Fuente Friday: It has been a thing for a while.
2 February, 2022 • Cigaryard.com
Don Carlos Fuente followed the footsteps of his father Arturo in what proved to be a challenging and tumultuous road, paving the way for his son and other generations to come. The Fuente family has fought through trials and tribulations, overcoming numerous challenges to stand as strong as they do today. Through hard work and determination, Carlito (as his friends call him) or Carlos Fuente Jr. and his tight-knit family now carry on with one of the most respected and reputable brands in the world.
Arturo Fuente cigars are consistently found amongst the highest rankings in all magazines, blogs, and smokers’ personal favorite lists. Their reputation for unparalleled quality, production consistency, and brand individuality is what has brought them to remain at the pinnacle of the cigar world.
It’s not uncommon to see cigar industry names grow to a level of global appreciation within the cigar community, however, Carlos Fuente Jr. has risen to a general world-wide spotlight like no other in the industry, attaining production partnerships with world renowned brands such as Hublot watches, co-branding luxury products, and besieging himself with celebrities. The secret behind Fuente Jr.’s continued success as a brand and as a collective, is the humility behind his generous persona and the amazing team that surrounds him.
The Fuente brand has advanced tremendously, established in nearly every country where cigars are found and occupying space in most humidors around the world. Fuente Friday was a trend before social media caught onto it, and we believe it’s important to highlight a tradition in our industry that extends beyond brand preference and transcends into a movement. Let this phrase be heard all over the world, spreading the good word of premium cigars crafted with the uttermost care and attention so that others can continue to follow and grow in the same way. Read The Original
My Favorite Cigar
Cigar Aficionado Online By Kenneth Shouler
Journalist Jeff Greenfield is cigar loyal by a new measure. The news organizations he’s worked for—including CBS, CNN, ABC, Time, The New York Times, and now Politico—far surpass his cigar loves, numbering three. “If I had my druthers, the cigar I would smoke more than any other is the Fuente Fuente OpusX,” he says. “With or without the Angel’s Share,” a milder version of the brand.
Greenfield met its storied creator long before the Angel’s Share emerged. “I was at a Cigar Aficionado dinner at the ‘2’1 Club and sitting next to Carlos Fuente Jr., who told me he was working on this masterpiece.” Seven years later, the masterpiece emerged. “I like the mildness of it, the flavor. It’s almost impossible to find. Two friends and I occasionally go to one of the friends’ homes and talk about whatever we feel like—sports, politics, movies—in a nice garden. We exchange cigars and shoot the breeze. That’s where I do most of my smoking. The other cigars I’ve enjoyed are the Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No. 2—which is a good size and mild—and the other is Ramon Allones.” With three such legendary smokes, why even try to make it five or eight or ten?
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OPUSX THE UNDEFEATED
I’m guessing there have been more than a dozen Freedom Samplers released by Cigar Rights of America (CRA), an industry trade group. Typically, these samplers contain 10 cigars from 10 different companies. During the last five or so years, the samplers have almost always contained cigars from the same 10 companies, all of which serve as CRA’s main benefactors. Those companies are:
- Alec Bradley
- Arturo Fuente
- Ashton
- J.C. Newman
- La Flor Dominicana
- My Father Cigars, Inc.
- Oliva
- Padrón
- Rocky Patel Premium Cigars, Inc.
- Tatuaje
JOSÉ BLANCO PROMOTED TO WORLDWIDE BRAND AMBASSADOR
Arturo Fuente Cigars has promoted José Blanco to the position of Worldwide Brand Ambassador. José previously served as Arturo Fuente’s Director of Sales in the Eastern Hemisphere. In his new role, José will be working closely with Carlito Fuente to represent and promote Arturo Fuente cigars throughout the world at events, trade shows, in retail stores and in the digital realm. Carlito and José are planning a new series of retail events in the U.S. during 2023-2024. Jose will continue to represent the Arturo Fuente brand to retailers and distributors in the Eastern Hemisphere. José will also be a mentor and resource for the entire Arturo Fuente global sales team. Fuente is honored to continue its relationship with José, who brings over 50 years of sales expertise to the company. Carlito Fuente said, “José brings knowledge of the old school tobacco industry and blends it in with a passion for the new opportunities the Arturo Fuente brand has around the world. I value his experience and appreciate his enthusiasm for the brand and the industry as a whole.”
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This New Coffee Table Book Chronicles the History of Beloved Cigar Brand Arturo Fuente
Robb Report – The New York-based publisher will release a new coffee table book dedicated to Arturo Fuente next month. Entitled Arturo Fuente: Since 1912, the massive tome charts the history of the revered brand and attempts to illustrate why it’s still going strong over a century after its founding.
Those with only a passing knowledge of cigars have probably heard that the finest hail from Cuba, but true aficionados know they can be found elsewhere. For proof of this, all you need to do is look at (and smell) the top-notch, hand-rolled smokes Arturo Fuente has produced since it was founded in West Tampa, Fla., in 1912. A lot has happened since that humble beginning, though. The brand relocated to the Dominican Republic, a country it has become synonymous with, and has become one of the largest family-owned cigar companies in the world, rolling some 30 million stogies per year. It’s little wonder there was enough material for a whole book. READ MORE
Title: Arturo Fuente Rare Pink Vintage 1960’s Séries Sophisticated Hooker Awarded #10 in Cigar Aficionado’s Top 25 Cigars of 2022
Cigar Aficionado – The name is certainly curious. And if you’re familiar with Carlos Fuente Jr.’s sense of humor, it won’t surprise you that there’s a double entendre here. Sophisticated Hooker refers to the name of a fishing boat (“hooker” being a term for a fisherman) the Arturo Fuente owner and blender remembers from his younger days. It’s the largest size in the Rare Pink line, a series of shapely figurados, much like Fuente’s Hemingway series. Only this blend is completely different from that found in Hemingways. It’s also a cigar with a social cause. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of every box goes to fund breast cancer research, hence the bright pink boxes. Pink is the official color of the breast cancer awareness movement.
The brand had only four sizes when it was launched in the spring of 2021, and this wasn’t one of them. Later that year, at the first Big Smoke Meets WhiskyFest, the seminar audience puffed a sneak preview of the Sophisticated Hooker. It’s in the market now, but still in limited production. The cigar is as intriguing as the name. First puffs are cedary and herbal, but the cigar takes on a nutty, graham cracker sweetness showing big notes of red meat, black pepper and caramel before the sweet-and-nutty finish. READ MORE
Arturo Fuente Ships 2022 Batch of Rare Pinks Including Two New Sizes
Arturo Fuente has begun shipping the 2022 batch of its Rare Pink Vintage 1960’s line, which now has a total of six sizes.
The company has expanded the line with two new sizes—both of which were announced in 2021—the Queen of Hearts (3 3/4 x 54) and Sophisticated Hooker (7 1/4 x 53). Like the rest of the sizes in the line, both new vitolas are perfectos. The cigar uses an Ecuadorian wrapper from Oliva Tobacco Co. over a Nicaraguan binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. READ MORE
A Tale of 2 Cigar Families
Cigar Aficionado – Like so many great ideas, the plan to combine the cigarmaking talents of the Fuente and Padrón families began over whisky and cigars. Carlos Fuente Jr., the man who runs Arturo Fuente, was visiting the Miami office of Jorge Padrón, his friend and competitor. It was early in 2020, and the two men lit up cigars. After the Scotch was poured, the two raised their glasses in honor of their fathers, men who had died not so long before, men who had run Fuente and Padrón before their sons.
As they spoke, an unusual idea was born: what if these two companies worked together to make cigars honoring their fathers, cigars that would be sold in the same box, the two names joined for the first time in history?
“We discussed Jorge blending a cigar in honor of my father, out of respect and gratitude,” says Fuente Jr. “And I was going to make a cigar that Mr. José Orlando Padrón would like.” It was a curious move, two rival companies, each a leader in the world of fine cigars, working together on a project that would bear both of their names. Coke doesn’t share the stage with Pepsi; Porsche and BMW don’t do joint projects; Rolex doesn’t make a watch with Patek Philippe. READ MORE
Liana Fuente, Vice President of Brand Development, is resigning from the company effective September 1st, 2022.
HalfWheel – My intent was for this post to go up a lot sooner, but things got complicated. Oddly, not because of the Arturo Fuente and Padrón Legends collaboration, which was the most talked about cigar of any trade show I’ve ever been to. From the time I first visited the booth at the start of Day 1 to my final time walking through it on Day 4, the Legends cigar had a certain fanfare that is completely unique.
What’s crazy is that is hardly the end of Arturo Fuente’s other collaborations, there’s also the $80,000 Elie Bleu humidor and a plethora of new items for Manny Iriarte Enterprises’ The OpusX Society. But this post is about Fuente, the mothership, and it had plenty of new items. In traditional Arturo Fuente fashion, good luck finding details about just about any of the cigars, but if you wanted information about dog bowls, I found that wasn’t that difficult to come by. As you’ll read below, for some of these cigars, a lot remains unclear. READ MORE
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