Cigar Review: Headlines 2nd Edition

• Vitola: Page 2
• 6” x 54 ring gauge 
• MSRP $8.50
• Samples provided by Antillan Cigars

Background

I started this look at Headlines from Fusion Cigars last week; today I’m looking at the “2nd Edition” which is also the Maduro of the line. Again, I’m going to reference the halfwheel news item on the relaunch of Fusion Cigars:

The Headlines Second Edition uses a Dominican habano oscuro wrapper with a Dominican Piloto Cubano binder. The filler blend draws on tobaccos from Nicaragua and Dominican Piloto Cubano for the ligero, with Dominican Andullo and Dominican 20-20 rounding the blend out.

The cigars are made at Tabacalera Real in the Dominican Republic and are distributed here in the U.S. by Antillan Cigars, which is also the distributor for the Sosa lines.

I’ve had one or two of this blend before I sat down for this review stick.

Prelight

The “newspaper” look of the 1st Edition is mirrored here, although with a different photo featured. You have to be the judge of how it looks, but I think it does the job well. The Dominican wrapper leaf was dark chocolate brown in color with a good amount of oils to the eye and to the touch. The aroma from the wrapper was a pungent barnyard earthiness; the foot had more of the barnyard, but a touch of grassiness and woodiness as well.

With so much Dominican leaf used in the blend, it wasn’t really surprising to get a good amount of bread and grassy flavors on the prelight, as well as a touch of earthiness.

Flavor

On lighting up, I got a core flavor of leather with a wet earthiness coming up strong behind that. Lesser notes were of cedar and coffee bean. Pepper spice was just a tingle on the palate, but was much more pronounced on the nose. The use of Piloto Cubano as both part of the Ligero in the filler and as the binder…along with the use of a Habano wrapper leaf and some Nicaraguan Ligero…made for quite a full-bodied, thick-smoking start to the Headlines 2nd Edition. Truthfully, the flavor profile hit me more as a full-bodied and pleasing Honduran-based blend than Dominican-based.

In the next third, I continued to get leathery notes accompanied by an increase in cedar and a lessening of the coffee and pepper.

Rolling into the final third, leather still held sway up front with pepper surging back and some subtle sweet chocolate notes on the finish.

Construction

The burn line needed a couple minor touch ups, but nothing major. The draw and smoke production were excellent and the ash was solid with minor banana peeling that didn’t threaten to flake away in the slight breeze.

Value

Very good smoking experience with a price tag in the middle of the sweet spot of cigar pricing these days…equals very good value.

Conclusions

I thought the Headlines 2nd Edition was a great example of the new way of using Dominican leaf that has been exemplified by Caldwell, Rodrigo and others. It was full-bodied, flavorful and satisfying, proving again that Dominican blends aren’t just for those who enjoy milder smokes. The reasonable price point makes it easy to recommend for anyone who enjoys fuller bodied cigars.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10