The Good Stuff:

Late last year one of the more household cigar manufactures had announced that it would be under new reigns, that company was Quesada cigars who’s portfolio includes the Fonseca brand. The company who was acquiring the rights was none other than My Father cigars. While this caught a lot of us off guard, more than most have been excited to see what changes My Father would bring to an already well-honored cigar company right in history. Fast forward to August 2020 and the newly branded Fonseca by My Father started landing on shelves while die-hard cigar enthusiasts were waiting to gobble them up.

The Fonseca by My Father is blended using a Nicaraguan Shade Grown Corojo 99 Rosado wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers. The cigar is offered in six sizes: Petit Corona ( 4 1/4 x 40), Robusto (4 1/4 x 52), Cosacos (5 3/8 x 42), Belicosos (5 1/2 x 54), Toro Gorda (6 x 55), and Cedros (6 1/4 x 52). Each offering comes packaged in boxes of 20 running between $7 and $11.20 a stick. Big thanks goes out to my boy Jason for hooking it up with a few of these!

• Size: 5 1/4 x 52
• Wrapper: Nicaraguan Shade Grown Corojo 99 Rosada
• Binder: Nicaraguan
• Filler: Nicaraguan
• Body: Full
• Strength: Medium/Full
• Price: $9.50
• Pairing: Civil Society BA King Gary Loves the Coco (Imperial Milk Stout 10% ABV)

Prelight:

The Fonseca by My Father starts out with an extremely consistent milky brown wrapper which shines orange in the sun. The texture on the wrapper is extremely toothy and grainy with a good amount of oils coating the cigar. The wrapper itself feels very thick and very dense while the cigar as a whole is extremely hard and tightly packed. The meaty body showcases some slight veins and a ton of natural tobacco webbing leading up to the cigar’s round double-wrapped cap. The cigar is polished off with a VERY “My Father” looking, heavily designed band which showcases the Fonseca crest in the front. Its a bit odd for me, but we’ll get used to it. The cigar also carries a gold ribbon foot band.

The wrapper on the Fonseca by My Father gives off a very sweet mixture of spice and cedar aromas while the foot of the cigar carries a lot of the same spice but a much more earthy makeup. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces a ton of spice, cocoa, and musk.

First Third:

The Fonseca by My Father starts out with a nice subtle pepper blast which one lasts through the first puff before releasing a ton of sweet cedar, cinnamon, cocoa, musk, leather and almond. This cigar starts firing right off the bat! Despite being very tightly packed, the draw is absolutely perfect as each tiny puff kicks out a whole ton of thick, white smoke which dissipates rather quickly while the cigar releases a whole mess of stationary smoke while the oils burn off the wrapper while it rests in my ashtray. The burnline is slightly wavy as it leaves behind a decently compacted trail of medium and dark gray ash which held on for an inch before giving way.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Fonseca by My Father and the cigar is still firing on all cylinders. The almond, cedar, and chocolate lead the pack backed by light creamed coffee, cinnamon, earthiness, and honey. The retrohale brings out a ton of the sharp spice so I don’t find myself doing it too often. The cigar is burning perfectly at this point and hasn’t required any attention from my torch to either touch-up or relight. I close out the second third with a minor nicotine kick.

Finish:

Into the final third of the Fonseca by My Father and the cedar is now in charge, back by bold notes of cedar and chocolate over light coffee, musk, earthiness and coffee. It took me an hour and a half to smoke this cigar down to the nub and I loved every second of it. I experienced no harshness, no extended heat, and only a very minor nicotine kick.

Overview:

I’ve been on pins and needles awaiting the moment I could get my hands on these cigars. Quesada has been a favorite brand of mine for as long as I can remember, and My Father, I mean, who doesn’t love them? How did it go? Well, in short, it was absolutely amazing. The flavor profile is incredible and right up my alley, the smoking experience was flawless and the price is way below what I feel like I’d be comfortable paying for such a fantastic cigar. This is box worthy for sure, and a strong contender for my top 10 cigars of the year as it sits currently.

Pairing:

King Gary loves the Coco is a Barrel Aged Imperial Stout brewed with Cocoa and Coconut coffee. Coming in at 10% ABV this Florida raised beer leads with heavy cocoa, brown sugar, coconut, black coffee, and vanilla with a very heavy mouthfeel before finishing with very toffee-esque flavors over more cocoa and mild coffee with only a very light barrel bite. The choice for this beer was obviously the cocoa and coffee lead flavors in the beer and how well they complimented the cocoa and coffee flavors in the Fonseca while the coconut just added another layer to a already phenomenal experience.

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The Good Stuff:

A follow up to last year’s Signature Selection, the Aganorsa Leaf Signature Selection Maduro is the latest offering by the Aganorsa Leaf company which hit shelves recently after making it’s debut at this year’s IPCPR show in Las Vegas. The Aganorsa Leaf Signature Selection Maduro features a Shade Grown Corojo wrapper which undergoes a Maduro fermentation process, Corojo 99 wrapper, and Corojo 99 & Criollo 98 fillers. The cigar is offered in four sizes: The Corona Gorda (6 x 44), The Robusto (5 x 50), The Toro (6 x 52) and The Belicoso (6.25 x 52). Each come packaged in boxes of 20 running between $10 and $11 a stick. I purchased mine over from our good friends at Two Guys Smoke shop.

• Size: 6 x 44
• Wrapper: Shade Grown Corojo Maduro
• Binder: Corojo 99
• Filler: Corojo 99, Criollo 98
• Body: Full
• Strength: Full
• Price: $10
• Pairing: Bruery / Answer Bananswer (Imperial Milk Stout 13.7% ABV)

Prelight:

The Aganorsa Leaf Signature Selection Maduro comes with this large, foil wrapper covering a majority of the cigar. Let’s just rip that off and get it out of the way. The cigar starts out with a very dark, rustic looking wrapper with areas of darker brown and reddish brown spotted throughout the cigar’s body. The wrapper’s texture is very toothy and gritty with a small amount of oils and some smaller veins running through the cigar’s body. The wrapper feels extremely thick and very hard as the cigar is packed pretty tightly, there are no soft spots at all. The Aganorsa Leaf Signature Seleciont Maduro’s features a long, slender body (I love that all the formats feature smaller ring gauges) leading up to it’s round, triple-wrapped pigtail cap. The cigar is then polished off with a beautifully elegant white, gold, and black band featuring the Aganorsa Leaf crest as well as a secondary band with the words “Signature Selection” embossed across the front.

The Aganorsa Leaf Signature Selection Maduro’s wrapper gives off an extremely bold chocolate smell that seriously smells like straight up Cocoa Puffs, while the foot of the cigar carries a lot of the same cocoa flavors along with some spice and natural tobacco aromas. The cold draw produces a fair amount of the cocoa along with a crap ton of pepper and spice. The cap cut clean using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter, but needed a bit more force since the wrapper is so dense and hard.

First Third:

The Aganorsa Leaf Signature Selection Maduro starts out with a hell of a cayenne pepper blast that left my lips and tongue screaming for a few seconds. After the initial draw the pepper kindly faded allowing the cigar to release some great dark chocolate flavors mixed with heavy oak backed by blackberry, musk, coffee and a slight pine flavor. The draw started a bit tight but loosened up after about an inch. Each puff released a decent amount of smoke which dissipated pretty quickly while the cigar released almost no stationary smoke while it rests in my ashtray. I smoked a handful of these and each one was a bit on the tight side, but nowhere near plugged. The burn line is dead even and razor thin leaving behind a trail of tightly compacted light gray ash which held on for an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Aganorsa Leaf Signature Selection Maduro and I am loving this cigar more and more. The flavor profile still leads with dark chocolate and heavy oak mixed with pecan, coffee, blackberry, musk, and that pine flavor which is still hanging in there. The retrohale really brings out the spice and pepper which is a bit overwhelming so I don’t find myself doing it too often. The burn line is still dead even and razor thin as I close out the second third with a hefty little nicotine kick.

Finish:

The Aganorsa Leaf Signature Selection Maduro is still leaning heavily on the dark chocolate and oak backed by coffee musk, and pecan. The cigar took me two and a half hours to smoke down to the nub and let me tell you, it’s not for the faint of heart. This a a strong cigar as it left me with a whopping nicotine kick while I experienced no harshness, nor extended heat and I never once had to touch up or relight the cigar.

Overview:

I was blown away the first time I smoked this cigar. Later I smoked it again and was equally impressed. Today I smoked it and well… It is by far one of the best cigars I have smoked this year. The flavor profile is complex and bold, the burn was effortless, and construction was flawless. Each of these were a bit tight, but extremely manageable so I won’t take points off there. The price is a bit on the high side but something that I’d gladly pay for and plan to as these will definitely have a spot in my regular rotation for those times when I am looking for a stronger, bolder experience.

Pairing:

What do you get when two of my favorite breweries in the world team up? The Bruery and The Answer combined forces to create The Bananswer which is a 13.7% Imperial Milk stout brewed with bananas, cocoa nibs, walnuts, and vanilla added. The beer leads with an awesome mixture of real banana flavor and fudge. Think of those yellow and brown bomb pops. The backing flavors are a good amount of walnut, vanilla, malt, and soft oak with a very heavy/sticky mouthfeel as it finishes very creamy with more banana, fudge, and vanilla. This is such a smooth and creamy stout with dangerously well-hidden alcohol content. The Fudge and walnut are what urged my to pair this beer with the Aganorsa Leaf Signature Selection Maduro while the sweetness of the beer added another level to an already incredible and complex cigar.

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