Fonseca Habana February 1st, 2007 Keith 91 Share: Coming up is Super Bowl weekend, something I view with a mix of equal parts dread and excitement. We all know the game itself is often more spectacle than sporting event. But more than that, here's the reason why. This weekend marks the start of that gaping hole in the sports universe, the 6-week period amounting to little more than a barren, rocky place for televised sports. For many of us this means emerging from hiding in basements and dens and reinserting ourselves back into family activities. For the last of the mohicans who refuse to concede, you're still holding out and clinging to your guns. You know who you are: you're tuned into figure skating, strong man competitions, hot dog eating contests (my all-time favorite term is "Competitive Eating"), or worst of all, staring blankly at unwatchable NBA games. Don't despair, as around the corner is March Madness, a very welcome shine at the end of the tunnel. One of the few things that provides comfort until then is these boxes of Fonseca Habana (Cosacos size), that are by my side in my Montegue End-Table Humidor. I feel personally attached to this cigar because cigar maker Manuel Quesada and I worked on this project together. The regular Dominican-made Fonseca line is a venerable old brand name with Cuban heritage. But while it is of exceptional quality and consistency, the regular Fonseca blend is unapologetically smooth and mellow. Manuel wanted to complement this with a new, full-bodied, rich, flavorful and complex cigar that would be a bridge to the brand's Cuban heritage, with both lovely packaging and a bold character. To get that robust, complex character just right, together we burned through literally 24 different ligas, smoking no less than 80 cigars apiece to nail the flavor profile we were looking for. Fonseca Habana is draped in a Habano Criollo wrapper, a dark, slightly reddish leaf with a thick, leathery look. The filler blend is laced with a very well-aged mix of higher priming Piloto Cubano ligero leaves. The cigar burns very slow and deliberate, leaving a flavorful, creamy, medium-bodied impression at first, but evolves as you go, developing a hearty, robust, spicy-sweet character that's I'd describe as north of medium but just shy of full-bodied. From the aesthetics, the flavor profile, the complexity, the way it develops as it burns from mellow to full....it's very much a go-to cigar. Nap time will do even more wonders for this fantastic blend. Highly recommended!
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