Fusion Cigars Headlines 1st Edition Torpedo – Cigar Review

Fusion Cigars

Recently we took a trip to the west coast of Florida to the annual Tampa Cigar Bash hosted by Tampa Humidor. The event was an awesome time. My wife and I made plans to stay in Clearwater Beach that night and do a little discovery. Now I will say that Clearwater Beach is a beautiful slice of Florida on the Gulf of Mexico with white sand beaches, colorful sunsets and an established nightlife. So after an amazing Italian dinner at Forlini’s in Clearwater Beach, FL we headed over to Fusion Cigars.

Fusion Cigars

Fusion Cigars is a upscale cigar lounge located on the shopping and dining strip of Clearwater Beach . I greeted Dee Aguasvivas, the owner, and mentioned I was referred to him from a patron at Forlini’s. We explained we were doing a story on the area in an upcoming issue of Stogie Press and he was delighted. As we got to chatting, Dee explained that besides his well stocked humidor, Fusion Cigars also has their own cigar line founded by himself and his business partner Ulises Delgado.

Dee offered me a HEADLINES 1st Edition Torpedo to try. I promised him that I would take it home and let it rest in my humidor for a while and then do the review in the solitude of the Stogie Press Gar Cave. He got a chuckle out of that and we sat and talked a little more. I learned that his cigars are distributed by the Antillian Cigar Company who also distribute Swinger Cigars from Detroit, Michigan.

OK, enough of the background info, other than if you are in Clearwater, I highly recommend Fusion Cigars for a good smokey night. If you go there tell Dee, Boston Jimmie sent you.

Now lets get to the review.

So here I am chilling in the Stogie Press Gar Cave watching the Miami Canes fight another battle with the FSU Noles. I knew my Canes would need a super hero or two if they were to have any chance of beating the Noles in this game, and that would have been awesome to read the headlines on Sunday morning. Anyway, I decided to fire up that HEADLINES 1st Edition Torepdeo Dee gifted me a few weeks ago and settled in to watch the game.

The Fusion Cigars HEADLINES 1st Edition is described by their website as:

HEADLINES is a medium to full strength cigar handmade in Santiago, Dominican Republic by Tabacalera Real. This Cigar is made using only the best Dominican Tobacco available. The HEADLINES is a true Dominican Puro.

Dee explained to me that the HEADLINES 1st Edition is constructed from Dominican Criollo ’98 and Olor Piloto Cubano Filler with a Dominican Criollo ’98 Binder all wrapped in a Domincan grown Pennsylvania Habano leaf. There is also a HEADLINES 2nd edition which uses a Habano Oscuro leaf for the wrapper.

The HEADLINES 1st and 2nd editions come in 3 Vitolas

Page 1 – .5 x 60
Page 2 – (Torpedo) 6 x 54
Page 3 – 6 x 50

For this review I sampled the HEADLINES 1st Edition Torpedo which was gifted to me by Dee of Fusion Cigars .

Examining the HEADLINES 1st Edition you immediately notice the nice chocolate-brown Pennsylvania Habano wrapper. The wrapper has a sweet scent to it and a slight sandpaper roughness to it. There are minimal veins and tight seams. There were no soft spots and is packed well. The band is unique. It represents the front page pf a newspaper and reminds of the way some Miami Cuban restaurants serve food in newspaper lined baskets. The band describes the cigar and clearly notes “LET TASTE BE THE JUDGE” . I agree with that mantra! I sliced the cap with my double blade cutter and the dry draw presented a delicate sweet nutty flavor. The draw was open with no restrictions.

As I fired it up there was a deep mineral flavor coming through that blended well with the nutty flavor I got on the dry draw. The ash was light grey and tight. As it burned there were hints of sweet coffee coming through that lasted for a good part the 1st third along with a floral aroma. The smoke was full and creamy and didn’t linger on the palate. The burn was impressive with a solid burn line with no distinguishable wave.

The coffee flavor faded and the early nutty flavor again comes in as it moved into the 2nd third along with an aroma change to delightful sweetness. There is no spice or pepper in this stick. The retrohale was easy on the nostrils all the way through the burn. The ash holds on tight to just before the band where it finally fell.

Headlines 1st Edition

The sweet nutty flavor continued and there was a developing aroma of caramel coming off the foot that added to the pleasure as it burned through the 2nd third.

The final third did not exhibit much change in flavor but the strength picked up a notch. This is a solid medium to full body smoke.

LET TASTE BE THE JUDGE

Yes Dee, this is a fine cigar and now I need to try the 2nd edition. Oh Yea, the Headlines this morning noted that the Canes could not hold on to beat the Noles.

Now lets get to the review.

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