F5RC - Spada Gorda Review

[El Niño]

I was once an adventurer like you, and then I took a Spada Gorda in the knee.

The worst thing about falling in love with the Fabrica5 line is that I'm basically ruined. Cuban cigars are too expensive, most new world cigars don't tickle my fancy, and then there... gleaming on the horizon... Hamlet and Rob reaching down from their noble steeds to enlighten us. FLAVOR, CONSTRUCTION, AFFORDABILITY!

Nonsense aside, I mostly smoke Fab5 now. I can't be bothered to reach for much else on a regular basis. Today, we will be looking at potentially my favorite in the whole portfolio, la Spada Gorda. 

I'm a sucker for the vitola. 46rg is the perfect balance of elegance and substance. 5 7/8 in length at that ring gauge just feels proportionally correct aesthetically. I'm sure someone who understands more about design and ratios could explain it mathematically, but I'm not that guy, so just trust me. AND the pigtail? Pure class.

LET'S LIGHT HER UP: Creeeeeaaam, baking spices, chocolate, lightly buttered toast, molasses. Pleasure... placer... vergnügen. The perfect interplay of sweet and savory. A hug of flavor. 

About halfway through and you get soft nuttiness and saltiness. The molasses deepens in richness into a mild date/fig note. The cream develops a lovely tartness and shifts into a buttermilk note. Toasted tobacco bitterness adds complexity. It's everything in essence that the first third delivered but dialed up to 10.

Going into the final third, I’m getting a marshmallow root flavor in the creaminess and spice. Leather and meatiness come up from the roots. With a purge, some dark fruit and saltiness come back. The strength bumps up to medium full. If you’re having this cigar early in the day, it may be a perfect time to put it down. If you’re having it in the evening, this is when the full satisfaction really comes in. It wants to be smoked slowly from here on out. The final third is like the rest of the cigar but dialed up to 11.

What the hell guys. Buy a bundle and let them rest for 4 months, and they smoke so good you’d think it’s a $30 cigar.

Smoke it younger than 3 months and it leans savory. With more than 3 months rest, the sweetness starts to play. At 4 months and over, real creaminess shows up, and the sweetness and savoriness are playing off each other like the guitar solo in Hotel California. 

This cigar is so good that I feel a hesitation when buying cigars in brick and mortar shops. They usually just can't compete. 

This is a desert island cigar for me. I've never had one with any real age, not sure if I'll be able to keep them long enough to do so. 92 with 4 months of rest all day, chef. 

[david9985]

Magnificent review