Mark Twain
Call me Ishmael.
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2006
- Messages
- 1,626
Size
7 5/8 x 40
This is the most impressively flavored cigar that I’ve smoked to date. I’m still fairly new to smoking, and tend to gravitate toward more robusto sized cigars and seem to avoid most vitolas with a ring gauge less than 40. I was impressed by Moki’s and Brickhouse’s review of the LFD Lancero and found some on auction and was absolutely blown away. I started searching around for thinner gauge cigars and bought a box of PAM ’64 Monarcos. These things were really tasty and I decided to turn my search south of Miami and came across these babies.
Pre-Light impression
The cigar is beautifully constructed and firm to the touch. The wrapper is nearly flawless in appearance and looks like a milk chocolate twix candy bar. It had a fairly swift trip and only rested for a day in my humidor before I decided to burn this baby. The smell was gorgeous. Dense, naked tobacco filled my nose and I was practically drooling over this baby.
Cut
I used my Xikar cutter and popped the cap off as gently as I could. This cigar was beautifully constructed, and there was no problem with loose tobacco unraveling. It drew well which was an immense relief after all the horror stories of smaller ring gauge cigars being plugged. I’m glad those days are behind us and hope to never hear of them again.
Boy do I look damn good in this picture.
The guy I split the box with, my brother Mike
Initial light
I toasted the foot for a good thirty seconds with my butane lighter before I finally began the smoke. The foot burned evenly and the entire cigar only required one touch up during the smoke. The first 20 minutes were very light and indistinct. I picked up a lot of flavors but nothing really popped out at me.
The Smoke
After the first 30 minutes the flavor profile of the cigar settled down into a consistency of light wood tones masked with leathery earthy notes. The cigar was a solid medium body smoke. The ash lasted several inches before I flicked the foot away. The smoke was very light, almost mild compared to the full-bodied cigars that have come to dominate the NC market. The flavor really was the most standout feature that the Fundadores offers. Half way through the smoke the flavor profile began a gentle change and started to reveal a rich core a vanilla that left a finish to die for. The last part of the cigar was by far the best and contained the most revealing characteristics that really exemplify Cuban cigars over their NC counterparts.
Overall
Yeah, this was pricey, by far the most I’ve spent on any cigar, but it was worth it. I really am starting to fall in love with thinner ring gauge cigars that are absolute flavor bombs. I recommend this cigar to those that are drawn to more elegant smokes. The rest of these are going into storage to see what a few months/years does to them. I gotta say that the ’06 Cubans are smoking beautifully.
