Cigar Review: Viaje Skull and Bones (FOAB)

Viaje has made a name for itself creating extremely limited production cigars. In fact, Viaje’s cigars are made in such limited quantities that they often sell out in mere days.

Since chances are the Viaje cigar you have your eye on will be sold before you have a chance to sample one, purchasing many is pretty much an act of faith. Maybe Viaje’s small batches are a brilliant marketing strategy (some might call it a gimmick) but the incredibly small size of the release drives demand for these rare cigars.

That is certainly the case with the Skull and Bones series, of which the three new editions of only 300 boxes of 25 (7,500 total cigars) were released. Two of those were a second edition of a cigar released a year ago: the WMD “Weapon of Mass Destruction” (3.75 x 54) and the MOAB “Mother of All Bombs” (4.5 x 52). A third, the FOAB “Father of All Bombs,” was a new addition to the Skull and Bones line.

FOAB is slightly fatter than the MOAB with a 56 ring gauge and the same 4.5 inches in length. Like all Viaje cigars, it is made at the Raices Cubana factory in Honduras, which also produces cigars for Illusione, Padilla, Alec Bradley, La Palina, and others. The Viaje FOAB is an all Nicaraguan blend with a dark sun-grown criollo wrapper. The cigar sells for $9.20 each ($230 for a box of 25), a substantial price for a cigar you might call a petite robusto.

With a name like Father of All Bombs, you’d expect a full-bodied a bomb of a cigar, and while FOAB is definitely full-bodied (no matter what your definition is), it isn’t overwhelmingly so. Perhaps that’s why Viaje owner Andre Farkas says he doesn’t include the FOAB (or MOAB) in the Skull and Bones red line, because MOAB and FOAB aren’t nuclear but conventional weapons.

The cigar features charred oak, chocolate, and dark coffee. There’s also bready and roasted nuts present, notes you wouldn’t usually identify with a full-bodied smoke. It’s surprisingly well-balanced, though the flavors don’t change much throughout.

Construction was excellent for each of the three cigars I sampled with a solid gray ash, firm-but-not-difficult draw, and straight burn. Given that this little cigar costs almost $10 each, it would have been very disappointing if it weren’t well-constructed.

I only picked up a five-pack (it cost me $46), and there are very few left so I look forward to seeing how my remaining cigars deal with a bit of age (and I should note that I smoked these within days of receiving them). Ultimately, though, I really did enjoy the FOAB. I was pleasantly surprised to find this cigar not overwhelmingly strong. It may not be a cigar for beginners, but it has enough balance to be enjoyed by a seasoned smoker. That earns the Viaje FOAB (“Father of All Bombs”) a rating of four stogies out of five.

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–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys