Arturo Fuente Hemingway

These cigars from A. Fuente were actually named after the famous author. Apparently he was a big smoker. Like all the sticks from this line, tonight's smoke features a blend of a West African Cameroon wrapper and Dominican fillers. Price was $6.00.

One of the most visually interesting things about this cigar is its shape. Though it is a Churchill in size (7 inches, 48 ring), it has the tapered end of a figurado, making it a little unusual looking. I worry about getting a good burn after lighting tips like this one. Sometimes the flame doesn't spread out like it should after the initial light. But we'll see how this one goes.

The cut on this one is fine leaving no frayed edges. The tip lights easily as expected. The draw is ok (if a tad on the tight side but nothing too major) with some good fullness to the smoke.
The flavors are mild to start. There is some citrus and vanilla notes which normally would be nice except they seem to be accompanied by an overly sweet almost syrupy taste. It's a poor texture and flavor comparable to cherry flavored cloves. Not good.

After a little while, some stronger wood and spice tastes emerge making the cigar a little bolder all around. At this point, I would probably categorize it as a medium bodied stick. However, as enjoyable as it could be, that cheap sickening sweetness is still lingering. The flavor certainly doesn't belong here and mixes quite poorly with the dominant notes. It tastes like they took a nicely constructed cigar and dipped it in some NyQuil.

Of course I need to give due credit where credit is due. Despite my initial concerns, the cigar is burning beautifully. The foot is evenly lit all around, the ash stays on for a few inches at a time, and the draw remains intact throughout.

After the halfway mark, things start to turn around. The cigar has developed into a nice combination of wood flavors and some simple pure tobacco tastes. The boldness picks up the longer it burns, and the sweet syrup texture finally fades away allowing me to enjoy the smoke.
As I get closer to the end, the flavors become much spicier. Some leather starts to come out here as well and even takes a front seat for a little while. All this along with a little pepper and the stick ultimately ends on a strong medium bodied note.

The tastes at the beginning bring down the overall score but it does develop into an enjoyable mild to medium bodied smoke. I don't want to rate this cigar too low just because I don't typically like fruit flavored smoke since I understand there is certainly a market for it out there. The second half of the stick was pretty good but a smoke needs to be enjoyable from start to finish for me to buy another one. I don't like lemons in my beer, and I don't like cherries in my cigars, especially if the cherry flavoring used basically resembles a cough drop.

Overall Rating: 69