Cigar Review: Partagas 1845 Extra Fuerte Robusto Gordo
1 Apr 2014
General Cigar recently unveiled two new blends that will fall under its Partagas 1845 brand. One, Partagas 1845 Extra Oscuro, is for online and catalog retailers. The other, Partagas 1845 Extra Fuerte, is for brick-and-mortar shops.
Releasing two similarly branded cigars (one for cigar shops, the other for online/catalog) seems to be a new strategy General Cigar is embracing, since they did something similar with La Gloria Cubana Serie R Black/Serie R EstelÃ. The idea, I suspect, is to protect cigar shops from online competition and vice versa, while having the branding, packaging, and profile be similar enough that each benefits from the publicity and marketing of the other.
In the always competitive world of premium cigars, if it provides even a small advantage then it’s good strategy, though I think the risk is that it can be confusing for consumers who shop both in-person and by mail-order. Unless they are side by side, they look very similar: the Extra Fuerte has a black and silver band, while the Extra Oscuro has a dark purple and silver band, with a darker oscuro wrapper.
The Partagas 1845 Extra Fuerte features a four-country blend with an oily Ecuadorian Habano ligero warpper and an unusual Habano Connecticut binder. The filler uses Dominican Piloto Cubano and three types of Nicaraguan tobacco identified only as “Gurdian, EstelÃ, and ASP”.
It comes in four sizes: Robusto Gordo (5.5 x 52), Gigante (6 x 60), Double Corona (7.5 x 54), and Supremo (7 x 58). Each comes in 20-count boxes with suggested retail prices ranging from $7.49 to $8.49 per cigar. I smoked three of the Robusto Gordo size for this review, all of which were provided as samples by the manufacturer.
The cigar lives up to its “extra fuerte” name with a full-bodied combination of deep flavors. It’s dominated by woody notes, namely dried oak and char, but there are also black coffee and clove spices. While it’s a little sharp and slightly unbalanced at first, but rounds out nicely during the second half.
General Cigar has been using more and more Nicaraguan tobacco in their new blends, and I think the results have been very good. Like the La Gloria Serie R EstelÃ, the Partagas 1845 Extra Fuerte ramps up the flavor and body, but without betraying the identity of the original. The Extra Fuerte went well with some Zaya Gran Reserva 12 Year.
With flawless construction, full-bodied flavors, and a fair price point, there’s a lot to like about the newest blend to carry the historic Partagas name. That earns the Partagas 1845 Extra Fuerte Robusto Gordo a rating of four stogies out of five.
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I haven't had the pleasure of enjoying this cigar, but I most certainly can attest to the great taste and value of the Zaya rum. Tastes a bit like Ron Zacapa, but with a hint of vanilla, for 75% of the price. Nice recommendation!
Zaya and Zacapa are my go to rums (and I'm sure Zacapa would go excellently too). They both are fantastic with pretty much every cigar, but what I found particularly notable about this one was that the sweetness of the rum seemed to make the cigar more balanced.