Dimensions: 6×55
Wrapper: Aged Dominican
Tobacco: Dominican
Strength: Full-Bodied
Price: $12.00-$25.00 per stick

I was very fortunate to come upon this cigar as it was gifted to me by former St. Louis Blues enforcer and all-around great guy Tony Twist. These days, Tony is a very successful businessman in the St. Louis area with a number of great restaurants and a well-established cigar club. The Anejo No. 55 was one of a few cigars that he was kind enough to pass along to me and I am happy to thank him publicly here. The differences between the standard lines of Arturo Fuente cigars and the Anejo lines is that the aged maduro wrappers are cured in cognac barrels, giving them an extra bit of kick. Combine that with a blend of filler from the Hemingway, Don Carlos, and OpusX lines and you have a very distinct cigar.

And for those curious, Anejo in Spanish means “Age refined.”

Holding the cigar in my hand, I found a nicely packed, firm cigar. The only imperfection in the slightly oily and veiny maduro wrapper that I detected was an extra glob of glue from the cedar sheath it came in, otherwise, everything appeared to be in order. The wrapper itself gave off a woody, almost sweet scent, almost asking for it to be lit and smoked. Time to oblige it.

Taking my first draw, I was greeted with a slight hint of spice and familiar woody tones. Initially, I did find that the draw of the cigar was a bit tight at first, remedied by cutting just slightly more off of the edge, which immediately opened up the draw and allowed a greater concentration of flavors to move into the palette. After the first third of the cigar, the spice that I noticed at the beginning subsided and was replaced with some sweeter notes – like a hint of black cherry. The strength of this cigar is most definitely full-bodied, and as the evening wore on and I progressed further down the cigar, its potency increased, especially in the last third. This is definitely one you will taste the next day if you do your smoking in the evenings. I’m unsure if I took my time with this particular cigar but it almost felt like this one burned a bit on the slower side. This is great if you have the time to spare to really enjoy this cigar.

A couple of drawbacks to the cigar I did find. One was that the burn was a bit uneven. I did have to correct the burn more than a few times. And the ash was easily flaked off, as without any effort I found ash on my basement floor. While neither of these issues would deter me from the cigar, it is something to keep in mind.

Recommendations: This is a very flavorful, full-bodied cigar. No question about that. I also discovered varying price points from the cigar. At a couple of local shops, the average price was $12.00, online it was much higher. If you are looking at purchasing these, do your research and shop around. While I would not purchase this cigar very often because of the price, it is definitely on my list of favorite full-bodied maduros.