Stogie Reviews: Arturo Fuente Curly Head Deluxe Maduro

16 Oct 2006

I have a friend who often goes to bars and orders their “most economical single-malt scotch.” For some reason that keeps coming to mind as I review the Curly Head Deluxe Maduro – perhaps because I envisioned asking a friendly cigar shop employee for their “most economical Fuente.”

In the budget spirit, I paired this cigar with a Chilean Merlot I purchased from Trader Joes for an affordable $5.99. [Impromptu Stogie Tip: Trader Joes is a great place for decent, reasonably-priced wine.] This particular wine was not as dry as many Merlots and featured strong black currant flavors.

Combined with the $1.85 I paid for the cigar, this is certainly an economical wine and cigar pairing. And with the Fuente name that we’ve rated so highly in the past, I had high hopes for the cigar. Unfortunately, sometimes you really do get what you pay for.

This was not an attractive cigar. The Maduro wrapper was dry and veiny. It featured the largest vein I’ve ever seen in a cigar wrapper that ran two thirds of the way down from the head of this 6 and 1/2 inches by 44 ring gauge stick. The vein caused the head to be quite asymmetrical and a bit awkward in the mouth. Also, rather than have a clean cut foot, the wrapper extended beyond the filler tobacco and was bent inward so it covered much of the foot – sort of like a poor man’s perfecto.

Pre-light this cigar gave off licorice flavors. Lighting it with a single wooden match was easy, facilitated by the unfinished foot. Once lit the burn was mostly even as long as I kept the slow burning edge facing down. Because this cigar uses medium filler – as opposed to long filler which runs the length of a cigar – I had the unfortunate experience of finding bits of the tobacco in my mouth after each draw.

At first this cigar had black pepper notes and overwhelming “dirt” flavors. Near the middle of the cigar, the pepper faded out and the earthy dirt weakened, leaving bitter notes. Additionally, the draw became tight and difficult. Had I not been reviewing this cigar, I would have put it down, as the experience was not at all enjoyable. (The things we do for our readers!)

Finally, near the end the cigar began to improve a little, as the bitterness dulled allowing some licorice to come through the strong earthy flavors. Also, the draw improved near the end. Throughout the smoke, the cigar produced cracked gray and black ash.

Overall, this was a disappointing cigar. Visual imperfections are to be expected from a budget cigar – even one with a Fuente band – but coupled with a taste that was harsh and unpleasant at worst and barely tolerable at best, this cigar proved unsmokable.

Maybe in a few years I’ll bravely pick up another Curley Head Deluxe, but until then stick with Fuente’s mid and premium smokes that offer the quality we’ve come to expect from Fuente stogies. The Arturo Fuente Curley Head Deluxe Maduro receives a poor rating of one and ½ out of five stogies.