Felipe Gregorio Fusion
Felipe Gregorio Fusion Robusto
Finally starting to get over my little bit of man flu, I decided to have a cheeky Bonfire Night smoke. For those of you that don't know, Bonfire Night in the UK is the 5th of November. A certain man named Guy Fawkes tried, and failed, to blow up the Parliament buildings in London back in 1605. Generally, the people of the UK just celebrate this by having a massive bonfire and a load of fireworks in their yard or going to a organized display. Overall, it's usually a good night, and cold (as can be seen by the picture with the patio heater going), but it's just a shame you don't get the day off work for it. With my dwindling arsenal of cigars to choose from (I have a load of Gurkha's that I don't really fancy), I tried to find something that I didn't think would be too strong of a smoke and something that wouldn't take more than an hour, for the cold weather and recovering from the cold of which I still have a snotty nose/slight cough/sore throat.
This is another one of those 8 cigars that I got in that ridiculious bargain from Cigars International for $15 that included the Cigar Caddy travel humidor, which I will review I promise. I've never heard of Felipe Gregorio, but with a bit of help from Google, I soon learned that Mr. Gregorio has been in the business for a while now and has a few different sticks out.
First impressions of Fusion are impressive. Featuring colouring, with no soft or hard spots, but firm all the way around. A few small veins, but they're nice. The band is simple and elegant, reminding me of something you'd see from a place that sells jewelery.
I used my trusty punch cut on this stick, just because it's one of the easiest and favorite cuts of mine, that gives you a nice easy draw. Nice earthy scent to the stick before the light, and the inital light gives off a nice, sweet tobacco flavour, with a nutty, earthy, bark like, tones (cedar?). There's plenty of smoke, which is always nice. The burn is sharp, and the draw is cold. So far, it's not bad and better than what I expected. I chose to dump the soft grey coloured ash fairly quickly as I didn't want it to end up in my lap.
The second third brings starts to kick in a bit of power with a bit of a peppery taste. The other flavors are still present, just a bit stronger now. Nothing changes too much; the burn still sharp and the plethora of smoke still present.
Final third starts and nothing changes other than the flavors just intensify, as they should in the final third of a cigar.
Overall, not bad, especially at the cost. Definately a medium smoke, something I'd probably give to someone who was fairly new to cigar smoking still. Personally, I'd have it again, but only due to the price for smoke ratio.
Be sure to tweet me as well at @elegantsmoker (and my personal account @stevensfowler)!
Felipe Gregorio Fusion
Strength: Medium
Shapes: Robusto (5" x 50)
Origin: Nicaragua
Wrapper: Habano
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Bought from: Cigars International
Price: Roughly $2 per stick, if you can find them (try CigarBid maybe?)
My Rating: 91
