, as I have noted they were more miss than hit for the NC's

1. Casa Magna - Garbage. Twice tried, did nothing.

2. Padron 80 yr perfecto - Excellent smoke, like a citrus-filled cigar

4. La Aroma de Cuba torpedo - lousy, like a big cigarette

8. Don Pepin Lancero - Fantastic Lancero

9. LGC Artesanos Elegante - Best NC i've ever had

10. Ashton Puro Sol Robusto - Garbage, black cherry my ass!

14. Aurora Barrel Aged Beli - Shoulda stayed in the barrel

15. Rocky Patel Decade - first edicion was great, they changed the wrapper for later editions and it sucked thereafter

20. Mi Dominicano Robusto - Mi crappi cigar

23. Hoyo de Tradicion Toro Grande - Real Hoyos kick this one's ass

24. Savinelli Special Selection Torpedo - Should stick with the pipes, Savinelli

4 good, 7 not so much

Anyway, this double Robusto had the characteristic Fuente over-embelishment. Double band, Massive first band, Cedar Wrap around it, I could barely see any tobacco when i look at it. Took me 5 minutes to find the cigar buried inside. Once I did....

A STRONG smoke, wow. They used Opus X wrappers for this one, and it shows. Very heavy power in this cigar. Heaps of smoke from start to finish, and the burn corrected itself and burned pretty even.

The flavours were as advertised! Nuttiness that evolved through the length of the smoke, I could pick out most of the nuts in the bowl on this one. A leathery sweetness for the first 3rd, that petered out after about 2 inches of smoking, giving way to a smooth cornucopia of flavours. An oak overtone surrounded the cigar throughout, something I associate with good NC's. It evolved through the length of the cigar, and never got overpowering, though that was probably due to the strength it exhibited right from the start. I stopped with an inch to go, because it couldn't get any better than what it was.

In all, I would rate it a 9.1/10. I don't expect to see it again, they only released like 2000 of them, but it's definitely worth a look if you enjoy a fantastic jawbreaker of a cigar. Back to Habanos for me, in the meantime!