Randy and I smoked this cigar the same evening we smoked the San Cristobol (2-12-10). As you may know the San Cristobol smoked very quickly for us. We decided that as the night was young and the Man Shed warmed up that we might as well have another smoke. It was then that I remembered that I had two Arturo Fuente Hemingway Short Story cigars in my humidor. In the interest of full disclosure I love these cigars and had been saving those two for a special occasion.
Because of its distinct shape this is a more challenging cigar to roll. It has a Cameroon wrapper and Dominican binder and filler. I paid just over $5 apiece for these retail. I have not seen them online as part of a special.
The cigar is very light brown in color and the wrapper is rather dull without any sheen. It appears very well constructed and you can tell that it is made with great skill. It was firmly but not overly tightly packed. It has a somewhat unusual "nipple" on the foot of the cigar. It concentrates the area by which the cigar is lit into a very compact space. Thus lighting is very easy and generally fairly quick.
After clipping and lighting the cigar Randy and I got our first real sense of the draw. Both Randy and I found the draw to be nearly perfect. It had just the right amount of resistance.
The cigar started with a very pleasant mild nutty flavor that had a little sweetness at the end. It did not have any of the spice or bite that the previous cigar (San Cristobol) had.
Tonight we paired this cigar with one of our new favorite Irish Whiskeys. Tyrconne/l Single Malt Irish Whiskey. I brought a bottle of this home from a trip to Topeka. We really enjoyed it and now it is one of our staples.
The cigar burned perfectly. It kept a very thin burn line and developed no runners, did not need to be touched up or re-lit. It had a very tight ash that came off in one piece and demonstrated very little coning and no blooming. It produced an abundance of smoke that had a wonderful secondary aroma.
The Arturo Fuente Hemingway Short Story held a very consistent flavor and burn. Although on the mild side it was complex and had a wonderful flavor. It was also a really good pairing with the Tyrconnell Single Malt Irish. Both were complex in their flavor profiles with hints of sweetness.
As I said at the beginning this is one of my favorite cigars and this smoke lived up to my memory of it. We both scored this cigar a 5. That makes it one of our all time favorites and one we think everyone should have in their humidor. That means I will have to keep my eye out for them as I need to make sure there are at least a couple in there for the next special occasion.
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