Introduction and Cigar Review #1 - Arturo Fuente, Maduro, Equisito

I recently started a cigar journal which catalogs the cigars I smoke. Heather thought I should turn my hard copy cigar journal into a blog - so here you go. In this blog I'm going to provide a brief run down of each type of cigar I smoke and also some cigar related information I think is beneficial to any cigar smoker.

My cigar journal

Review #1

Arturo Fuente, Maduro, Exquisito

The Arturo Fuente label.

Brand: Arturo Fuente Name: Exquisito
Place Purchased: Stag Tobacconist, Colorado Springs, CO
Date Purchased: January 30th, 2010
Date Smoked: January 30th, 2010
Price: $3.75
Ring Gauge: 4.6" x 30
Wrapper: Maduro
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican
Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
Rating: 10
Buy Again: Absolutely
Notes: Very bold, strong flavor; rates at a 10 out of 10 on my "Does It Jump Start a Dump if You Smoke It With a Cup of Coffee on the Way to PT in the Morning" Scale. This little guy packs a hell of a punch and is my favorite smoke due to the strength of the cigar, as well as the quick smoke time associated with it (only takes about 20 minutes to smoke - good for smoking on the way to work / on the way home from work); I love the smell of the cigar, but Heather doesn't - it's got a pretty strong and distinct smell to it. I also think it's got a bit of a bitter taste to it, which I enjoy...I kind of think of it as having a little attitude as well, not sure why, but I just do...I love Fuente maduro's, but the Exquisito is by far my favorite.

FYI:
Hand rolled cigars are the way to go - you'll often find them labeled as "hecho a mano", which means something along the lines of "hand rolled" in Spanish. Cigars that are machine rolled are generally crap and I recommend not smoking anything that's not hand rolled. A couple of good starter brands to look into are Arturo Fuente, CAO, and Nub - be careful around the CAO's if you're new to cigars, they've got a lot of powerful cigars that will leave you sick to your stomach and staring at the wall. I also recommend using the following website for any online cigar shopping - http://www.cigar.com/. I use cigar.com routinely when I'm deployed to order cigars - the guys at cigar.com are great. Unlike most online business, the guys at cigar.com sent me emails while I was deployed and let me know they appreciated everything I was doing - although I suspect that was just a ploy to get me to buy more cigars (not really).