Video review HERE.
This is one of the newest cigars to come from the masters at Arturo Fuente. Carolos Fuente, Jr. calls the Angel's Share a milder version of his famous Opus X line. This cigar is made with old wrappers from the middle of a tobacco plant, rather than high-priming leaves that grow near the top.
(from the Cigar Aficionado website)
“It’s a totally different blend,” Fuente Jr. told Cigar Aficionado during an interview at the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers trade show earlier this month. “For Fuente Fuente OpusX, we always used the very top of the plant [for the cigar’s wrapper leaves]. The yields were very low. Production was low. Classically, the true wrapper leaves came from the heart of the plant.”
Fuente said that he has been holding onto wrapper leaves taken from the heart of the plant—the middle primings traditionally used for cigar-industry wrapper—from his family farm in El Caribe, Dominican Republic, called Château de la Fuente.
“We were putting it aside,” Fuente said of the wrapper leaves, which are light tan in color. “We selected the best of the best for this cigar.”
The term “angel’s share” is common in the spirits world. Makers of Cognac, Scotch, Bourbon and other brown, long-aged spirits lose a great portion of their product to evaporation. The lost liquid is said to be enjoyed by the angels in heaven, and has been dubbed “the angel’s share.”
Fuente had a severe fire last summer, when one of the company’s tobacco warehouses in the Dominican Republic burst into flames, ruining thousands of bales of tobacco, including some that had been aging for decades. Fuente Jr. has said that the angels enjoyed the smoke, and where he got the idea for the name of this line.
Wrapper: Dominican Chateau de la Fuente Sun Grown
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dominican Republic
This sample was purchased locally.
Price: $19
The cigar has two bands; the regular Opus X band on top and a second band below designating the Angel's Share name.
This cigar is a little lighter in color than the regular production Opus X.
The cigar is beautifully made and has a nice feeling density in the hand.
The test draw after cutting the cap was very good. The dry draw yielded some very nice sweet notes. The initial flavors after light up were light cedar, dry toast, raisin, and dry wood. The pepper is a white pepper and not as intense as a regular Opus X. However, when you retrohale you get a nice amount. The cigar is coming across as medium bodied. The finish is a dry wood with light cream and some lingering pepper.
About an inch in the cigar is much sweeter. It seemed to ramp up from the start. The cedar and raisin notes are very sweet with some richness. There is a touch of earthiness also. I don't really notice the dry wood and dry toast notes as much. The white pepper is between a 7 and 8 in intensity. The finish is now a sweet cream with a ton of lingering pepper. The cigar is still medium bodied and I believe it will increase.
At the 1 1/2 inch point the flavors are changing. The cedar is still very sweet and rich but now instead of raisin notes I am getting white chocolate. The dry wood notes and dry toast notes are back. The finish now also has some dry toast notes to go along with the sweet cream. The lingering pepper is still very good. The as is very tight. The cigar is moving quickly to medium to full bodied but not quite there yet.
As the cigar approached the lower band, about 2 1/2 inches in, it had every note going; sweet, rich cedar, raisin, white chocolate, toast, and dry wood. The white pepper has toned down to a 6.5 to 7 range. The finish is a combination of dry toast and cream, or you could call it a toasted cream. There is still nice lingering pepper. The cigar is now medium to full bodied and burning very evenly. This cigar does not have the power of the regular Opus X but it has much more sweetness, which I like.
With about 2 inches remaining the cedar is still sweet, the raisin notes have toned down, the white chocolate is still there although not as intense, but the dry wood is quite intense. The pepper has ticked back up a little and the finish is a combination of dry wood and sweet cream.The cigar took 1 hour 25 minutes to smoke. The flavors are a sweet cedar, light raisin, white chocolate, and dry wood. The pepper and finish remained the same. The cigar ended as medium to full bodied. Again, this is nothing like the regular Opus X but the sweet flavors are great. It also does not have the power. Those of you who expect the flavors of the regular Opus X will be shocked by this cigar but the rich, sweet flavors are fantastic. Great cigar.
Score: 92
Angel's Share cigars are available at Famous Smoke Shop.
No comments:
Post a Comment