Trinidad Fundadore 2004 Review

[greenpimp]

Trinidad Fundadore 2004. Smoked July 4th, 2007

Smoked this Laguito Especial #1 on a walk, actually, which I don’t normally do with a cigar I’m paying attention to, but I’ve got two little kids now, and you get what you get when you can get it.

Cigar was heavy in the hand, color of milk chocolate. Constructed well, small- veined, and appeared somewhat fatter than 40 RG. Draw was perfect, just enough resistance. Smell at cold was strong tobacco with a hint of cocoa and spice. And that indescribable aroma that smells only like the Trinidad brand unlit. A pungent smoothness.

Started off at home, waiting the interminable wait for three girls to get ready. Yet another reason to smoke more cigars. Waiting for Godot was easier. The smoke was strong from the get go, more earthy and peppery than Fundadores I’ve had from other boxes. Little of the complexity and bouquet was evident from the onset, but it was a pleasant strength and obviously of very high quality tobacco.

The cigar really opened up as we walked through the Eucalyptus forest on the way to my four year old’s tire swing, around the Mediterranean coastal chaparral, dunes and blooming sage. I started to taste the toasted cashew which I love and associate with this marca and especially vitola. Some floral notes added to the mix, and a few hits of vanilla along the middle third of the cigar as we made our way through the fog. Light espresso faded in a bit. I would still call it fairly full bodied, with an earthy quality but more expansive now. Combustion and draw were excellent.

The last third introduced dark espresso more prominently, melding with the earth and increasing in strength. The toasted cashed darkened as well, and a slight hint of caramelized brown sugar appeared as the only character of sweetness. It was a brooding, strong end to the smoke as we looked over our small bay, slowly disappearing in the fog overtaking everything, including the babbling infant bouncing behind me and the four year old singing nonsense in front of me.

Very flavorsome, perfectly performing Fundadore that is still very young and full of promise. When I tried one of these about a year and a half ago, they were extremely strong with more harshness evident and no prominent upper notes noticeable (sweetness, floral, cashew.) These are opening up, however, and in a few years could be something really special.

I would score it a 91 now, with very high aging potential, mid 90s at least within a few years.

The strength and profile to age well. We should all be so lucky, eh?

[shrink]

The cigar really opened up as we walked through the Eucalyptus forest

Sure sounds like Orange or San Diego Counties...

the babbling infant bouncing behind me and the four year old singing nonsense in front of me.

A perfect accompaniment to the woman talking incessantly, and the husband smoking absent mindedly...

The strength and profile to age well. We should all be so lucky, eh?

If I'm lucky, I'll also end up being reduced to ash...

Nice, thoughtful review, Matt. I guess that makes you a Funda-mentalist, eh?

[stever]

Enjoyed reading this well-written review.

[greenpimp]

» The cigar really opened up as we walked through the Eucalyptus forest

»

»

» Sure sounds like Orange or San Diego Counties...

»

San Luis Obispo County, actually. Who was that Johnny Eucalyptus seed guy a hundred years or so ago, anyway? Sheesh.

» Nice, thoughtful review, Matt. I guess that makes you a Funda-mentalist,

» eh?

Thanks, but just Funda be around. You started it.

[hoyopr]

Wonderful review, I recieved a 5 pack in a sampler in Jan and look forward to trying this even more now.

Thanks