Fonseca No. 1: OEP-NOV-14 (OYMRW2)

[StogieSteve23]

Fonseca No. 1 – OEP-NOV-14 (OYMRW2)

Opening Remarks: Snagged this box on 24:24 last month sometime.  The box showed up a week or so ago and I figured, what the hell… I’ll give one a whirl.  My lady went out to run some errands, so I had a decent amount of time to kill. Personally, there is something so classy and elegant about the tissue paper wrapping around these cigars. It’s like unwrapping a present!

Cold draw yielded notes of leather and white grapes.  The draw was firm and worrisome. The cigar was silky to the touch but was visually very veiny and toothy. Squeezing the cigar, it feels over humidified with a very squishy head, but not as much so the foot or body.

First Third:  Upon toasting the foot at 12:43pm, minimal smoke production was present.  A faint note of sparkling white peach flavored juice was my first taste.  I was very unhappy with the draw at this time, but one good utilization of my Perfect Draw took care of that.  Notes of unsalted sunflower seeds and sweet potato fries are present. Retro is sharp with a hay and horseradish note.  I HATE horseradish…  Light vanilla fudge notes to finish the first third.

Second Third: Draw, combustion and burn line are all great.  Ash is very toothy as I had suspected, but not holding firm for extended periods of time.  The floor/my laptop were subject to finding that out. Smooth & subtle flavors of vanilla and honey. Retro is raw bell pepper. Light roasted marshmallow to round it out.  Burning tobacco is all I smell. Nothing distinctive on the smoke so far.

Final Third:  Burn line is still excellent. Combustion and draw are great. Milk chocolate is present. Toasted marshmallows over a fresh bonfire. Smores sans the graham cracker.  For the last inch or so I get pecker slapped by huge flavors of maple syrup. Finished the smoke at 2:03pm.

Closing Remarks: Construction was surprisingly excellent for how soft it felt at the beginning. Not one touchup was ever needed. Smooth enjoyable progression of flavors with graininess in the first third and a progressive sweetness picking up throughout the remainder of the stick. 80 minutes of smoking enjoyment.

Burn: 4/5 (Great burn – no touchups. Wasn’t razor sharp, but very good.)

Construction: 4/5 (Good draw/combustion once I slid the PD in after a few puffs)

Flavor: 5/5 (Very nice – Mostly sweet but not fake over powering sweetness)

Smell: 3/5 (Burnt tobacco. No standout smoke smell, but not unenjoyable)

Wrapper: 3/5 (Nice – Not perfect. Several small veins with a lot of teeth. Silky to the touch though.)

Overall Score: 19/25 (Score not indicative of my overall enjoyment)

[Connoisseur Kim]

One of my Korean BOTLs likes Fonseca No. 1, since he prefers mild and smooth CCs. Thank you for sharing rare 4yr old Fonesca No. 1 @StogieSteve23 😃

[patrickamory]

Thanks for this detailed review... you did better on construction than I did on one from the same month (and I suspect the same 24:24).

[mbrody]

Thanks for the great review. Would be interested in a follow up after 3 months of rest/acclimation. I keep finding this amount of nap time to be better at revealing flavors after their trip…never smoked a fonseca!