Oh boy! Here we go. The first of the "Holiday" smokes. I bought this in early '05 and both of these smokes have been sitting in my humidor since then. I thought maybe it would be a special occasion smoke but I have 2 of them so why not test the waters (water being the key word today) and see how one smokes. I've seen reviews of this cigar and for the most part they've been fairly good. I enjoy the Hemingway line a lot as well as Anejo and Don Carlos so if this cigar was even 90% of those cigars I was in for a good smoke.
Appearance: Perfect! Not a single flaw on this cigar. In terms of appearance and construction there aren't too many cigar makers out there that can match the Fuentes in this regard.
Smell & Pre-light Draw:The smell was not too strong at all just slight sweet tobacco. The draw was a little thick to start and I thought once I lit up that the draw would open up.
Lighting:It started a little bitter at first, cream, light coffee and the bitterness faded shortly there after.
First Third:Light coffee, Light cream, Vanilla, Very light cinnamon, The burn was uneven, Ash - light grey (the flash makes it look white but it's not) very faint sweetness, Extremely faint nutmeg, All the flavors are light almost like watered down flavors with NOTHING standing out at all, The draw was still too thick so after using a poker the draw opened up much more and ultimately this did NOTHING to help the flavors. The burn evened up a bit but never really corrected it completely. Ultimately this tasted like a watered down DCM or Hemingway signature. Towards the end of the first third I got some WATERED down toastiness. Everything was mild. Nothing was harsh at all but there just wasn't enough of any flavor to really grab onto. More like smoking cardboard.
Second Third:Hoping that this opens up now as from what i've heard this can be a slow starter. Toastiness, Light leather, Watered down coffee, Light vanilla, Light creaminess, light tea, good balance overall if by balance you mean almost no flavor, Faint woodiness, It always feels like somethings about to open up and it never really happens. I'd get a flash of a flavor but then nothing after that. Some light earthiness at the end of the second third. all this is doing is making me want to ditch this for any other cigar in the fuente line. Ash is still light grey with some flaking, The burn is still slightly uneven.
Last Third:I could go on at this point but the flavor profile never really changed at all. You can just cut and paste all the same flavor descriptions from above and put them here. There was no depth or complexity at all.
Conclusion:Maybe this is just a single event and the other one I have will be better but to be honest it's going to be a LONG time before I even look at another Forbidden X. Highly disappointing is all I can really say. Hopefully the other cigars I smoke today will be FAR better than this forgetful mess. I've burned cardboard that had more complexity than this.
Sorry for the bad review guys. I really wanted this to be a special smoke but it turned into this mess
