Casa Fernandez Arsenio

[BlackIrish]

The cigar: Casa Fernandez Arsenio

Nutritional information
Vitola: robusto grande (5.25 x 54)
Origin: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Binder: Nicaragua
Wrapper: Nicaragua (corojo)

The marketing:
A renowned producer of premium cigars for nearly three decades & one of Central American’s largest tobacco growers, Tobacalera Tropical is truly unmatched in the cigar industry today. Manufacturing such brands as Illusione and Cruzado the cousin team of Paul Palmer and Eduardo Fernandez have built a name for themselves as great growers and manufacturers of cigars. And just add another one to their list, the Casa Fernandez cigars are hand-made in Nicaragua using only the finest tobacco that then grown in Nicaragua.

The Casa Fernandez is a wonderfully complex Nicaraguan smoke that I highly recommend, for those who enjoy a rich spicy Nicaraguan cigar. The flavors are bold and powerful yet smooth with loads of flavor from start to finish. Available in Corojo wrapper, or in both Corojo or Maduro in the Salomon size. (from AtlanticCigar.com)

Pre-Light: This hefty robusto is strikingly attractive. The oily colorado maduro wrapper, slightly variegated, has a distinct copper coloring. The wrapping is beautiful: there are one or two minor veins, but nary a seam to be found. There's a little pigtail, flattened against the cap. It's very solid and firm to the touch, but when clipped the draw is perfect -- a great roll. A sniff of the foot brings a bite of pepper, which also shows up on the cold draw, mixed with some straw.

Construction & Burn: The construction of the Arsenio was absolutely top notch. I loved the look and feel of the wrapper and the perfect pigtailed cap. The cigar felt decidedly heavy, but the draw could not have been better. The light was easy and the ash outstanding -- firm and strong, it grew to more than two inches before I tapped it, and that was the only time I ashed it. The burn was a little uneven; I'm going to cut it some slack because I smoked this cigar outside (on a gorgeous night sitting on a roofdeck in Boston's South End), and the breeze may have contributed to the uneveness. Nothing a torch couldn't fix, though. A slow burner, lasting well over an hour, with lots of smoke, too, nice and satisfying.

Flavor: Lighting brought a swirl of white pepper, tingling the sides of my tongue and my sinuses on the retrohale. At first the body was light; there wasn't much beyond the pepper. But it started to settle down after a couple of puffs, and then: Nicaragua! It had that flavor, that dark, leathery, faintly sweet quality that I associate with Tatuaje, and Illusione, and Pepin, and all of those excellent Nic puros. It wasn't immediately rich, still a little lighter in body, still not very deep in flavor, but I knew it was heading in the right direction.

The flavors rounded out about an inch into the smoke and they did grow richer. There was chocolate, coffee, toffee, and milder, toned down spice. I could tell this would be good -- this is my flavor profile.

And it *was* good, better than good. It was tremendous. I smoked it slowly, and the flavors were complex. About an inch and a half in I got flavors that were startlingly Cubanesque -- a leathery floral twang that I never find in noncubans. If I'd smoked this cigar blind and made a prediction based on only these puffs, I'm sure I would have called it Cuban.

A little further on, I got more of the Nicaraguan notes: faint vanilla-ish tones, some sweetness, some espresso. Each puff was different. The floral notes returned, then more leather.

The last third was a bit less dynamic, mostly leather with warm spice returning. Flavors faded a bit as I neared the nub, but that's forgivable, because the smoke had been awesome.

Summary: An astonishingly good cigar. The construction was stellar, the flavors complex, dynamic, and delicious, with classic Nicaraguan flavor notes that you'd expect from a Nic puro, plus some unexpected floral notes that call to mind a good Habana. At the prevailing price of about $5 a piece, it's box-worthy, in my view -- I'll make the room somehow.