Arturo Fuente Casa Fuente Prelight
Arturo Fuente was founded by Mr. Arturo Fuente himself in 1912 in West Tampa, Florida after emigrating to the country from Cuba. At the time Arturo Fuente cigars were hand rolled in West Tampa using Cuban tobacco. After the embargo placed on Cuba by the United States went into effect the Fuente family had to find a new source for their tobacco. They experimented in growing tobaccos in The Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Honduras, and Nicaragua. For many years it was believed that wrapper leaves from The Dominican Republic would never be suitable for high end cigars. In 1992 The Fuente Fuente Opus X was released, the first Dominican puro featuring a wrapper grown in the DR was released. Today the Arturo Fuente brand is one of the most well known in the cigar industry, thanks to their timeless blends like the Opus X, Don Carlos, Casa Cuba, and today’s subject, the Casa Fuente.
The Casa Fuente was originally exclusively available at the Casa Fuente cigar shop in Las Vegas. It saw some special releases to retailers over the years, but it’s now, for the first time available at brick and mortar locations throughout the United States. As of today, there is very little information about this release online. Whether it’s a limited production cigar, or a yearly release is yet to be known. The vitola is a Corona Gorda with dimensions of 5 5/8″ x 46. The blend is made of filler and binder from The Dominican Republic, with a Cameroon wrapper. If you trade in rumors, the story is that the blend is a tweak on the Fuente Fuente Opus X blend with a Cameroon wrapper instead of the original Dominican wrapper. The wrapper on this example looks gorgeous, it’s smooth, with an oily sheen. I also really like this band, especially compared to some of the other bands that can be a bit over the top. I do have to say, that I really dislike these kinds of footbands. They look good enough, but then they have this cheap looking clear tape holding it on. A punch cut reveals a perfect draw, and I get notes of sweet wood, and baking spices prelight. I lit the cigar using my double torch lighter.
Arturo Fuente Casa Fuente First Third
Right off the bat the cigar is densely packed with flavor. There aren’t many dominant tones yet, but lot of undertones to parse through. The notes on the palate are raisins, apple wood, white bread, and honey. I’m getting vanilla, drip coffee, and some nutmeg/mace spice on the retrohale. There’s a small tear near the foot of the wrapper that appeared after lighting, it’s bulging a bit as a smoke, but thankfully never bursts all the way. The honey, wood, and dried fruit notes are very tasty here. The spice is slowly dying down, the mace is all gone, and it’s all nutmeg. The finish is medium, with the sweet wood being the main tone. Smoke texture is on the lighter side, with medium output. The blend here is very well balanced with a mix of woody, sweet, and spicy tones. The spices and coffee are coming together to remind me of a spiced Ethiopian or Yemeni coffee. The construction and burn, outside of that bulge in the wrapper, has been very good.
Arturo Fuente Casa Fuente Second Third
The blend has calmed down a bit in the second third, maybe even calmed down a bit too much. A few of the flavors have fallen off, which is rare in a second third of a cigar. The palate notes are apple wood, white bread, and honey. The retrohale is showing vanilla, drip coffee, and nutmeg spice in the background. Wood, coffee, and spiced honey are the main takeaways. The raisin note that was present in the first third is now gone, which is a real shame as it was very tasty. Unfortunately I’m seeing another tear in the wrapper develop an inch below the band. Thankfully it’s smoking through it, and doesn’t seem to be effecting the smoke so much, but now that I’ve seen two of these I’m wondering if I’m not getting the intended experience with this example.
Arturo Fuente Casa Fuente Final Third
The final third is very in line with the second. Apple wood, white bread, and some dwindling honey on the palate. The tones on the retrohale are drip coffee, nutmeg, and a bit of marshmallow sweetness. Past the band the flavors are more or less consistent with the sweetness slowly falling off. I put this one down with a little over an inch left.
Arturo Fuente Casa Fuente Conclusions
The Casa Fuente has been on my radar for a long while, and when I saw it at my local B&M I jumped at the opportunity to try it. Fuente as a brand has always been known for its consistent flavors and quality control, so I’m wondering if this cigar’s wrapper issue was due to the growing pains of its first wide spread release. The blend was balanced and had some really nice flavors, but I kept getting the feeling that it was missing something. It’s entirely possible the construction issues that lead to the bulging also impacted the flavors somehow. I’m hoping that Arturo Fuente continue to release this cigar, as I’d love to revisit it at some point in the future, but for now I’ll wait for the next production run before picking up another Casa Fuente.
