Another TX Duo Review!

[Çnote]

@Capn_Jackson

The 1st cigar I remember smoking was an AF Short Story. Even today, years deep into CC and LTO boutiques, I have immense respect for Carlito and the masses of Fuente fans. In a pinch, a Fuente will usually do the trick!

For today, I picked the Fuente KingT Natural (the black and white tubo). I got a couple in a blind sampler after the holidays and figured why not share our thoughts on something that pretty much anyone can get and that is so classic it's ignored? 7×47 means I'm on a schedule to get this lit...I dry boxed for about 8 hours and used a vcut.

Surprisingly a spice bomb on 1st puff. Rich velvety smoke, ever so slightly acerbic. There is no doubt this is a cigar, made of burning leaves. It's mild plus with some intensity, mostly sourdough and spice. At about 1/3 in, it's a monolithic beast. It's mild and smooth, the spice has come down into creme, it's not particularly interesting but it's a very satisfying smoke for my morning email and text routine. At about 1/2 it picks up a lactic sweetness, like ice cream texture but nothing I could say as honey, molasses, spun sugar, agave etc. The idea of sweetness? The mouthfeel of sweetness? Another inch or so and the spice returns with a pleasant oaky tannin feel that reminds me of Bordeaux. It stays pat for awhile. Getting into the 3rd 3rd and the band, it's a very enjoyable if simple experience. Still banging along with creme and sweet spice, but just past the band it gets unpleasantly bitter with tar. I could probably work thru this as it's not overwhelming but I'm not enchanted enough to do the work.

I've been referring to this cigar as 'basic bitch' all week with the minor research and conversation with CapnJ, and that's a disservice. This is a fine cigar and a great experience to return to, a pleasant valley to visit. Yeah, it's kinda boring, but zero fight and quite pleasant. I smoked one of these about a year ago that I acquired because I had to buy two cigars in a lounge to stay the afternoon and smoke my own, I remember that being surprisingly pleasant as well even tho it was on an FoH zoom call and everyone else was smoking CC and 1er Gen prerelease Nudies. Cigar jealousy is a thing!

So yeah, if you have one handy or see one in your next Humidor visit, spark it up a share your thoughts!

[Capn_Jackson]

And now for my side of the story:

Had a couple interesting duo reviews with @Çnote so far, and looking forward to see what this one brings. We have a spoken agreement to not read what the other wrote or said, until afterwards, so no part is influenced by the other. When he told me we were doing a Fuente Gran Reserva, and that it wasn’t even very old, I had my doubts but was still interested to see where this one went. Haven’t smoked a Gran Reserva in over 10 years, other than one or two Short Stories.

Wrapper is fairly smooth, with just a little tooth. Very light color. The cap looks like someone was a little tipsy when they glued it on. 

The cold draw brings me coffee and some pepper spice. Good draw on this. Opening light carries some light-roast coffee, some honey, and gingersnaps.

Continuing on, there is a tiny bit of spicy honey, a little cocoa, and hay. There’s also some jalapeño oil that comes not so much through the nose, but lingers at the back of the tongue in an aggressive way. Not digging that too much. Meanwhile, some crushed almond eventually starts to show, making me wish for a little more honey in the mix. The finish is a little almond, some baking spices, maybe nutmeg. Slightly bitter, but not extremely so. Not a very great beginning, but fine.

Strength feels a touch over medium, and texture is mostly dry. Great draw, construction, and smoke output, as I’d expect from a Fuente.

Approaching the second third, the jalapeño at the back of my tongue seems to fade some, or maybe I’m just getting used to it. Either way, that’s been the main detractor here from an otherwise pretty okay smoke. However, there is quite a lot of change going toward the midpoint. Still a little heat, but now some sourdough toast comes into play. Mostly sourdough and almonds, along with a little maple syrup. Much more in line with my usual preferred profile. Starting to notice a little dried stone fruit, too, but it disappears before I ever identify it. Texture is still kind of dry, but not in a bad way. Like powdered almond with nutmeg. The strength has settled on medium, maybe just a notch over.

Going into the last act, the sourdough leaves the stage and I start to get notes of sweet citrus. Also a hefty blast of butterscotch, something I’ve only had in a few cigars. Eventually the butterscotch fades, and the almond takes on a more buttery shade, kind of like marzipan. Great stuff here! Finish is of toasted nuts and maybe a little cinnamon bagel. The texture becomes more oily, almost syrupy. Burn line keeps getting wonky, leaving some peninsulas here and there, but most correct themselves without touch up. Just a couple required.

I’m really glad Cody suggested this one for our project. At the start, I wasn’t surprised at all that it was a little bland, but past the halfway point, things became much more rich and I quite enjoyed that. Just too bad it took so long to get there. The second hour of this cigar was very groovy, and the last twenty-odd minutes were fantastic! As this was about a 2-1/2 hour smoke for me, that was just too much time waiting for a statement to be made. Would I smoke it again? Maybe if I have a football game or something fairly distracting going on for that first half.

[Çnote]

Sounds like you liked it much more than me. Maybe i should have fought thru those last couple inches.

[JohnS]

You guys should start a podcast together. Well done, these reviews are great!

[Çnote]

32 minutes ago, JohnS said:

You guys should start a podcast together. Well done, these reviews are great!

Don't encourage us

It would be so NSFW 🔞 

[MossybackR]

Both reviews were excellent, but I am a bit confused — were these intended to be reviews of the *same* cigar? Or just different vitolas of A Fuente?

[Capn_Jackson]

2 hours ago, Çnote said:

Don't encourage us

It would be so NSFW 🔞 

Very, very, very

[Capn_Jackson]

11 minutes ago, MossybackR said:

Both reviews were excellent, but I am a bit confused — were these intended to be reviews of the *same* cigar? Or just different vitolas of A Fuente?

Same cigar, the Fuente Gran Reserva King T

[MossybackR]

5 hours ago, Capn_Jackson said:

Same cigar, the Fuente Gran Reserva King T

Ahhh — now I see that your photo, which clearly shows a “green label” fuente is the same as that of Cnote (which looked closer to a “black label”).