Cigar Review: Partagas 1845 Extra Fuerte

Vitola: Robusto Gordo
Size: 5.50″ x 52 ring gauge
Price ~$7.50 MSRP
Obtained From General Cigars as a review sample

Background

I hadn’t heard about this new blend until Dave sent me the review samples in the mail.  From what I can read online this is a line extension of the 1845 created as a brick & mortar exclusive.  The 1845 Extra Oscuro is an online retailer exclusive that I will be looking at in the future.  The cigar is comprised of Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers, a Connecticut Habano binder with an Ecuadorian Habano Ligero wrapper.  This cigar comes in four different sizes, a 6×60, a 7×58, a 7.375×52, and the subject of this review a 5.5×52.  The review sample was my first experience with this cigar.

Prelight

The wrapper on this cigar was a nice oaky brown in color with lots of oil and tooth to it.  There were some medium veins to the wrapper but nothing that detracted from the look of the cigar.  When I gave it a squeeze I couldn’t find any soft spots and there was a slight amount of give.  Putting my nose to the wrapper I detected the aroma of hay and leather with barnyard coming from the foot.  It did take quite a few cuts from my MTX to get through all of the binder that was folded on top of the cigar under the cap.  This isn’t something wrong just something to be aware of especially if it is dark.  On the cold draw I got tastes of leather with an ok draw.

Flavor

The flavors of the cigar start off with leather, cinnamon, red pepper spice with a slight amount of sweetness on the finish.  The cigar started off at the upper end of medium range in regards to strength.  As I moved into the second third the spice started to mellow on the retrohale and a little on the tongue.  The flavors changed slightly to leather, wood, cream, cinnamon with the sweet finish still present.  Towards the end of this third the cigar built to the medium full range as I started to get a slight nicotine hit from it as well.  The final third exhibited flavors of leather, coffee, cinnamon and cream.  I was definitely getting a good nicotine hit from the cigar at the end as I build solidly into the full strength range.

Construction

The draw was a little bit tighter than I normally liked, so a couple holes made by the bleeder tool on my MTX opened up the draw to just about perfect.  The burn line was surprisingly straight even after the wrapper cracked towards the end of the first third to right below the band.  I didn’t need to correct it just make sure I didn’t snag the edge of the wrapper with my fingers or the edge of my ash tray.  One other note on the construction this cigar burned really slow.  It felt like it lasted quite a bit longer than I normally get from a robusto sized cigar.  Even with the ligero wrapper it stayed lit without any need of additional fire.

Value

This cigar seems priced just about right.  With General’s size they can produce a cigar at a good value.

Conclusions

I really enjoyed this cigar and would be something I would purchase if I found it in my local store.  It isn’t something that would be advisable for someone who is sensitive to nicotine as this cigar was definitely full bodied.  I can’t remember what the regular 1845 tasted like, other than remembering I enjoyed it, but I can remember that this is definitely stronger than it is.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 1.5/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8.5/10