In case you forgot what a Quick Draw is, take a read over the description from our first episode a little while back, link here.

Now the Shark is a pretty popular cigar and I’m pretty sure a lot of you have heard about it before, or likely enjoyed one yourself. If not, here’s a bit of background. The Anejo line by Arturo Fuente is special limited release that occurs every year around only Christmas and Fathers Day. If you are seeking these, make sure to keep a keen eye out around that time because they seem to fly off the shelves. This particular vitola is called the No. 77 but has been dubbed the “The Shark” due to the box pressed torpedo top, which looks sorta like a shark fin. Pretty cool name if you ask me.

I managed to score one of these in a trade around Christmas time and it’s actually from the 2010 crop so it had about a year of age when I took these notes down on it. Tony also reviewed one awhile back that you can find linked here.

Right off the bat when you light this cigar up you know you are in for an interesting experience. You pick out some chocolate, coffee and nutty notes served with a slight side-dish of spices that all balance together amazingly. The body starts off in the low end of medium and the retrohale gives you a nice little bite with a smooth coffee or espresso flavored finish that just rounds up the whole experience nicely. As you burn through this cigar you get all kinds of interesting flavors that include cedar, baking spices, chocolate and espresso. They all seem to take turns being the dominant force and always balance out perfectly.

In addition to the awesome flavors you can also expect an equally awesome burn on these sticks. This is a total cigar experience that you definitely need to have. The price on these is a bit high but I personally think they are definitely worth it and only get better with a bit of time in the humidor. I did have a chance to smoke a couple other vitolas but none of them seem to hold a candle to The Shark and I’m not the only one who seems to think so.

I’m not a huge Arturo Fuente fan, I’ll smoke them every now and then but it’s not a brand I actively seek out. More so because a lot of their cigars seem to taste very similar apart from the Opus X line and the Anejo line. But here we have something that I will continue to seek out over the years and if they keep up the awesome flavors and great construction then you will not be disappointed if you do the same!

The brew here was the Samuel Smith Winter Welcome Ale. It is a winter seasonal produced by Samuel Smith’s Old Brewery based out of England. You can expect to be ‘welcomed’ by an interesting orangey-amber ale that is super bubbly and flowing with sweet and floral flavors and a touch of spices common in winter seasonals. A tasty pairing indeed if you manage to find it around Christmas time.

A. Fuente Anejo #77

The post Quick Draw Episode 6 – Arturo Fuent Anejo No. 77 “The Shark” appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

This Ashton ESG was sent over to us by our friends at Cigarsdirect.com. You can find the full listing of their ESG series here, the 22 Year Salute here, and the 20 Year Salute here. Cigars Direct was nice enough to send over both the 22 Year and the 20 Year for review. I smoked through both of them and did the write up on the 22 Year. The main difference between the two is the size. The 22 Year is a box-pressed Torpedo while the 20 Year is a a churchill. Both cigars retails on their site for about $33 -$34 ea. a single.

The Good Stuff: This is taken directly from Ashton’s website (www.ashtoncigar.com):

For twenty years, Ashton has worked tirelessly to produce one of the highest quality, most consistent cigars that are sold anywhere. To celebrate twenty consecutive years of increased sales and overall growth, Robert Levin and Carlos Fuente Jr. have teamed up to create the Ashton Estate Sun Grown, or ESG for short. Such a special occasion called for a very special cigar. The ESG uses a unique Dominican wrapper grown on the Chateau de la Fuente farm in the Dominican Republic. This wrapper has never been used on any other cigar. The blend is the creation of Carlos Fuente Jr. who is a master blender and has created the most sought after cigars in the world. With ESG the bar has been raised once again. 
 
Every year, Ashton will introduce one size of Ashton ESG for the next five years. In its debut year, a 6.75 x 49 size was introduced.  In the second year a 5.25 x 52 has been added along with the continued limited production of the first year. And so it will continue for three more years until 2010. From then on, all five sizes will be produced annually and made available to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Ashton. The rare tobaccos used in this spectacular cigar dictate that only extremely limited quantities can be produced.

Size: 6 x 52  –  Wrapper: Dominican Republic  –  Binder/Filler: Dominican Republic  –  Body: Medium/Full 
 

Prelight: The Ashton ESG 22 year Salute is a beautifully constructed box-press cigar leading up and tapering off into a perfectly rounded, sharp torpedo head. Much like A. Fuente’s Anejo Shark. The wrapper on the ESG is much lighter than the wrapper used on the Ashton VSG. It is a soft, consistent light brown with only a few darker spots around the foot. The ESG is very tightly packed and barely even gives when compressed between my fingers. I am hoping this doesn’t hinder the draw. There are absolutely no soft spots and only a few smaller veins running the length of the body. The band on the Ashton ESG has to be one of the most intricate, and beautifully designed bands I have ever seen. The front holds a dark blue sphere that is partially covered in cold embossed in by Ashton’s crest along with the “ESG” logo. Surrounded the sphere are pink roses and the words “ESG Estate Sun Grown”. The rest of the band is designed to represent a portrait of the farmland and of the Estate itself. The wrapper gives off a very sharp spice scent accompanied by sweet tobacco. The foot gives off a similar scent except the spice takes a backburner to the strong tobacco notes. The Ashton ESG cut with extreme ease using my Cuban Crafters double bladed cutter. The cold draw was a bit unexpected and produced almost nothing but an extremely earthy, almost bready type flavor.

First Smoke: I was pleasantly surprised with the ESG as I was expecting a very tight, semi-plugged draw but was introduced to the cigar with a massive, effortless draw. The first flavors were very spicy, earthy tobacco with a touch of almond. I know this is stretching it but this cigar tastes a lot like marzipan. The ESG only gives off a slight amount of heavily cedar-scented stationary smoke.The burnline is even for the most part with a few larger waves here and there. Not anything I’m too worried about. The burnline however was very clean leaving behind a very tightly compacted light grey ash. The ash looked extremely heavy and I anticipated it falling off very early into the smoke. So needles to say the Ashton ESG surprised me once again when the ash held steady for about an inch and a half before giving way. The ash that fell was like a log, producing a little “thunk” when hitting the ashtray.

Halfway There: There is no more of the pepper flavors into the second third of the Ashton VSG. The experience now consisted of a much more woodsy dominant flavor backed by a citrus, sweetness, and still a bit of nut. The retrohale is interesting too. It seem retrohaling is the only time I can still pick up the pepper, outside of that the retrohale coats with a very spicy, wood prime. The burnline is still very clean with only one major wave which is just running on its own, not really causing any problems. I can’t feel much nicotine yet, but the beer I paired this cigar with (read the “Pairing” section below) and the fact that I hadn’t eaten lunch is really starting to hit me.

Finish: Very surprisingly the gigantic band on this ESG slid right off. That wasn’t the case on the Churchill I smoked. The churchill’s band took a good chunk of the wrapper along with it, but maybe due to the tapered head the band on this guy slid right off. This cigar finished off relatively smooth with only a bit of harshness into the one inch mark. The profile of the final third was actually quite a bit bland. It felt almost as if the ESG hit you with the good stuff early, then just couldn’t keep up. It finished with nothing more than just a creamy tobacco flavor. Nothing really distinct outside of that. On a plus side, the waves corrected themselves into the final third and there was no need to ever touch up or relight this cigar. Not to mention no real heat was felt off the head off this cigar even into the nub. Also, still no nic-kick.

Overview: The Ashton ESG was a heck of a cigar. Outside of the disappointing marks into the final third this cigar kept my attention and even threw a few surprises my way. The complexity is there, and quality is there, but what about the value? That seems to be the only thing this cigar is really lacking. It’s a pricey stick, and probably a bit far out of my budget to be in my everyday rotation. I’d much rather keep the ESG’s little sister the Ashton VSG, which usually retails about about $10 a stick. The flavor profiles are different, but they are similar enough to be a good substitution.

Pairing: This Ashton ESG 22 Year salute was paired with some of Bosteels Family Brewers Pauwel Kwak and I can honestly say I couldn’t think of a better beer pairing for this cigar. Pawel Kwak is a full bodied Belgium Specialty Ale. Amber in color with a slightly sweet, malt character. I’m not sure what a “specialty” ale is but this resembles a Saison of Farmhouse ale with the spice and sweetness. Paweul Kwak boasts an 8.4% ABV and the citrus spice that transitions into a creamy sweetness paired perfect with the almost identical flavor character in the Ashton ESG.

The post Ashton ESG Estate Sun Grown – 22 Year Salute appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Lee (@sirpantsornot) was nice enough to send me my first Arturo Fuente Anejo #77 in a trade we made a few weeks back. I think 2 or 3 of the cigars he sent alone, out price the value of my total package to him.

A. Fuente Anejo #77

I held on to this one for a few weeks, knowing that Thanksgiving was just around the bend. I wanted to make sure I had someting extra special, and the Anejo was no let down.

The Good Stuff: The A. Fuente Anejo #77 (better known as the “shark”) is one of the rarest, and most sought after cigars to come out of the Fuente factory. If I am not mistaken the shark started out to be one of the Fuente’s Opus X line of cigars. Due to a massive hurricane that  ripped through the Chateu de la Fuente crop in the late 1990’s Carlos Fuente Jr. was left short of prime tobacco to finish off the Anejo lines and made the decision to finish the cigar off with a Connecticut Broadleaf maduro Cognac 5-year aged wrapper. I’m not 100% positive of the amount of time the wrapper is actually aged in oaked cognac barrels, but it is said to be somewhere between 7-1o months. The Maduro wrapper fits snugly over only the most premium Dominican binder, and filler tobaccos.

The Anejo line is typically only found around Father’s day and Christmas making them incredibly difficult to find. The shark sports a torpedo vitola that transforms into a box-press as the body develops.

Size: 5 3/4 x 56  –  Wrapper:Cognac-aged Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro  –  Binder/Filler: Dominican  –  Strength: Full

A. Fuente Anejo #77

Prelight: The most obvious characteristic of the Shark is the rather odd shape. A. Fuente is known for their extreme precision in construction, and delicate vitolas. The shark boasts both. The shark starts off as a very pointy triple wrapped cap torpedo, but then halfway through the body morphs into a thick, elegant box press. I can’t even imagine the time and effort it takes to create such a complex shape. The wrapper is an extremely oily, almost black, dark brown. There were no signs of soft spots, nor any mis-construction. There was a massive vein running along side of this cigar that has me a bit fearful. The Anjeo Shark sports the common A. Fuente red and gold crested band, but also carries a soft red ribbon placed along the foot of the cigar. Unlike the rest of the Anejo line, the Shark is the only one that does not come in-cased in a cedar tube. The cellophane for the shark has “Reserva Xtra Viejo” printed in raised ink on it. The wrapper gives off a bitter chocolate scent, with soft hints of liquor. It smells a lot like “Godiva” liquor. The foot of the cigar gives off a much stronger, but similar scent, mixed in with hints of cedar and spice. The cold draw was very loose, and tasted much like the smell. Dark chocolate, nutmeg, grass, and hints of liquor. I could tell right away that I was in for a unique experience.

A. Fuente Anejo #77

First Smoke: The shark cut perfectly against my Palio double bladed cutter. It also lit up with ease under my single flame butane torch. The first flavors I pulled from the Shark were that of bittersweet chocolate, toasted cashew, strong liquor (cognac), cedar, and grape leaf. This was an extremely complex flavor pallet and it took my quite a few draws to distinguish between the flavors. The draw is extremely loose, and very smooth. Each draw coated my mouth with a new layer of flavors. The Anejo produces large amounts of thin smoke, and tons of stationary smoke. The smoke itself smelled of strong tobacco and cedar. The anejo gives off a very bittersweet aftertaste. The burnline seems a bit off and extremely wavy on one half of the cigar (the one one with the gigantic vein). The ash is a dark to medium grey and seems very tightly packed with small amounts if flaking. It caught me by surprise that the ash only held on for about an inch before it gave way.

A. Fuente Anejo #77

Halfway There: So far the smoothness of the shark has me enjoying every minute of it. As stated above, the anejo line is “full” bodied. I couldn’t even tell as I have felt absolutely no signs of nicotine. The Anejo burned through the box-press portion of the cigar pretty quickly, but as expected slowed quite considerably into the torpedo portion. Along with the slower burn, the shark’s draw is beginning to tighten up a bit as well. After the first ashing the shark actually corrected its own burn line and is now burning extremely straight. The flavors have switched up a bit. The chocolate is now taking a backburner as the liquor and cedar tastes are increasing in potency.

A. Fuente Anejo #77

A little more than halfway through the cigar I did encounter a rather large crack in the wrapper:

A. Fuente Anejo #77

I am almost positive this was due to extreme humidification of the binder/filler. I have been having trouble with my humidors as winter rolled in. The dryness of the air produced by my heater is taking its toll on them. To battle this I have increased the humidification in both of my humidors to almost triple of what I normally use. The humidity is still centered between 67% – 71% but the fluctuation is beating down a few of my sticks.

Finish: As I started to get down to the 2 inch mark the liquor taste grew in intensity and pretty much overpowered every other flavor the anejo was producing. I’ve never smoked anything that tasted anything similar to the Anejo, I might as well be drinking Cognac. The draw was still incredibly smooth despite the sharpness in flavor. I did have to touch up the cigar a few times towards the end, the vein just wouldn’t let up and kept burning much faster than the other half of the cigar. One odd note was the fact that the inner most core ash of the filler was an extreme bright white. Where as the rest of the ash was a medium grey with hints of brown. I finished this cigar, put it down, and walked away feeling absolutely no signs of nicotine. In total the Shark took about 2 hours to smoke down to the nub.

A. Fuente Anejo #77

Overview: Despite the price tag ($25 – $35) and the extreme exclusiveness of this cigar, I would still pick it up if I ran into it again. It’s definitely a cigar that everyone should look out for and try at least once. I’m not a big liquor fan so the taste wasn’t necessarily my cup of tea. But I really enjoyed the complexity of this cigar and could see why it is one of the rarest and most sought after cigars to date.

A. Fuente Anejo #77

The post Arturo Fuente – Anejo #77 “The Shark” appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.