36
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Cigar Snob
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sept / oct 2014
Arturo Fuente Destino Al siglo grAn AniverXArio
Siglo de PaSión
AVAILABLE IN 4 SIZES
TOP 3 SHOWN
CHOCOLATE
SWEET
SPICE
EARTH
NUT
WOOD
CREAM
COffEE
Siglo de
Amistad
(5 1/2 x 50)
Siglo de
Pasion
(6 3/4 x 49)
Siglo de
familia
(6 1/2 x 46)
Would you share with us the story behind the making
of the Don Arturo Destino al siglo?
I never in my life thought that I would live to see the
100th anniversary of our company. Not because of my
age, but because you just don’t think of those things.
You think about the day-to-day and surviving and that
kind of stuff. But one night, a little more than 10 years
before the 100th anniversary, it hit me. I had the idea that
I wanted to do something special for it using a Chateau
de la Fuente Sun Grown wrapper. I wanted to come
out with a cigar called Destino al Siglo, which meant
destiny to a century or destined to reach the century.
The idea was that, on the 90th anniversary, I would
come out with a box with 90 candle-shaped tubes. I
even designed the tubes so it was going to be like a
birthday cake with 90 tubes of these cigars instead
of candles. And every year leading up to the 100th we
would come out with the next box so that one would
have 91 tubes, then 92 tubes, and so on till you get to
the century, hence destiny to the century. So I got the
tobaccos and we started making cigars little by little for
2 years leading up to the 90th anniversary (2002). By
the time the 90th rolled around we were so busy that
we just could not do it. Those cigars ended up being
the original Destino al Siglo 13, a cigar that we now give
away at events for Cigar Family Charitable Foundation.
so at this point in the chronology you’ve missed the
90th but the 100th anniversary is the focus. so what
were your plans at this point?
What I envisioned was that for the 100th anniversary I
would celebrate my grandfather’s life and our history
with a cigar with 4 different tobaccos. Dominican
tobacco, a hint of tobacco from Nicaragua, a hint of
tobacco from the United States, and Cuban tobacco.
Back then I thought that by the year 2012 Cuban to-
bacco was going to be available to manufacturers and
that would close the circle. It would be the culmination
of the origins, the places, and the history where my
family has made cigars. And I had tobacco saved that
was 35 to 40 years old and it’s hard to say this because
people say all kinds of stuff but plenty of people got to
go there and see the tobacco. I was saving it for the
100th anniversary. We were going to have a big party
in Tampa and invite the world and it was going to be a
huge thing. Well, before the 100th anniversary, as you
know we had the fires in 2011 that burned down two
of our buildings and I lost ALL of that tobacco. Gone.
Well instead of coming out with another cigar, we just
said let’s wait. Things happen in life and it just makes
us stronger. I had the example of my dad and my
grandfather who overcame hardships of their own.
Don’t get me wrong; it was very, very painful to see
it go up in smoke. But sometimes things happen for a
reason and you get inspiration from it. For example,
the Angel’s Share was a project that was inspired
by the fire.
We started seeing the Destino al siglo Gran An-
iverXario arrive in stores in late 2013. What does
the final product represent for you?
The cigar represents the Fuente story, the heritage,
the love for the family and friends, the love for our
supporters, our neighbors, it represents everybody.
That’s what I tried to compose. That’s why even the
sizes are Siglo de Amistad (Century of Friendship),
Siglo de Passion (Century of Passion), Siglo de Amor
(Century of Love), and Siglo de Familia (Century of
Family). It’s a special cigar with a special meaning.
There are a lot of symbols and messages all over
the label. Even the color is significant – why blue?
Because my grandfather’s original label, the one that
I remember when I was a little boy, had the shield with
AF the same as we have today, but instead of being
red it was blue. It was that [shade of] blue. I was the
one who changed the shield to red, probably back in
the late 70s. So I thought it would be appropriate to go
back to my grandfather’s original color for this label.
Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic, United
states, & Nicaragua
Dominican Republic
$ 23.22 - $ 26.58
COUNTRY:
WRAPPER:
BINDER:
FILLER:
PRICE RANGE:
Carlos Fuente, Jr.
President
Arturo Fuente Cigar Company
