The Stogie Guys

Introduced at the 2005 RTDA, the “King B” is an extension of Fuente’s popular Chateau Fuente line. Like all the sungrown cigars in the blend, the cedar-wrapped foot is draped in black ribbon.

Back when it debuted, Carlos Fuente, Jr. told CigarCyclopedia that the six inch by 55 ring gauge torpedo was named after a favorite meeting spot in Tampa of his grandfather, Arturo Fuente:

We wanted a pyramid in the Chateau Fuente line because we didn’t have one. We could have called it a Belicoso or a No. 2 like a lot of other brands out there, but I like to have shape names with some emotion attached to it.

I remembered when I was a little boy in Ybor City and I would go over to my grandfather’s house in the 1950s. Catty-corner behind his house was this place that all the cigarmakers used to go to meet in the afternoon.

They could have a drink there, hear the latest rumors, talk with their friends; there were people playing dominoes and smoking cigars in the front. That tavern, or meeting place, was called the King B.

The Arturo Fuente King B features a lovely reddish-brown Ecuadorian sungrown “rosado” wrapper. Inside are Dominican filler and binder tobaccos grown at Fuente’s own tobacco plantation. Of the multiple King B’s I sampled, I noticed a few prominent veins in the otherwise flawless wrappers.

Prior to lighting the King B, one can’t help but notice the strong cedar aroma it lets off (no doubt largely due to the cedar sleeve). The cigar is firm and dense to the touch, although it feels surprisingly light in my hand.

After clipping the head and lighting up this thick torpedo, I notice the same cedary flavor I could smell pre-light mixed with earth and sweetness. Additionally, I found an underlying peppery spice that faded in and out as the cigar progressed. The finish was smooth and earthy, but during the final third a bitter edge developed to the otherwise pleasant finish.

The draw was perfect and the white ash held for well over an inch at a time. In fact, one of the King B’s I smoked only required me to gently tap the ash off twice. The only downside to the construction was that the burn was at times uneven. I found that when I focused my attention on the burn, I could, with work, keep it even. However, when I was unable to pay it my undivided attention – such as at a roulette table in Reno – it became lopsided.

The King B, sold in a box of 18 cigars, has a suggested retail price of $6.75 per stick, but due to its limited production, they often retail for quite a bit more. (At the time of this review CigarsDirect.com, which provided the cigars for this review, currently has them in stock for $159.95 per box.)

Despite the sporadic burn problems and occasionally bitter finish, this is another excellent cigar from Fuente with a full, complex, and balanced flavor. For all that, the Arturo Fuente King B earns an excellent rating of four out of five stogies.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here. Cigars for this review were provided by CigarsDirect.com.]

–Patrick S

Tags: cigars