Matasa 30th Anniversary by Fonseca - Belicoso Review

[sboyajian]

[SIZE="4"]Matasa 30th Anniversary by Fonseca - Belicoso[/SIZE]
Wrapper: Dominican Olor
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican-grown, Cuban-seed Ligero from 1995 and a single leaf of Nicaraguan-grown, Cuban-seed Ligero

The Cigar:


Pre-Smoke
Scent of Wrapper:
Woody
Scent at Foot:
More wood, perhaps slight pepper
Appearance:
The cigar looks fantastic, although had one or two decent veins in it. Nothing large enough to draw your attention to it, but noticeable.
Wrapper:
Medium to Dark brown.
Feel:
Extremely firm, had a fairly decent size soft spot about 1 1/2" to 2" in.

[SIZE="4"]Ratings: [/SIZE]

Flavor: 82 - While the flavor was not bad, it was nothing to write home about. It started with a fairly heavy wood flavor and ended with that same flavor. It had a very dry, but easy finish.

Construction: 78 - I was a bit disappointed in the quality of the cigar.. while the burn was fairly even most of the way it did require about 2 or 3 hits with the torch every inch or so to even it up. When I hit the soft spot it was extremely noticeable as the ash began to split into two.

The ash throughout most of the cigar, while perfect white, was very flaky and unforgiving. Any non-fluid movement caused most of the ash to fall off.

Price: 80. I got this cigar off CBid at a steal compared to the retail (and the MSRP) .. so for what I paid, not terribly bad, but for what others have paid, I would be very disappointed. The MSRP is $129 (CI sells for $110, I paid $61) for a box of 10.

Overall: 80

Bill -- If you read this review -- I suggest aging this one for a while.. hopefully it will get a bit better with age.

[buttah]

I have a few sitting in the humi that I've been waiting to get to. The lack of complexity you found dissappoints me, typically a figurado like that will have some complexity just due to its shape.

The slight burn issues you talk about don't surprise me one bit, after all it is a perfecto and has anyone ever smoked a perfecto that burned great?

[sboyajian]

Originally Posted by buttah

I have a few sitting in the humi that I've been waiting to get to. The lack of complexity you found dissappoints me, typically a figurado like that will have some complexity just due to its shape.

The slight burn issues you talk about don't surprise me one bit, after all it is a perfecto and has anyone ever smoked a perfecto that burned great?

mine is not a perfecto. Just a belicoso. The foot was a normal one. That being said I've never had a problem with my Hemmingways.

[FunkyCold5]

Great review, Steve. I have one sitting for the past year. I may end up smoking it in the near future, maybe at the Herf.

[buttah]

Originally Posted by sboyajian

mine is not a perfecto. Just a belicoso. The foot was a normal one. That being said I've never had a problem with my Hemmingways.

Really? I didn't know they came in anything but the perfecto shape. Heh, well excuse my ignorance.
I'm a perfecto junkie, the Hemingway is a great stick and I've smoked many but I can't say I've ever had one that burned evenly thats just the nature of a perfecto.

[sboyajian]

Originally Posted by FunkyCold5

Great review, Steve. I have one sitting for the past year. I may end up smoking it in the near future, maybe at the Herf.

Let me know how it does with some age behind it.. I'm hoping it makes a difference.

[Camacho Junior]

I've seen this on cigar.com and I've thought about picking one up. I'm still curious. Nice review by the way.