Arturo Fuente Brevas Maduro

Well, I have a friend who has been smoking cigars for many years now and worked in a cigar store. I often ask him for various suggestions because he has tried a very wide range of stogies. He and his father are regular cigar smokers, so they are always on the lookout for extremely high value cigars. Their number one "go-to cigar" is a cigar which I will discuss in great detail at a later date, however, today's blog will cover the Arturo Fuente Brevas Maduro. He recommended that I try this particular cigar because it was, according to him, "a low priced, yet decent cigar."


First impressions:


The first thing I want to point out is that this is a short filler cigar, which is part of why it is priced the way it is. Overall appearance is definitely that of a lower priced cigar, however, I would not call the construction poor. It had average construction which was acceptable for the $2.75 price tag. The smell was a bit unusual, however. It had a vastly different smell from the high end Arturo Fuente Maduros. This smell was drier and more spicy. It did not have that sweet tobacco scent that I'm familiar with from a good Arturo Fuente cigar. The cold draw yielded a "tobaccoey" and mildly bitter taste, which didn't exactly impress me.


Lighting and Smoking:


I used a cigar match to light this cigar, which is my preferred method in conditions where the air is still. The cigar lit up easily, burned well and required no corrections at any time. While it was not "razor sharp," the burn was easily consistent enough for me to say it burned quite well. The initial flavor was pretty much a mild spice, un-aged tobacco and a bitter taste. If this doesn't sound mouth watering, that's because it isn't! As the cigar went on, the flavor smoothed out a bit, but that mild bitter taste remained throughout the cigar. The overall taste on the draw was of spice and tobacco with a tiny bit of sweetness. Then the mild bitter taste would kick in noticeably on the finish. It was easily something you could continue to smoke, but it isn't a cigar that is really worth paying attention to. It lacks depth and complexity.

The smoke was slightly dry, but not terribly so. There was no characteristic oily residue from this maduro, which was interesting. It also didn't leave much of a sweet taste on the lips, as many maduros will. The cigar did produce a good amount of smoke and the smoke volume was good in my opinion. Unfortunately, as I've already described, the flavors simply weren't good. Again, I can't say it was truly "bad" either, as I could easily smoke it. I definitely wouldn't turn one down if it was given to me either, as it is good for those times where you just want a smoke but can't fully appreciate a high end cigar like when you're out doing yard work.

The burn did get a tad bit uneven during the last 1/3 of the cigar, but it was not bad enough to need any correction. Once the burn reached the band area, it began to get hot and the harshness ramped up. At that time I decided it was time to let it die out.


Conclusion:

I can't say this is a definite buy, but it's also not a definite "no go" either. The best way to describe this cigar is simply to say that it might be worth it for some people. The $2.75 price that a local cigar store was selling these for is definitely too high for what it is though. I would not pay more than $2 for one of these in the future and even then I'd have a very difficult time doing so, since just $2-$3 more can get you a much better smoke.

Honestly, I don't see myself buying more of these because there is another cigar in this price range which absolutely outdoes this cigar in every respect, without question (This will be covered in a future blog). That being said, the Arturo Fuente Brevas is a cigar that would be just fine for when you simply want to smoke on something small while doing something like mowing the yard or doing some other monotonous activity where you aren't going to really be able to give a high end cigar the attention it deserves. It's also a decent cigar to keep on hand as a handout to folks who aren't regular cigar smokers and wont really be able to appreciate a finer cigar. Finally, it wouldn't be a terrible choice for a novice, as it is a relatively mild cigar in terms of strength.