Foundry Wells (6 x 50)

Video review HERE.


FOUNDRY is the brainchild of Michael Giannini who led the team that created the breakthrough brand. “Innovation comes from many sources,” he notes. “It is a pleasure and an honor to be able to call upon our greatest resources: the collective talent of cigar masters, our expertise in tobacco cultivation, processing and blending and the creativity of our artisan cigar rollers and box makers to bring FOUNDRY to fruition.”

Visual considerations aside, FOUNDRY’s avant-garde approach extends to its masterfully balanced synthesis of flavors. Featuring an indulgent collection of five proprietary tobaccos from four different countries, each aged between three and six years, Foundry’s foundation is amplified through an eight year old Connecticut wrapper developed by General Cigar. Called H-47 Pleno Sol, the lustrous wrapper imparts a deeply complex, layered smoking experience like no other. The cigars are produced in the Dominican Republic.
 

The four-cigar collection is accessibly-priced, and will make its mark on tobacco retail starting in late-October. Foundry features these new cigars: Wells (6”x 50, SRP per cigar is $7.95);Lovelace (6 ¼ ” x 54, SRP per cigar is $8.45); Talbot (5” x 60, SRP per cigar is $8.95) and Cayley (6 ½” x 60 x 56 x 43, SRP per cigar is $9.45). Each frontmark is presented with a unique box design and features both a traditional paper band and a steampunk-inspired metal gear band.

The cigar is dense and weighty in the hand even after removing the metal ring. Foundry is triple capped and, as I said before, very dense.

After cutting the triple cap the test draw was a little firm. Upon lighting the cigar the initial flavors were leather, cream, and a good amount of pepper (6 out of 10). I let the cigar sit for a minute.

About 1/2 inch in the flavors have settled down into leather, cream, and grapefruit citrus that is not sweet. The pepper remains very good. The ash is a very light color. The finish is a basic cream flavor with not much lingering pepper. The cigar is medium bodied at this point.

I noticed an interesting thing just after the last segment. There are hints of spearmint noted when you initially expel the smoke through the nose. They quickly give way to the leather notes and other flavors. I found the spearmint notes to be unexpected and quite nice.

At, or about, the midpoint there are signs of some richness in the leather notes. They are not full blown richness but there are hints. The spearmint notes are still there on the very front end. Of course, the leather notes are still the dominant flavor followed by the cream and grapefruit citrus. The finish is still cream.

With about 1 12 inches left there are still hints of richness. The spearmint notes have gone away. You are left with the leather and semi-sweet grapefruit citrus. The pepper remains the same, which is pretty good. The finish has also not changed.

The story of this cigar is leather. The sub-story is the spearmint notes which were around until the 3/4 point. The cream was nice as well as the grapefruit citrus, which became semi-sweet in the final 1/3. There were  hints of richness in the leather but they never achieved full richness. The pepper remained pretty good. The finish was cream but it did not have any sweetness. There was very little lingering pepper on the finish.

I would say that those of you who like leathery cigars would like this cigar. The spearmint notes made it interesting.


Score: 86