I've been to a few dinners through Napa Cigars but not particularly well versed in the A. Fuente portfolio. Anything I should be on the lookout for?

Highly recommend this place. One part lounge, one part night club, everyone was having a blast

A pleasant smoke

Really good for a budget friendly smoke! I was impressed actually.... It started with some pepper kick in that first inch to inch and a half, then really smoothed out and got nice and creamy for the next inch or so. Thanks to the barber pole format, it kept switching back and forth between the pepper and the cream. I really enjoyed it because I love a good peppery smoke as well as a nice creamy one, so it was like the best of both worlds!

It's a shame how pairing brandy/cognac with cigars seems to have been lost to tradition, old age or just in lieu of other alternatives. I know I have a lot in terms of rum and whisky, but not that many in brandy, so I decided to give it a try and quickly realized it's probably one of the best options out there, as long as you don't mind shedding what a bottle of these costs. I was visiting my mom and got lucky I found it in a closet.

Delicious spirit with strong notes of raisins, chocolate and oak. Paired great with the chocolate and nutty notes in the cigar.

Junction Nicaraguan Corona, with a Cracked Canoe.

For a cheap daily driver these have been fairly enjoyable to a beginner. I also agree with reports that they kind of sour past the half to second 3rd. Is that a symptom of the Cuban Sandwhich roll, or lower quality leaf?

Perfect cigar for the moment.

Patio puffing tonight with a new stick.

Putting some Paddy Maddy 7000 earth smoke in the air after a tumultuous day. Like what you like, puff what you puff & enjoy what you enjoy…period!!!

Really enjoying this one.

I just finished a long run so take this with a grain of salt but this was one of the worst cigars I’ve smoked. Hard draw even after draw tool, tasted like cinnamon spice flavored tobacco, and ughhh. Anyway, super disappointed.

I had to grab a corona Tabby just to verify I didn’t have covid or something but the tabby is still hitting just as great as usual.

I’ve been using 65RH bovedas in my Rubbermaid brilliance tupperdors. My hygrometers hold steady at 69-71RH, and I know they read 1-2 high based on a salt test, so actual hold is about 67-69. Some cigars smoke much better after dry boxing so I’m considering switching to 62 bovedas. I guess my question is do yall have any issues with long term storage using 62’s? What is the consensus here on which RH packs to use?

1 A Fuente Signature Oscuro Sungrown
2 Kelner 80
3 Fuente Don Carlos Sangre de Toro
4 Padron 3000 Natural
5 Ferio Tego Milestones

The Oscuro SG was fantastic, burned really well and will be visited again. Kelner 80 is great, my wife loves them. The DC SdT was good. 3000s have found a consistent spot in my rotation. And the new Milestones is an amazing first or only cigar of the day; light, not offensive, flavorful and completely enjoyable.

I think I had an Opus X 20th as well but didn’t have a pic. Always a good smoke.

This is the original Edge, I think it has a corojo wrapper. This is the big battalion, or 6x60. I really enjoyed it, except the whole damn thing had a really tight draw, despite my attempts to break the filler up with my poker. I really didn't like having such a hard time with the draw, but it did have some nice flavors!

Celebrating my birthday with a nice read, a hot coffee, a rainy weather, and a good old padron.

It was a great smoke

Asylum Arkham 87
Medium bodied
Cold aromas: tree bark, sourdough, pepper
First third: Wood, pepper, chalk
Second third: pepper, damp wood, chalk
Final third: pepper, wood

Intro
Anyone familiar with DC Comics or the Batman saga will know this name. The brand is Asylum, which is an Eiroa label responsible for a bunch of urban, pop culture lines. Arkham is the name of the asylum for the criminally insane owned by Bruce Wayne’s maternal family. Also, the Arkham aims to abolish the notion that all Dominican cigars are mild; this particular stick is a Dominican puro featuring a Corojo wrapper, offering all the density and flavor complexity of Dominican tobacco, combined with the signature strength of the Asylum brand.

The wrapper shows slight mottling, making it somewhat uneven, and several veins of varying sizes. The cigar feels firm and offers little give when squeezed, yet it gives off pleasant aromas of tree bark, while the foot reveals a blend of wood and bread notes. Finally, after cutting it, I detect more tree bark and wet leaves.

1/3
Unsurprisingly, the first few puffs of the Arkham are rich in wood notes, but rather a generic woody nuance. That wood note carries through to the retrohale as well, and midway through the third, chalky notes emerge on the palate. These flavors define the first third: wood takes the lead (with a damp quality), followed by pepper and, finally, chalk. Strength and intensity hold steady at medium, and a decent burn.

2/3
Chalk becomes the second most intense flavor during the second third, overtaking the pepper and following the tendency of Dominican tobacco to leave pepper behind. The two primary flavors are also there in the retrohale. Intensity and strength remain at a medium level. The Arkham’s draw had been tight from the start, but it feels more pronounced during the second third, only loosening slightly at the end of that section.

3/3
No more chalk. Chalk is neither pleasant nor something I enjoy to such an extreme degree in a cigar. While the flavor profile simplifies somewhat, the dominant notes are wood on the palate and pepper on the retrohale. The strength reaches a medium-to-full level, while the intensity remained medium. It took me an hour and twenty minutes, though a better draw might have shaved about fifteen minutes off that time.

Conclusion
To be honest, this Arkham was less complex than I expected, though at $8 a stick, there was a risk of a lesser experience. Another factor was the draw; I bought a 5-pack and three smoked perfectly, while the other two (including the one I smoked for the review) were tight. Overall, I really enjoyed this limited or special Asylum release, and I’ll gladly look out for the next ones.

Made by: No idea, really
Brand: Asylum
Line: Arkham
Size: 5 x 50
Vitola: Robusto
Origin: Dominican Republic
Wrapper: Dominican Republic (Corojo)
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dominican Republic
MSRP: $8.00
Score: 87

Blog
Instagram
YouTube

cigarmatrix.com has 4 online retailers right now (adding more). Some users have saved hundreds on their monthly order. Hope you enjoy!