A JFR Lunatic and Short Story side by side.
Cigar: Casa Fernandez JFR Lunatic
Size: 8 x 80 (Gordo)
Wrapper: San Andres
Binder: Nicaragua Filler: Nicaragua
Price: $42.00 per five pack at Cigars International
Once in awhile, I like to find cigars that are out of my normal smoke range. “Variety is the spice of life” certainly applies to cigars like anything else. The next two reviews that I will be doing will be cigars that would not necessarily be my first choice to smoke. The recommendation of the JFR Lunatic came from my friend Matt out in Las Vegas. One of the local shops he frequents had these and he recommended to me that I try it out. It didn’t take me long to hunt them down and place an order for a five pack. I guess while my eyes and brain saw that they were an 8×80, I really wasn’t prepared for it until I took them out of the package. This is the second largest cigar I have ever seen (the largest being the CroMagnon Femur) and the largest I have ever attempted to smoke. Being that this is a multitude more nicotine that I would be taking into my body, I prepared for this cigar accordingly by having a full meal prior to smoking.
No construction issues were found on the cigar. Cedar-type aromas were present during the pre-light examination. Normally on larger ring gauges, I elect for a punch. Because this is larger than anything I am used to, I cut it instead. And honestly, once you are down at the end and the cap area gets hotter, you’ll be wanting to pinch a bit of the open cap to get your final draws in. After the cut and a number of lights as it seemed like it took about three or four matches to end the end fully light, my first flavor notes were woody with a touch of spice hitting the back of the palette. While the appearance of the San Andres wrapper might make you believe that the Lunatic is on the stronger side, to my palette, it measures right at medium bodied. The cut gave me an open draw, which produced a ton more smoke than normally used to. While the initial hit of spice settled down around ten minutes into smoking, stronger wood and spice notes came back around the halfway point. The last inch and a half the strength of the cigar increases a bit, bringing a bit more wood and spice to the flavor profile, accompanied by final notes of bitter cocoa and brining the overall strength to medium-to-full in body.
As for the smoking time, the first one of these I must have smoked very fast as it came in at 2:15. The second Lunatic I smoked I made sure to pace myself and take a little more time, but without being deliberately slow to smoke. That clocked in at 3:00. If you are smoking this for the first time, I would block out around three hours (maybe more) to smoke this behemoth.
Out of the two cigars smoked, I really didn’t encounter any issues with the cigar, minus a relight or two and perhaps a minor burn correction. Again, I think the key to remember for this one is to have a full stomach and take the appropriate amount of time to smoke this.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 3.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8.5/10
To recap the Casa Fernandez JFR Lunatic:
- I actually enjoyed the Lunatic quite a bit. The flavor profile and strength was nice, although I thought the depth of flavors could have been more.
- While the strength of the cigar wouldn’t scare off anyone, the sheer size of this cigar is going to make most cigar smokers very wary to try this.
- In terms of finding a value, the price point on a five pack is great, especially if you like smoking around three cigars in one sitting.
- Will I buy them again? Perhaps I will. I could see buying a five pack once a year but this isn’t something I would want to smoke on a regular basis. Should you want to buy them, be sure that your humidor can actually house them first.
As always, thank you very much for reading and I look forward to the next time I can share my thoughts with you.
I hear a lot of talk bad mouthing big ring gauge cigars, but I like em’! That being said, I’ve never tried and 8 x 80, but this sounds like a cigar I would enjoy!!
it has a slight taper so it may fit 😉
A Behemoth like this, i have not have the oportunity to try out. i have never felt i need to take a full meal before smoking a cigar which makes this a little intriging to me. Extra spicy has never been something i welcome with grace on my palad since depending on if the cigars is at his right humidy might be easily confused with dryness (in my opinion). The only gordo i’ve tried was “Fonseca Rarissimus”.
I would try one, just because the cigar is so different.
80 rg?! I don’t know… The profile sounds good, but a 60 rg is uncomfortable enough. More power to ya!
ehhh sounds like a gimmick cigar at an 80RG
Did someone say baseball bat!? Considering its an Aganorsa blend you know its got super high quality leaf in the blend but dayum..you have to be a lunatic to fire that bad boy up!
You need a damn machette to make the cut on that one. Nice review though, I used to smoke a ton of 60RG when I started out cause I thought bigger was better, boy was I wrong. But in saying that I will try almost anything. Nice write up Jon, thanks.
It’s not a gimmick, it’s a good, gigantic cigar. I’ve smoked a few, am puffing one right now. Draw is good, lighting is easy enough with a big butane lighter, they have a good spicy taste. My only complaint; the wrapper leaf always seems to start cracking, a few minutes after you light up. This one cracked near all the way from tuck to head before I needed to brush-off my first ash. It’s a treat to smoke an 80 ring stogie, but the cigar band ought to read “WARNING: This cigar will self-destruct in five seconds.”
(“Good luck, Jim.”) https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/77353e99dbc663a918a402683daf80c4c847426a455cced5ec3e8077109e08e7.jpg