Plasencia Alma Fuerte Generación V Solomon

By Tony Casas | July 8, 2019

It’s only a cool 90 degrees here, and poised to rain any minute, so there is no better time than now to venture outback with a Plasencia Alma Fuerte along with a bottle of the Bruery’s Melange #14 beer.

The Good Stuff:

By now, everyone in the tobacco world is familiar with the name Plasencia, one of the largest family of a tobacco growers in the world. While Plasencia itself doesn’t have a huge portfolio of market cigars, the list of cigars using Plasencia tobacco is longer than any CVS receipt ever printed. Created at the Plasencia Cigars S.A. factory in Esteli, Nicaragua the Alma Fuerte blend features a Jalapan Nicaragua wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers. The cigar is offered in 4 regular production formats: the Robust (5 1/4 x 52), the Nestor IV (6 1/4 x 54), the Sixto II (6 x 60) and the Generacion V Salomon (7 x 58). Each format comes packaged in boxes of 10 that conveniently turn into an ashtray when emptied, running between and $22 a stick. We got ours over from our great friends Fox Cigar in Gilbert, and Scottsdale, Arizona who have these in stock now, and offer free shipping on all orders, no minimum.

• Size: 7 x 58
• Wrapper: Nicaraguan
• Binder: Nicaraguan
• Filler: Nicaraguan
• Body: Full
• Strength: Full
• Price: $22
• Pairing: They Bruery Melange #14 (Barleywine 13.4%)

Prelight:

The Plasencia Alma Fuerte starts out with an incredibly dark brown, almost black wrapper which is pretty consistent in color with the exception of a much darker area around the cap of the cigar. The wrapper’s texture is fairly toothy with a ton of thick oils coating it. The wrapper is laid seamlessly over itself showcasing some mild veining and slight natural webbing in it’s thick, hard exterior. The cigar itself feels incredibly thick, heavy, and packed with tobacco. The salomon format starts with a stubby little foot which quickly widens out to the thickest ring gauge of the cigar which slowly tapers off to a very sharp point at the cap. The cigar is polished off with 3 extremely elegant bands. The first larger band carries the Plasencia Crest in gold on black along with the name “Alma Fuerte” in white. Underneath this is a very thin band with multiple gold “P” logos. Polishing off the cigar is a gold foot band with black text stating “Ama Fuerte”.

The wrapper on the Plasencia Alma Fuerta gives off deep oak, tobacco, and plum aromas while the foot is much the same with a bit of added spice. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces some great oak, musk, plum, and natural tobacco flavors.

First Third:

The Plasencia Alma Fuerte starts out with a massive blast of cayenne pepper that really left my mouth tinging for quite some time. After the pepper faded the cigar revealed great deals of musk, dark chocolate, deep oak, and spice with softer notes of cashew, coffee, and vanilla. There is a ton going on the flavor profile early on. The draw started out way too wide open but as soon as I smoked through that tiny little foot nub the draw became absolutely perfect kicking out gobs of thick, white smoke with every puff while the cigar itself released quite a bit of stationary smoke as the oils burn off the wrapper while the cigar rests in my ashtray. The burn line has quite a few larger waves, likely due to the foot, but they continue to even themselves out leaving behind a tightly compacted trail of medium gray ash which held on for over an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Plasencia Alma Fuerte and the cigar began to balance out a bit, without mellowing. In fact, the cigar now sits in the “Full” arena in both strength and body. The flavor profile is still leading heavily with dark chocolate, oak, and musk with lots of coffee and vanilla mixed in there while the spice peeks in and out of the profile. The retrohale is way too harsh for me rocking my nasal passage with loads of oak and pepper so I don’t find myself doing it too often. The cigar is now burning dead even and razor thin as I close out the second this with a nice little nicotine kick already.

Finish:

Wow, this is the cigar that just keeps on giving. Into the final third of the Plasencia Alma Fuerte and this cigar is still pouring on the flavor with bold dark chocolate, musk, and oak backed by coffee and vanilla. This cigar is well in the “Full” arena now, and has been for a while. It took me almost three hours to take this cigar down to the nub and I loved every second of it. Its strong, I had to take my time, and it left me with quite the nicotine kick while leaving me with no extra harshness nor extended heat. I never once had to touchup or relight the cigar as it burned like a dream from start to finish.

Overview:

Saying that the Plasencia family knows their way around tobacco in an understatement. While they don’t produce many, when they put together a cigar release its always been incredible and the Alma Fuerte is testament to that. What a just fantastic experience. The flavor profile is thoroughly enjoyable and right up my alley. Complex and bold showcasing great tobacco. The cigar burned like a dream from start to finish. While the price point is pretty steep, you get what you pay for, and that’s a special experience. I will keep a few of these on hands for those special occasions when I am looking for something extra.

Pairing:

Brewed in Plasentia, California the Melange #14 is a 13.4% ABV blend of an Olde Ale, Barleywine, Share This stout, and Black Tuesday Stout.The beer leads with a ton of dark chocolate, caramel, toffee, brown sugar, and vanilla with a huge malt presence and a very heavy mouthfeel before finishing even sweeter with more brown sugar and chocolate, toffee, and a nice bourbon bite. The alcohol is hidden very well. The sweetness, chocolate, malt, and toffee paired wonderfully with the flavors in the Alma Fuerte. This cigar can and will overpower almost any pairing you throw at it so be sure that you marry it up with the boldest thing you have in your cellar.