Origin : Dominican Republic Format : Torpedo Size : 5.625 x 54 Wrapper : Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro Binder : Dominican Republic Filler : Dominican Republic Hand-Made Price : up to $30 each
Throughout each of our smoking lives, many of us set aside cigars that we label as special to be smoked on rare occasions. One such cigar that repeatedly tops many lists is the Arturo Fuente Anejo Reserva No. 77. Resembling a tooth because of its uniquely box pressed torpedo shape, this cigar is more commonly known as the Anejo “Shark”. Sought after by both lovers and collectors with fervor similar to the search for Fuente’s Opus X line, this is one cigar that I have been looking forward to trying for some time.
As mentioned above, the Shark has a unique obelisk shape that is a result of box pressing the original torpedo. Carrying a solid heft, the construction of the cigar is excellent. As this particular smoke was aged since 2006, the oils present on the wrapper’s surface were noticeably transferable to my fingers. A faint texture of tooth and minor veins gives this smoke a natural appearance without being rugged. Even the wrapper and foot emit the faint scent of sweet cocoa.
Moving into the prelight, my Palio guillotine made a beautiful angled cut and the cigar held up beautifully. The prelight draw is perfect and the sweetness noted before comes through with a faint tongue tingle of pepper. A buttery nuttiness comes through as well. Torching this smoke proves to be a bit of a challenge because of its dense construction. Once lit, the burn was slightly uneven but that could be because of the issues getting it lit.
After a few initial puffs the creamy smoke builds and the nut and sweet flavors develop into more defined almond and perhaps vanilla. The overall balance is wonderfully deep and substantial but not powerful. Exhaling through the nose produces a slight tartness that is not unpleasant when accompanied by the sweetness. It actually reminds me of fresh, uncooked, rhubarb.
As the session progresses, the burn remains wavy but controllable. Additionally, a more prominent Cedar flavor develops. The overall strength of this cigar builds and eventually tips more towards a spiced profile, although the almond remains. This lasts for about an inch until the spice tones down and allows the almond, vanilla and Cedar to come back through. Over the last inch and a half the spice continually builds itself but does not become overbearing.
Overall this is a fantastic smoke. While spicy, every flavor present gets a turn to show its stuff and the overall result is perfect balance and harmony. On top of that, the construction of the cigar along with its appearance gives it a certain presence. This is not a cigar that you will forget about when smoking. One unfortunate drawback of this smoke is its rarity. Released in limited quantities only around Father’s Day and Christmas a buyer can expect to spend anywhere from 10 to 30 dollars per cigar. At MSRP I would buy as many as I could find and would be willing to spend a few bucks per stick over that just to ensure I had several on hand. To date, there are only three cigars that I would want to guarantee there was a full box of in my humidor, those being the Fuente Hemingway Short Story, Tatuaje J21 Reserva and now the Fuente Anejo Reserva No. 77 “Shark”.
Appearance : [rating:5/5] Construction : [rating:5/5] Flavor : [rating:5/5] Value : [rating:5/5] Overall Rating : [rating:5/5]
[sz]arturo fuente anejo[/sz]
Helpful?
0
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Joe M
–
So it seems the blend is pretty much the same in all the anejo vitolas. Does the shark smoke better than all the other vitolas or has this really just become more of a following than the #77 really being better than the other anejo vitolas?
ALshark
–
Gotta love “the shark!”
I generally prefer smokes with ring gauges between 44-52. So this is generally my upper limit. I’m hesitant when ring gauges exceed 52 unless they are an outstanding smoke, such as the Anejo 77.
I make a trip down to my local tobacconist every time Anejo shipments come in. Well balanced, spicy, complex and earthy notes throughout as well as some subtle plum flavors. Never had any problems with draw, burn or contruction.
Arturo Fuente is slowly winning me over, although nothing will ever beat my beloved Padrons!
Matt
–
My Review of the #48 (7 x 48)
Wow. What a great smoke. The Añejo #48 is a beautifully presented cigar with a cedar wrapped foot accented by a blood red ribbon wrapped around the very bottom. The wrapper is very dark with a little tooth and very few tiny vines. There were not soft spots in this cigar which was well filled with no rib veins visible in the foot or the head. A pre-light draw delivered spicy notes and the wrapper left a slightly sweet taste on the lips. The cigar lit very easily and it had a nice easy to medium draw. This cigar produced a lot of thick white smoke. It was full-bodied and spicy on the tongue with just a hint of sweetness in the aftertaste. The finish was long and spicy. This was a powerful cigar too with an excellent buzz factor. After sitting for the first 45 minutes of this smoke, when I attempted to stand up for the first time, I almost fell right back down. This cigar made my knees a little wobbly. I enjoyed every puff of this cigar, all the way to the nub. Its impressive seven inches took me and hour and forty-five minutes to smoke, but admittedly I took a short break to eat a couple of slices of pizza. It was lasting a long time and a man needs food as well as cigars to survive.
Newb
–
My local B&M has these for $15, and they’re going fast. I picked up a fistful for a special occasion next summer; assuming I can hold out that long I expect they’ll be a real treat.
David D.
–
Amazing smoke. From light up it gives a good rush of lets say.. Cognac flavors, than past the first third rich rich maduro flavors. Have to love conneticut broad leafs…
René Vasquez
–
To date, this is my favorite cigar. I believe our palletes and preferences are similar. My favorites are this “shark”and the hemingway as well. Great review.
MoBarbq
–
I absolutely agree. I had one a couple of weeks ago and it moved right to the top of my list of favorite cigars I’ve smoked, as well as top of my want list for more! I just wish I could afford more of them, they’re a bit pricey for the average Joe.
Stephen
–
Nice review Joe and I agree with everything you said about it.
Joe K
Origin : Dominican Republic
Format : Torpedo
Size : 5.625 x 54
Wrapper : Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro
Binder : Dominican Republic
Filler : Dominican Republic
Hand-Made
Price : up to $30 each
Throughout each of our smoking lives, many of us set aside cigars that we label as special to be smoked on rare occasions. One such cigar that repeatedly tops many lists is the Arturo Fuente Anejo Reserva No. 77. Resembling a tooth because of its uniquely box pressed torpedo shape, this cigar is more commonly known as the Anejo “Shark”. Sought after by both lovers and collectors with fervor similar to the search for Fuente’s Opus X line, this is one cigar that I have been looking forward to trying for some time.
As mentioned above, the Shark has a unique obelisk shape that is a result of box pressing the original torpedo. Carrying a solid heft, the construction of the cigar is excellent. As this particular smoke was aged since 2006, the oils present on the wrapper’s surface were noticeably transferable to my fingers. A faint texture of tooth and minor veins gives this smoke a natural appearance without being rugged. Even the wrapper and foot emit the faint scent of sweet cocoa.
Moving into the prelight, my Palio guillotine made a beautiful angled cut and the cigar held up beautifully. The prelight draw is perfect and the sweetness noted before comes through with a faint tongue tingle of pepper. A buttery nuttiness comes through as well. Torching this smoke proves to be a bit of a challenge because of its dense construction. Once lit, the burn was slightly uneven but that could be because of the issues getting it lit.
After a few initial puffs the creamy smoke builds and the nut and sweet flavors develop into more defined almond and perhaps vanilla. The overall balance is wonderfully deep and substantial but not powerful. Exhaling through the nose produces a slight tartness that is not unpleasant when accompanied by the sweetness. It actually reminds me of fresh, uncooked, rhubarb.
As the session progresses, the burn remains wavy but controllable. Additionally, a more prominent Cedar flavor develops. The overall strength of this cigar builds and eventually tips more towards a spiced profile, although the almond remains. This lasts for about an inch until the spice tones down and allows the almond, vanilla and Cedar to come back through. Over the last inch and a half the spice continually builds itself but does not become overbearing.
Overall this is a fantastic smoke. While spicy, every flavor present gets a turn to show its stuff and the overall result is perfect balance and harmony. On top of that, the construction of the cigar along with its appearance gives it a certain presence. This is not a cigar that you will forget about when smoking. One unfortunate drawback of this smoke is its rarity. Released in limited quantities only around Father’s Day and Christmas a buyer can expect to spend anywhere from 10 to 30 dollars per cigar. At MSRP I would buy as many as I could find and would be willing to spend a few bucks per stick over that just to ensure I had several on hand. To date, there are only three cigars that I would want to guarantee there was a full box of in my humidor, those being the Fuente Hemingway Short Story, Tatuaje J21 Reserva and now the Fuente Anejo Reserva No. 77 “Shark”.
Appearance : [rating:5/5]
Construction : [rating:5/5]
Flavor : [rating:5/5]
Value : [rating:5/5]
Overall Rating : [rating:5/5]
[sz]arturo fuente anejo[/sz]
Joe M
So it seems the blend is pretty much the same in all the anejo vitolas. Does the shark smoke better than all the other vitolas or has this really just become more of a following than the #77 really being better than the other anejo vitolas?
ALshark
Gotta love “the shark!”
I generally prefer smokes with ring gauges between 44-52. So this is generally my upper limit. I’m hesitant when ring gauges exceed 52 unless they are an outstanding smoke, such as the Anejo 77.
I make a trip down to my local tobacconist every time Anejo shipments come in. Well balanced, spicy, complex and earthy notes throughout as well as some subtle plum flavors. Never had any problems with draw, burn or contruction.
Arturo Fuente is slowly winning me over, although nothing will ever beat my beloved Padrons!
Matt
My Review of the #48 (7 x 48)
Wow. What a great smoke. The Añejo #48 is a beautifully presented cigar with a cedar wrapped foot accented by a blood red ribbon wrapped around the very bottom. The wrapper is very dark with a little tooth and very few tiny vines. There were not soft spots in this cigar which was well filled with no rib veins visible in the foot or the head. A pre-light draw delivered spicy notes and the wrapper left a slightly sweet taste on the lips. The cigar lit very easily and it had a nice easy to medium draw. This cigar produced a lot of thick white smoke. It was full-bodied and spicy on the tongue with just a hint of sweetness in the aftertaste. The finish was long and spicy. This was a powerful cigar too with an excellent buzz factor. After sitting for the first 45 minutes of this smoke, when I attempted to stand up for the first time, I almost fell right back down. This cigar made my knees a little wobbly. I enjoyed every puff of this cigar, all the way to the nub. Its impressive seven inches took me and hour and forty-five minutes to smoke, but admittedly I took a short break to eat a couple of slices of pizza. It was lasting a long time and a man needs food as well as cigars to survive.
Newb
My local B&M has these for $15, and they’re going fast. I picked up a fistful for a special occasion next summer; assuming I can hold out that long I expect they’ll be a real treat.
David D.
Amazing smoke. From light up it gives a good rush of lets say.. Cognac flavors, than past the first third rich rich maduro flavors. Have to love conneticut broad leafs…
René Vasquez
To date, this is my favorite cigar. I believe our palletes and preferences are similar. My favorites are this “shark”and the hemingway as well. Great review.
MoBarbq
I absolutely agree. I had one a couple of weeks ago and it moved right to the top of my list of favorite cigars I’ve smoked, as well as top of my want list for more! I just wish I could afford more of them, they’re a bit pricey for the average Joe.
Stephen
Nice review Joe and I agree with everything you said about it.