Brand evangelist, digital marketer, cigar and spirits expert specializing in consumer tasting and educational events. Matthias made the long trek from his hometown of Portland, Oregon to New York City in 2007, and in nine years has hosted more than 120 events and helped promote and launch dozens of cigar and whiskey brands in the U.S. In 2016, he joined the Cigar Journal Tasting Panel, blind-reviewing pre and new release cigars.
I picked up a couple Arturo Fuente Anejo Reserva No. 55 cigars at Nat Sherman on 42nd st after realizing that I had smoked most of the newer brands available at the shop. But before the review, a confession here: I haven’t smoked as many Arturo Fuente cigars as I should have over the last seven or eight years smoking cigars. Part of the challenge is that there has been a glut of really great product these last few years from exciting new brands, so it’s easy to forget some of the standby brands like Fuente and Ashton. So I was excited to be putting together a review of the Anejo Reserva No. 55—it’s a beautiful cigar that provides a great smoking experience as you’ll read below.
So let’s get on with the review.
Blend Specifics
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dominican Republic
Size: 6×55
Appearance & Construction
The first thing I notice about the Arturo Fuente Anejo Reserva is that the Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper is extremely rough, with some imperfections. The cigar features the traditional Fuente band with a dominant white offsetting the common gold and red colors.
The smell off of the foot brings aromas of hay, mulch, coffee and a heavy leather. The pre light draw is very spicy with a sweet earthiness. The draw is good, with a healthy amount of resistance.
Flavor & Smoke Characteristics
The Fuente Anejo Reserva No. 55 opens with a creamy texture and notes of coffee, leather, and Fuente’s signature vegetal note (probably closest to grass). The smoke is medium bodied and sweet. Smoke production is great, and the ash is sturdy and almost completely white.
At an inch in, the spice from the prelight draw is ramping up, especially on the retrohale. It’s similar to very finely ground black pepper, with a slightly savory quality.
In the second third, the body and spice of the cigar increase significantly. The smoke is also richer and sweeter.
At halfway, I’m thoroughly enjoying this cigar—it’s telling a great story, weaving the flavors together really well.
The final third is mostly the same, though the leather is more pronounced and has an earthy quality. The last ten minutes or so ramps up even more, probably due to the reduced ring gauge caused by the tapering.
Conclusion
You really can’t go wrong with the Arturo Fuente Anejo Reserva. But that’s true of so many Fuente products (the Magnum R and Don Carlos come to mind). The Anejo Reserva brings to the table so much of what makes Fuente great, with a lot of complexity to boot.
Editors Note: check out our Top New Cigars of 2019 post here.
2017 saw some truly special releases from boutique brands like Foundation Cigar Co, Cornelius & Anthony, and Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust, as well as established brands like H Upmann, Padron, Drew Estate and Davidoff. Even with an unrelenting pile of new federal and state regulations hitting the cigar industry recently, 2018 is shaping up to be a great year for the cigar industry. Here are some of the new cigars of 2018 that are worth dropping what you’re doing to buy.
The Best New Cigars of 2018
Joya de Nicaragua Cinco Decadas Diadema
The Joya de Nicaragua Cinco Décadas presents a flavor profile that no JdN fan could miss: dark oak and charcoal, creamy cocoa, leather, and light spiciness. What Cinco Décadas achieves is to take the JdN flavor profile that we know and love and elevate it into the realm of art. I know that is high praise, but it is true, particularly given the cigar’s sheer complexity and balance. Highly recommended. You can read our full review here.
Strength: Full
Fine Tobacco NYC rating: 93
Buy the Joya de Nicaragua Cinco Decadas from Famous Smoke Shop here.
Quesada Vega Magna
A worthy follow up to the Casa Magna which secured Cigar Aficionado’s #1 Cigar of the Year in 2018. The Vega Magna, rated 93 on this site, competes well with the Cinco Decadas above in terms of flavor, complexity, and balance. The cigar hits salty, savory, sweet, and bitter all at once, with notes of milk chocolate, leather, spices, and dry sliced apricot. Absolutely marvelous, and worth the higher price point.
Strength: Medium to Full
Fine Tobacco NYC rating: 94
CAO Nicaragua
The newest from CAO cigars, and it’s awesome. The CAO Nicaragua has lots of flavor and complexity without crossing into overaggressive territory. From a flavor standpoint, it starts with a base of rich espresso, with a great combination of chocolate, leather, and roasted peanuts on top. Impeccable construction. Easily one of our favorite releases from CAO in a long time. You can read our full review here.
Strength: Medium
Fine Tobacco NYC Rating: 90
Buy the CAO Nicaragua from Famous Smoke Shop here.
Aging Room Pura Cepa
Once again, Rafael Nodal of Aging Room/Altadis has hit the ball out of the park. The Aging Room Pura Cepa features notes of smoked wood, augmented by light chocolate, cream, floral, and leather notes. Impeccable construction. Highly recommended.
Strength: Medium
Fine Tobacco NYC Rating: 90
Buy the Aging Room Pura Cepa from Famous Smoke Shop here.
Joya de Nicaragua Clasico
Joya de Nicaragua is known for its full bodied Nicaraguan blends. The Clasico is a revival of the company’s first blend, and it is extremely mild. If you are looking for a new-release cigar on the mild side, this is your cigar. Strength and body would both qualify as mild. Extremely smooth, the Clasico starts with cedar and salted peanuts, with a creamy texture and subtle spice developing halfway through the cigar. You can read our full review here.
Strength: Mild
Fine Tobacco NYC Rating: 86
Buy the Joya de Nicaragua Clasico from JR Cigars here.
AVO 22 30 Years
The AVO 22 30 Years is a re-release of one of the most legendary limited edition cigars from AVO. Best-fitted for fans of mild to medium bodied cigars, what the AVO 22 lacks in strength it more than makes up for in complexity. Expect notes of notes of sweet cream, floral, and touches of pepper and spice. You can read our full review here.
Strength rating: mild to medium.
Fine Tobacco NYC Rating: 88
Purchase the Avo 22 30 Years from Famous Smoke herebefore they’re all gone.
Romeo San Andrés by Romeo y Julieta
One of the newest cigars from Romeo y Julieta, the San Andres features the legendary San Andres maduro wrapper, known for rich, robust flavors. With the Romeo San Andres, expect dark notes of earth, barnyard, dark cherry, chocolate, and pepper. You can read our full review here.
Strength: Full
Fine Tobacco NYC Rating: 85
Buy the Romeo San Andres from Famous Smoke Shop here.
Macanudo Inspirado Red
Macanudo is not a brand that I typically recommend, but parent company General Cigar Co has been on a tear with this brand over the last couple of years, most recently with the Macanudo Red. On the strength scale the Red falls right on the medium side of things, with bright flavors of cinnamon, oak, coffee, and toasted bread. Read our full review here.
Strength: medium to full
Fine Tobacco NYC Rating: 89
Buy the Macanudo Inspirado Red from Famous Smoke Shop here.
Las Calavaras LE 2018
A limited edition from Las Calavaras, a brand that took the cigar world by storm in 2014. This year’s limited edition blend is lighter in strength than previous years. From this cigar, expect a flavor profile dominated by cinnamon, spice, nuttiness, and black pepper.
Strength: mild to medium
Purchase the Las Calaveras LE 2018 from Famous Smoke Shop here.
AVO Maduro 30 Years
That’s right, AVO makes the list twice, and not just because they’re one of my favorite cigar brands. The AVO Maduro was brought out of production by parent company Davidoff in 2015 (much to the chagrin of AVO fans). For the 30 year anniversary of AVO as a brand, they’ve brought back the AVO Maduro in limited supply. Though dark, this cigar is not a huge powerhouse smoke. But it does deliver great flavors including earthy spice, seared steak, cedar, all with a slightly creamy finish. You can read our full review of the AVO Maduro 30 Years here.
Strength: Mild
Fine Tobacco NYC rating: 90
Purchase the AVO Maduro 30 Years from Famous Smoke Shop here.
2018 is far from over, with many cigars yet to be released onto the market. We’ll be adding to the above list periodically, but in the meantime, here is a list of the most exciting cigar companies from 2017 and some of the cigars we recommend from those brands.
Founded in 2015 and led by Nick Melillo (formerly of Drew Estate), Foundation Cigar Co. won massive awards in 2016 and 2017, including listings in Cigar Aficionado’s Top 25 and a number of top five and even number 1 rankings across the cigar blogosphere.
If you haven’t smoked cigars by Foundation Cigar Co., yet, I recommend starting with The Tabernacle (tasting notes: extremely smooth with dark chocolate, sea salt, white pepper, and cedar) and then moving on to El Gueguense The Wise Man Maduro, which earned Cigar Dojo’s number one cigar of 2017.
Top three cigars to try from Foundation Cigar Co.:
Another company founded in 2015 by Steve Saka (another former Drew Estate executive!), Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust has released a number of phenomenal brands in its relatively short period of time. Saka’s cigars are famous for their ingenious use of the Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper to create extremely smooth, flavorful cigars that contain depth, richness, and complexity. Mi Querida, one of Saka’s earlier blends, ranked number nine on our Top 10 of 2017 list.
Top three cigars to try from Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust
In 2018, the only question I have for Drew Estate is, “What are you going to come up with next?” Drew Estate is the most disruptive cigar company in the industry because they never give up on trying new ways of altering the cigar production process to create new smoking experiences.
The brand, which was recently acquired by Swisher International on account of it’s booming popularity, continued to be just as disruptive in 2017, releasing two cigars that made our Top 10: Pappy Van Winkle Tradition (tasting notes: very peppery, with leather and touches of vanilla) and the Undercrown Sun Grown (tasting notes: extremely smooth, with cinnamon, cedar, and coffee).
Do the disruptive cigar co’s on this list have you craving an older, more traditional but still phenomenal cigar? Davidoff—though pricey—is a fool-proof place to start. In 2016 and 2017, the company released a number of new cigars that made waves among cigar enthusiasts. At the top of the list is the Davidoff Winston Churchill Late Hour, which is aged in ex-single malt scotch casks (tasting notes: leather, cocoa, rich earthiness, malt).
When I first started sipping whiskey, I was a big bourbon guy. The typical bourbon flavor profile is much more approachable than say, a scotch whisky, so bourbon was a great place to start. But over the years, I’ve found my palate has drifted towards a greater appreciation of rye whiskey (starting off with High West Double Rye). So it was only natural that at some point I’d review Michter’s US*1 Straight Rye Whiskey.
Michter’s dates back to 1753 in Pennsylvania. The many decades and century led to a natural build up of legend for this distillery, with the website stating:
According to Pennsylvania historical lore, commemorated by the Lebanon Valley Coin Club in 1978, this particular rye whiskey was so valued that when the Revolutionary War broke out, General George Washington visited the distillery and purchased whiskey to fortify his men as they hunkered down in their camp through the long, brutal winter at Valley Forge. Over 200 years later the Michter’s Pennsylvania management would say Michter’s was “the whiskey that warmed the American Revolution.”
With that said, let’s see if the Straight Rye by Michter’s lives up to the reputation.
Product Specifics
Spirit type: Rye Whiskey
Distiller: Michter’s Distillery
ABV: 42.4%
Aged in: new, charred Oak barrels
Appearance
It really goes without saying that the packaging Micther’s comes in is particularly beautiful, especially compared to many of the poorly thought out labels in craft whiskey these days. I love the color scheme on this bottle and how the green plays off of the dark orange of the rye. In the glass, the liquid is a somber, coppery orange.
Nose
The nose is packed with citrus, spice, dry oak and caramel. Very enjoyable, especially since the aromas are well balanced—not too much ethanol, and the rye spice is just right, not too much or too little.
Palate
The texture of the palate is warm and round, and brightens as the liquid sits on my tongue. Notes midway include citrus, sweet and spicy rye, all rounded off with a substantial oak.
Finish
Long and spicy, with a bit of orange zest.
Conclusion
Michter’s Single Barrel Rye is a really nice dram. This whiskey threads the needle of having a lot of body while still having the brightness a rye should have. At $40, this rye is a great value, so I recommend trying a bottle, especially if you notice the price edging up.
Editors Note: check out our Top New Cigars of 2019 post here.
2017 saw some truly special releases from boutique brands like Foundation Cigar Co, Cornelius & Anthony, and Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust, as well as established brands like H Upmann, Padron, Drew Estate and Davidoff. Even with an unrelenting pile of new federal and state regulations hitting the cigar industry recently, 2018 is shaping up to be a great year for the cigar industry. Here are some of the new cigars of 2018 that are worth dropping what you’re doing to buy.
The Best New Cigars of 2018
Joya de Nicaragua Cinco Decadas Diadema
The Joya de Nicaragua Cinco Décadas presents a flavor profile that no JdN fan could miss: dark oak and charcoal, creamy cocoa, leather, and light spiciness. What Cinco Décadas achieves is to take the JdN flavor profile that we know and love and elevate it into the realm of art. I know that is high praise, but it is true, particularly given the cigar’s sheer complexity and balance. Highly recommended. You can read our full review here.
Strength: Full
Fine Tobacco NYC rating: 93
Buy the Joya de Nicaragua Cinco Decadas from Famous Smoke Shop here.
Quesada Vega Magna
A worthy follow up to the Casa Magna which secured Cigar Aficionado’s #1 Cigar of the Year in 2018. The Vega Magna, rated 93 on this site, competes well with the Cinco Decadas above in terms of flavor, complexity, and balance. The cigar hits salty, savory, sweet, and bitter all at once, with notes of milk chocolate, leather, spices, and dry sliced apricot. Absolutely marvelous, and worth the higher price point.
Strength: Medium to Full
Fine Tobacco NYC rating: 94
CAO Nicaragua
The newest from CAO cigars, and it’s awesome. The CAO Nicaragua has lots of flavor and complexity without crossing into overaggressive territory. From a flavor standpoint, it starts with a base of rich espresso, with a great combination of chocolate, leather, and roasted peanuts on top. Impeccable construction. Easily one of our favorite releases from CAO in a long time. You can read our full review here.
Strength: Medium
Fine Tobacco NYC Rating: 90
Buy the CAO Nicaragua from Famous Smoke Shop here.
Aging Room Pura Cepa
Once again, Rafael Nodal of Aging Room/Altadis has hit the ball out of the park. The Aging Room Pura Cepa features notes of smoked wood, augmented by light chocolate, cream, floral, and leather notes. Impeccable construction. Highly recommended.
Strength: Medium
Fine Tobacco NYC Rating: 90
Buy the Aging Room Pura Cepa from Famous Smoke Shop here.
Joya de Nicaragua Clasico
Joya de Nicaragua is known for its full bodied Nicaraguan blends. The Clasico is a revival of the company’s first blend, and it is extremely mild. If you are looking for a new-release cigar on the mild side, this is your cigar. Strength and body would both qualify as mild. Extremely smooth, the Clasico starts with cedar and salted peanuts, with a creamy texture and subtle spice developing halfway through the cigar. You can read our full review here.
Strength: Mild
Fine Tobacco NYC Rating: 86
Buy the Joya de Nicaragua Clasico from JR Cigars here.
AVO 22 30 Years
The AVO 22 30 Years is a re-release of one of the most legendary limited edition cigars from AVO. Best-fitted for fans of mild to medium bodied cigars, what the AVO 22 lacks in strength it more than makes up for in complexity. Expect notes of notes of sweet cream, floral, and touches of pepper and spice. You can read our full review here.
Strength rating: mild to medium.
Fine Tobacco NYC Rating: 88
Purchase the Avo 22 30 Years from Famous Smoke herebefore they’re all gone.
Romeo San Andrés by Romeo y Julieta
One of the newest cigars from Romeo y Julieta, the San Andres features the legendary San Andres maduro wrapper, known for rich, robust flavors. With the Romeo San Andres, expect dark notes of earth, barnyard, dark cherry, chocolate, and pepper. You can read our full review here.
Strength: Full
Fine Tobacco NYC Rating: 85
Buy the Romeo San Andres from Famous Smoke Shop here.
Macanudo Inspirado Red
Macanudo is not a brand that I typically recommend, but parent company General Cigar Co has been on a tear with this brand over the last couple of years, most recently with the Macanudo Red. On the strength scale the Red falls right on the medium side of things, with bright flavors of cinnamon, oak, coffee, and toasted bread. Read our full review here.
Strength: medium to full
Fine Tobacco NYC Rating: 89
Buy the Macanudo Inspirado Red from Famous Smoke Shop here.
Las Calavaras LE 2018
A limited edition from Las Calavaras, a brand that took the cigar world by storm in 2014. This year’s limited edition blend is lighter in strength than previous years. From this cigar, expect a flavor profile dominated by cinnamon, spice, nuttiness, and black pepper.
Strength: mild to medium
Purchase the Las Calaveras LE 2018 from Famous Smoke Shop here.
AVO Maduro 30 Years
That’s right, AVO makes the list twice, and not just because they’re one of my favorite cigar brands. The AVO Maduro was brought out of production by parent company Davidoff in 2015 (much to the chagrin of AVO fans). For the 30 year anniversary of AVO as a brand, they’ve brought back the AVO Maduro in limited supply. Though dark, this cigar is not a huge powerhouse smoke. But it does deliver great flavors including earthy spice, seared steak, cedar, all with a slightly creamy finish. You can read our full review of the AVO Maduro 30 Years here.
Strength: Mild
Fine Tobacco NYC rating: 90
Purchase the AVO Maduro 30 Years from Famous Smoke Shop here.
2018 is far from over, with many cigars yet to be released onto the market. We’ll be adding to the above list periodically, but in the meantime, here is a list of the most exciting cigar companies from 2017 and some of the cigars we recommend from those brands.
Founded in 2015 and led by Nick Melillo (formerly of Drew Estate), Foundation Cigar Co. won massive awards in 2016 and 2017, including listings in Cigar Aficionado’s Top 25 and a number of top five and even number 1 rankings across the cigar blogosphere.
If you haven’t smoked cigars by Foundation Cigar Co., yet, I recommend starting with The Tabernacle (tasting notes: extremely smooth with dark chocolate, sea salt, white pepper, and cedar) and then moving on to El Gueguense The Wise Man Maduro, which earned Cigar Dojo’s number one cigar of 2017.
Top three cigars to try from Foundation Cigar Co.:
Another company founded in 2015 by Steve Saka (another former Drew Estate executive!), Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust has released a number of phenomenal brands in its relatively short period of time. Saka’s cigars are famous for their ingenious use of the Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper to create extremely smooth, flavorful cigars that contain depth, richness, and complexity. Mi Querida, one of Saka’s earlier blends, ranked number nine on our Top 10 of 2017 list.
Top three cigars to try from Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust
In 2018, the only question I have for Drew Estate is, “What are you going to come up with next?” Drew Estate is the most disruptive cigar company in the industry because they never give up on trying new ways of altering the cigar production process to create new smoking experiences.
The brand, which was recently acquired by Swisher International on account of it’s booming popularity, continued to be just as disruptive in 2017, releasing two cigars that made our Top 10: Pappy Van Winkle Tradition (tasting notes: very peppery, with leather and touches of vanilla) and the Undercrown Sun Grown (tasting notes: extremely smooth, with cinnamon, cedar, and coffee).
Do the disruptive cigar co’s on this list have you craving an older, more traditional but still phenomenal cigar? Davidoff—though pricey—is a fool-proof place to start. In 2016 and 2017, the company released a number of new cigars that made waves among cigar enthusiasts. At the top of the list is the Davidoff Winston Churchill Late Hour, which is aged in ex-single malt scotch casks (tasting notes: leather, cocoa, rich earthiness, malt).
When I have friends over, whiskey (and/or cigars) is usually involved. For the New Years party my wife Catherine and I were hosting at home, I brought out two bottles: Michter’s Single Barrel Rye and High West Midwinter Night’s Dram. A good friend of mine brought along the bottle of A.D. Laws Four Grain Bourbon, and he was kind enough to leave it behind for me to write a review. I probably have had more now than my fair share, but Kyle you left a bottle of whiskey at my house—what did you think was going to happen?
In any case, I wasn’t familiar with Laws Whiskey House before today, but had heard some good word on the street about it. This whiskey hails from Colorado, which has become—at least in my view—a leading producer of quality boutique American whiskies. If you want to learn more about the Laws Distillery, stop by their website here. Let’s get on with the review.
Product specifics
Distiller: Laws Whiskey House
ABV: 47.5% (95 proof)
Age: “No less than 3 years” (3 years in American white oak)
In the glass, J.D. Laws Four Grain Bourbon is a deep caramel color with a slight reddish hue (much darker in the bottle). The bottle itself is really quite beautiful. I love the four sharp corners of the squarish design. I’m also a fan of the bottle design because it’s beautiful but it also functionally works unlike some other whiskies with really cool bottle designs. Most intriguing to me is the square insignia on the back of the bottle. As best as I can tell, the three main large squares are reflective of the three components of the A.D. Laws mantra: Craft over commodity. Quality over quantity. Whiskey above all.
Great mantra. Now let’s see how the product stacks up.
Nose
The nose is fairly strong, with a decent dose of ethanol burn (hard to get rid of at more than 45% abv, though that’s no excuse). Aromas coming out of the glass include dark cherries, baking spices (cinnamon), some corn, and a bright sort of tinny smell present.
Palate
Wow. Lot’s going on here. Spice is dominant, with additional flavors of rocky candy, burnt cookies, some butter and maybe an apricot note here and there. Overall though very spicy and oaky (think double-cinnamon snicker doodle cookie).
What I love about this dram is that I can clearly, distinctly sense the influence of the different grains involved in this whiskey. The corn influences the flavor in a way typical with many bourbons, lending the whiskey a sweet, syrupy initial quality. Moments later, the syrupy texture passes on to reveal the dry (though still sweet) influence of the rye and wheat.
Finish
The finish is long and predominantly rye-influenced, i.e. it is very spicy. The finish leaves a faint, bready flavor, alongside a slight maltiness, which I take to be the influence of the barley. The finish is probably my only area of complaint: it’s a bit too long for me, and I find myself wanting the it to clear.
Conclusion
At about $60/bottle, this bourbon might seem expensive. Relative to other bourbons on the market, it is. But I’ve noticed (this is as of Jan. 1 2018) that the average price point of American whiskies entering the market is skyrocketing, so I’m not sure $60 is surprising at all.
But, back to the point. The J.D. Laws Four Grain Bourbon is a great whiskey. It delivers big, bold flavors, and matches that boldness with complexity that I only find in a fraction of other bourbons on the market today (Eagle Rare 10 Year comes to mind). I’m looking forward to trying other whiskies from this producer.
For the bourbon or American whiskey enthusiast, my recommendation for the Four Grain is a strong buy.
