Fonseca Habana Seleccion Review

[Poriggity]

I was gifted this cigar by UPINSMOKE at our so cal herf this last saturday, and in his words, it was a flavorful, yet mild cigar. Being that I smoke mainly in the AM with coffee, I thought this would be perfect for that.. so thats what I did, and I took pictures along the way.. Just finished smoking it, and it was outstanding. Here is the first picture.. wrapped in tissue, with bands on the outside:

Unwrapped it, and found that under the tissue were more bands. This cigar was beautiful, no huge veins and rolled almost perfect, and looked to have a double cap.

I lit up with my triple flame torch lighter, and the burn was razor sharp straight from the start:


First hints were of nutty coffee and leather flavors. First thoughts were that this was going to be an amazing smoke, and boy, I turned out to be right on in my thoughts... As I got down farther, the burn was still pretty straight:

The ash held alright, but I ashed it every 3/4 of an inch or so, and it was great.. still getting those coffee and leather flavors, with a touch of sweetness. I started to exhale the smoke through my nose, and it was smooth.. Quite possibly the smoothest smoke Ive ever tasted...
As I got down farther, the sweetness picked up, the coffee flavor dissapated, and the nutty flavor got more prominent.. still burning straight...
It kept on burning great, and the nutty and sweet flavors continued throughout the whole cigar. It was very tasty, and I may have to get a box.. this is the point where I finally pitched it into my stinky ashtray, and it pained me to do so...


It was an outstanding cigar, and I give it a 90 on the CA scale. First off, thanks to UPINSMOKE for gifting me this smoke! Secondly, after a discussion at the herf, Ive decided to try slowing down my smoking.. so, I would actually put the smoke down on the ashtray, read some posts and pick it back up. It was a great experience, and I know I will be smoking slower from now on. Total time to smoke this one was about an hour and a half. Longest Ive ever taken, but it was a GREAT experience. Thanks to UPINSMOKE, and to Cigargal for our slowing down "talk" Im glad I disciplined myself on this one!
Scott

[georgiacigarguy]

I am glad to hear it was a good cigar. CI usually does a pretty good job about putting out some good private labels or line extensions.

[Poriggity]

Is this strictly a CI line extension?
Scott

[moon]

I saw these but my only problem is you can get the real (Habano) for the same price.

[UP IN SMOKE]

Nice write up Scott. Glad you liked the stogie. I actually did get this in a fonseca sampler pack from CI.

[germantown rob]

Originally Posted by moon

I saw these but my only problem is you can get the real (Habano) for the same price.

[Poriggity]

You must spread some reputation around before giving it to UP IN SMOKE again...

Bummer... Thanks again brother for the cigar. It was a really good smoke, and like I said, now that Im smoking slower, I find I can enjoy the cigar more..
Scott

[Digerati]

For me, these were definitely the "pick of the litter" in those CI Fonseca Samplers.

I don't know if it is because of the Criollo wrapper or what, but I think that the flavor profile of these is much better than their regular line or Serie F's.

[georgiacigarguy]

I do believe this is strictly a CI line extension. When CI first recieved the smokes they ran a "1 day special" and the write-up on the smokes included info about them being only for CI.

[kkc]

I placed a order of a bundle of these from CI. One of the guys there wrote a good review and give it a 90 plus rating. So, good enough for me to give it a try!

[daviddunn]

Nice review, thank you.

[DETROITPHA357]

Sounds like u guys had a good time, its always nice to see CS members getting together and enjoying each other company & cigars. Keep it up fellas(: