Arturo Fuente Anejo 48

Initial Thoughts

For years I’ve been hearing about this legendary Arturo Fuente yearly release. Everyone talks it up and it usually leads to forum threads titled “They’re baaaaaaaccckkk”. I would called this Arturo Fuente Anejo the McRib of cigars. As I said I always hear about these cigars when they are released, yet I’ve never been able to find them in my local B&M. Even this year, I made it down to the store to get the last few Opus X’s, but the Anejos were all gone. At least I thought they were all gone.

Last week I stopped in my local shop to hang out and see what was new. The store manager brought me into the humidor and took me right to the Arturo Fuente section. He said in his thick Boston accent (Yes, the shop is in Nashville) “You’ve gotta pick up one of these Anejos”. Turns out he had them in the humidor and found them when he was doing inventory. What luck! So of course I got one, at $12 I wasn’t sure I wanted to get more than 1 stick right now. I was looking for the infamous “Shark”, it’s a special vitola that is essentially a pyramid that starts as a regular parejo and then transforms into a box press. They’re much more difficult to find apparently. However, I settled for this Arturo Fuente Anejo 48 and I’m beyond excited about it!

Looks

One thing I’ve always loved about Arturo Fuente cigars is the classic look they have. Now granted, they helped establish that classic look in the cigar industry. The bright red band with the fancy gold trim, it screams classic to me. This Arturo Fuente Anejo 48 is no different. On the band there is the traditional AF look and feel. The only difference is the word Anejo at the bottom of the circle. Another thing that sets off this cigar from other AFs is the red satin band at the foot of the cigar. It holds in place a beautifully thing cedar sleeve that wraps the majority of the cigar. I’ve always been a fan of the cedar sleeves, so long as I don’t have trouble getting the sleeves off of the cigar. This cigar is also encapsulated in cello with gold writing on the outside that says Xtra Viejo. There are just too many great things to say about the packaging of this Arturo Fuente Anejo 48. 

Once I got past all the packaging I began to notice the cigar’s wrapper. It’s a beautiful dark and oily wrapper. In fact, this wrapper is a 5 year old Connecticut maduro that has been aged in Cognac barrels. I think they’ve put some thought and effort into this cigar, what do you think? Looking up and down all 7″ of this cigar I couldn’t notice a single imperfection. This cigar is absolutely gorgeous and I can’t wait to light it up and smoke it.

Function

There are zero veins running down through this Arturo Fuente Anejo 48. The barrel is exceptional, a nice bit of firmness with a subtle bounce back from the filler. It’s always hard for me to imagine rolling a 7″ cigar perfectly, I have been looking and I can’t seem to find the seams on this cigar’s wrapper. I guess that’s the reason they use their best rollers for this blend of cigars.

After nipping the cap I took a few dry draws, mainly because I couldn’t help myself. The draw was perfect, a slight resistance and a good air flow. I could tell this Arturo Fuente Anejo 48 was going to light up and burn exceptionally well.

Smoking

I thought about using the cedar sleeve that wrapped this Arturo Fuente Anejo 48 to light the foot, but then I decided against it. I wanted to make sure and toast the foot properly so that this cigar would burn perfect and evenly. In the past I’ve noticed when I use a cedar sleeve it tends to not burn evenly. After dropping $12 on this stick I wanted to make sure it was taken care of properly.

The first couple puffs on this stogie are absolutely incredible. A ton of creamy smoke, nice, white, and thick it rises into the air. The draw is exceptional. I’m always worried about the longer vitolas draw resistance. That’s why I rarely smoke lonsdales or lanceros. The first third is fantastic. The burn is perfect and I haven’t had one issue with the draw whatsoever. I even had to run inside the house to take care of an ant infestation that the fiance found. When I came back out the Arturo Fuente Anejo 48 was burning nice and slowly and fired right back up when I sat down on my comfy camping chair.

The second third was just as exceptional as the first. Again not a single issue with the burn or draw. The ash would hold on for close to an inch before it fell off. Apparently the ash on this cigar was even alluring to the insects buzzing around. A giant brown flying beetle decided to nose drive right into my ashtray and roll around in the ash I just knocked off. Turns out that beetles can’t fly out of the ash tray as easily as they fly into them. So after he was done kicking up ash dust I had to grab ahold of him and throw him back out into the yard… Even through all that, this cigar was still burning perfectly. It continued to do so all the way through and down to the nub. I smoked this cigar so far down that it began to burn my fingers where I was holding it.