2004 Arturo Fuente Gran Reserva Don Carlos No. 3

[jrfoxx]

Cigar:
2004 Arturo Fuente Gran Reserva Don Carlos No. 3

Specifications:
Year of Manufacture/Box Codes: 2004

Country of Origin: Dominican Republic

Wrapper Color: Colorado Maduro

Wrapper type: Cameroon

Filler: Dominican

Binder: Dominican

Vitola: Corona (5.5x44)

Manufacturer: Tabacalera A. Fuente

Factory: Tabacalera A. Fuente, Santiago, Dominican Republic

Humidimeter Reading: 68% (+/-2%)

Temperature: 46 degrees

Humidity: 100% (Very dense fog from ground to clouds)

Wind: 8mph





Setting: On my nice, comfortable swing bench in the mostly enclosed small glass shelter, unfortunately without my regular view of the mountains due to low clouds covering half the mountains, and desnse fog covering the rest.
Airport lists visibility as 0.13 miles

Paired with: Home made iced coffee

Pre-light draw seems perfect, and I swear I can taste nutmeg.
Wrapper is of medium roughness and very veiny. Cap is also a medium roughness but is nice and long.

Bunch feels very hard.

As far as appearance, invisible seams, nice rich, chocolate color, but very veiny, so only somewhat attractive.

Cigar Aficionado rated a 2005 example an 88, saying “This cigar burns and draws well. It’s cedary and savory, with a woody core and some nose spice. Medium Bodied. "

Lets see what 18 years has done with it.

Burn was slightly uneven at first, but not badly and corrected itself by the second half.

Long, conical coal as expected with an uneven burn. It too corrected itself in the second half and became a nice, flat coal.

Ash color was a mottled white and of typical structure.

Draw was perfect as I expected from the cold draw.

Excellent smoke volume with a faint, subtle, biting aroma of wood.

Had ample richness, mild strength, and generous body and perfectly balanced , generous flavor of herbal, woody and light, unidentifiable spice flavors.

Finish was of medium strength and length consisting of herbal, woody and light unidentifiable spice again.

No sweetness, bitterness, sharpness or saltiness and just a very light burn on the tongue.

Overall a good cigar with a final score of 89 out of 100.

Pretty well matched Cigar Aficionados review of a 2005, fresh example surprisingly.


I friggin love cigars

[chain_gang]

Thanks for the review. Have you had a recent production Don Carlos, and how did the aging from this '04 compare to it? I would be very interested to know as I read conflicting things about aging, especially for 10+ years. Doubt I'll ever have anything sitting for that long, but I've always been interested by the aging subject.

[jrfoxx]

Thanks for the review. Have you had a recent production Don Carlos, and how did the aging from this '04 compare to it? I would be very interested to know as I read conflicting things about aging, especially for 10+ years. Doubt I'll ever have anything sitting for that long, but I've always been interested by the aging subject.

I have smoked a fair number of different relatively young (2 to 3 years age at most)
Don Carlos, especially the 80th Aniversario Personal Reserve (my favorite and the best i have had in my opinion).

The younger ones had a much fuller richness, body, aroma and flavor.

This one was just milder, smoother and mellower and more muted in those areas.

I'm far from an expert on aged cigars, but I have been fortunate to have smoked probably 100 of all different marcas and vitolas, nc's and cc's, and this one just gave me the impression that it had passed its prime. I would guess they would be better in the 5 to 10 year range.

I have read the same conflicting information on aging too, and all i can say is to age or acquire some of different ages and find out for yourself, as i have had both good and bad aged cigars, all stored exactly the same way, so every cigar seems to really age differently.

I friggin love cigars