Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Arturo Fuente Hemingway Untold Story Maduro


7 ½" x 53, Maduro

There is a little back story to this one. My buddy Mike D
(Also a member of the great discussion board known as StogieChat) from Brooklyn gave me this cigar, and its kind of special. Here is what's up, in his words:

"
The Hemingway is an Untold Story Maduro from 2002 (the very one I would brag to you about having, and the only reason I have had that cigar since 2002 is because I rarely smoke cigars that large), and now it has been passed on to you from the goodness of my ass."

Needless to say after my experiences with Hemingway Maduros in the past, I was excited to get the opportunity to try one with 5 years of age on it. Well today was the day I got that chance.

Appearance: This is one large cigar. At seven and one half inches long and fifty three sixty fourths of an inch in diameter, it is an almost imposing sight. This cigar is also quite firmly packed, and so for the first time in my smoking experience I can honestly say a cigar was HEAVY! This cigar was flawless looking, wrapped in a rich dark vein less maduro leaf. As one would come to expect from a Hemingway cigar, construction is no issue other than to say it is a superlative example on how to construct a perfecto cigar.

Prelight: Clip was a breeze. Prelight draw was a bit tight, but that is just the nature of the beast with a perfecto. It should come to surprise many that a cigar that tapers to a tip would probably not open up until a little bit of the way in to the smoke. Prelight notes were of sweet chocolate and cinnamon.

Burn/Draw: The bur and draw on this cigar were impeccable. Razor straight was the burn for the entire TWO HOUR AND TEN MINUTE duration of this smoke. The draw was open after the brief restriction of the little nib, and produce a plentiful volume of fragrant and flavorful blue white smoke. As I have mentioned before, impeccable construction will do nothing but enhance the smoking experience, and this cigar proves that point yet again.

Flavor: This cigar is delicious. As I leisurely made my way through this stoige, a myriad of flavor notes passed through my palate. Early on this cigar was rather mild. this is not to say that it was in any way flavorless, as puffs produced notes of milk chocolate hot cocoa. About a third of the way in the flavors gathered more depth, with the milk chocolate deepening into a more semi sweet note, with flavors of cinnamon, sweet brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice adding themselves to the party. This first half of this cigar was like smoking a delicious desert. At about the halfway point the flavors noticeably deepened and became more robust again, with a lot of the notes you would expect in a Hemingway maduro becoming present. Coffee and Dark Chocolate, a sweeter woody note and a touch of leather (reminded me of chewing on my baseball glove in HS) became more apparent, and this trend followed through toward the last third of the cigar, with a bit of peppery spice becoming apparent toward the very end. A sumptuous experience, to say the least. You can clearly see what the aging did to this cigar, it was one rich, refined experience.


I do not think I could possibly understate what an experience it was to get to smoke this cigar. It was utterly amazing, one of the top 10 singular stogie related experiences I have had the joy to experience to this point. With that said I want to reiterate my thanks to my boy, MikeD, for bestowing this upon me. It is truly, TRULY, appreciated.

TomC

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Droooool....

OMG that looks amazing