Arturo Fuente Rare Pink Vintage 1960’s Queen of Hearts

This week I take a look at a cigar created to raise awareness for Breast Cancer. The Arturo Fuente Rare Pink Vintage 1960’s Queen of Hearts.

The Good Stuff:

The Arturo Fuente Rare Pink Vintage 1960’s line was created to bring awareness to breast cancer and $13 from each box sold is donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The blend features an Ecuadorian wrapper from Oliva Tobacco Co., a Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.The Queen of Hearts was one of the new additions to the line last year. The cigar is now offered in a total of six sizes, all perfecto format: Short Story (4 x 42/40), Signature (6 x 46), Work of Art (4 7/8 x 46/60), Happy Ending (5 1/2 x 53), Queen of Hearts (3 3/4 x 54), and Sophisticated Hooker (7 1/4 x 53). Each com packaged in various sized boxes of 25, 20, and 10 running between $7.85 and $17.70 a stick. I purchased mine over from out good friends at Cuenca Cigars.

• Size: 3 3/4 x 54
• Wrapper: Ecuadorian
• Binder: Nicaraguan
• Filler: Dominican and Nicaraguan
• Body: Medium
• Strength: Medium
• Price: $17.70

Prelight:

The wrapper on the Arturo Fuente Rare Pink Vintage 1960’s Queen of Hearts is very consistent in its medium brown color. The wrapper’s texture is decently toothy and gritty with only a slight bit of oils coating it. The wrapper feels very thin and slightly delicate while the cigar as a whole is extremely tightly packed with no soft spots and very heavy. There are some smaller veins running from the small, tapered foot up to the round, pig-trail style cap. The band covers most of the cigar and carries the standard Arturo Fuente seal however they added a nice pink color and tint to it. They also added a secondary band with the word “Rare Pink” embossed on the front.

The wrapper on the Arturo Fuente Rare Pink Vintage 1960’s Queen of Hearts gives off notes of natural tobacco and pecan while the foot of the cigar is mostly earthy with bold natural tobacco aromas. The cap cut clean and easy using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces a very earthy mix of cedar, tobacco, and pecan.

First Half:

I am reviewing this Arturo Fuente Rare Pink Vintage 1960’s Queen of Hearts in halves since the cigar is so small in stature. The cigar starts with bold notes of cedar and pecan over lighter notes of musk, natural tobacco, and earthiness. Small hints of leather creep in and out of the mixture as well as a light lemon flavor that actually sticks on the palate for a while on each aftertaste. The draw is flawless despite being packed so tight. Each little puff kicked out huge clouds of thick, white smoke which dissipates quickly while the cigar releases only a small amount of stationary smoke while it rests in my ashtray. The burn line started all sorts of wavy. With cigar with tapered feet this happens to me often so I left it alone and let it do it’s thing and it completed corrected itself after a while leaving behind a tightly compacted trail of zebra-style light and dark gray ash which held on for about 3/4 of a inch before giving way. I close out the first third with nothing in terms of nicotine.

Second Half:

into the second half the flavor profile in the Arturo Fuente Rare Pink Vintage 1960’s Queen of Hearts became much more dirty/mossy/peaty with a ton of earthy notes and cedar with lighter notes of pecan and oat. The retrohale brings out a great spice that I don’t really pick up during the standard experience so I found myself doing it quite often. Shockingly, it took me an hour and a half to smoke this down to the nub. The small size actually packed a long experience since it burned so slowly. I never encountered any harshness or extended heat. I close out the cigar with only a minor nicotine kick.

Overview:

The Arturo Fuente Rare Pink Vintage 1960’s Queen of Hearts is a great cigar for a great cause. I love that they are not only promoting Breast Cancer awareness, but also donating a portion of the proceeds to help with the research for a cure. The cigar is reminiscent of some of the great Arturo Fuente cigars. Not just in terms of the formats, but also the flavor profile which I really enjoyed. Normally, I want something a bit more bold, but this cigar absolutely delivered and left me satisfied. The price point isn’t too expensive either making this a cigar that I’ll likely keep a few on hand for when I want a milder, yet superior experience.