Arturo Fuente Chateau Fuente Pyramid

Thanks to our good friends at Famous Smoke Shop, I have an opportunity to smoke and review a cigar I would not typically grab off the shelf, but a cigar that is most likely a staple in many humidors throughout the country. Up for review is the Connecticut shade Chateau Fuente Pyramid by Arturo Fuente.

Arturo Fuente’s website gives some background on the Chateau Fuente line:

The Chateau Fuente line of cigars was inspired by the beautiful Chateau de la Fuente, home of the world renown Arturo Fuente tobacco plantation. Each unique creation is masterfully blended from the Fuente families private reserve of aged tobacco and rolled to the perfect shape and size. Available in both a silky Connecticut shade wrapper, and the more robust Ecuadorian sungrown wrapper, Chateau Fuente cigars are aged to perfection before being individually wrapper in their signature cedar sleeve. Like all Arturo Fuente cigars, the Chateau Fuente line is made completely by hand – the same way Arturo Fuente did, 100 years ago.

Chateau Fuente is available in 8 sizes including: Chateau Fuente (4 1/2 by 50), Queen B (5 1/2 by 5), Belicoso (5 3/4 by 54), Pyramid (6 by 52), King B (6 by 55), Double Chateau Fuente (6 3/4 by 50), King T (7 by 49), and Royale Salute (7 5/8 by 54). While the description from the website limits wrapper options to shade and sungrown, a quick search online shows a maduro version of the Chateau Fuente available as well.

The Facts

Samples provided by Famous Smoke Shop
Price: 6.85 per single| $32.99 per 5-pack | $148.99 per box of 25
Vitola: Pyramid
Size: 6 by 52
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican
Smoke Time: 1 Hour and 20 Minutes

Pre-light

Upon removing the cedar sleeve on the Chateau Fuente Pyramid, I find a very light wrapper that has a yellowish/green hue to it. The light wrapper reveals all of the imperfections with a few small cracks, stretch marks, and a tiny hole in the leaf. In spite of being packaged in a cedar sleeve, there is hardly any cedar aroma on the wrapper, but rather a very faint dark fruit and chocolate.

The foot shows off much bigger notes of chocolate and dark fruit, specifically dates, along with some chili powder. Cutting about a quarter inch up on the tapered head, the draw is a little stiff with flavors of cinnamon, chili powder, and cedar.

First Third

The cigars opens with mild to medium flavors that are earthy – some dirt and woodsy notes – along with black pepper, with hardly any spice heat. At a quarter inch, a yeasty bread flavor arrives with some much welcomed sweet natural tobacco. The sweetness is very mild but compliments the other flavors nicely. The profile remains similar as I move the smoke through my sinuses with a bit more edge to the pepper. A thick, wavy burn is leaving behind an almost white ash that is flaky in appearance but holding well.

Middle Third

With the smoke production lacking, two quick puffs are required to get a sufficient amount of smoke, but at the same time causing the cigar to burn faster than desired leading to some coning. The bread, natural sweetness, and pepper have stepped up their game. The finish is of dirt and black coffee, a little bitter. A large crack formed as I tried to move the band down a bit on the cigar, but so far it is not impacting the smoke. The burn is sloppy, the ash is flaky,

Final Third

A large piece of the thin wrapper on the Chateau Fuente Pyramid was stuck to the glue on the band making the crack from earlier expand another couple of inches. A dirt flavor has become the most dominant, pushing back the bread and sweetness. A salt and pepper mixture has joined in, along with a nuttiness. This may sound strange, but there has been a cola flavor hanging in the background for the last two thirds. I have been trying think of other ways to describe it but this seems to the most accurate. In the last inch, the sweetness reemerges bringing a nice end to the cigar.

Wrap-up

The Arturo Fuente Chateau Fuente Pyramid is a classic cigar, with a classic Dominican profile. Beginning mild to medium, the cigar progressed with a wavy burn, flaky ash, and cracking wrapper, and ended on the low side of medium. There were some very noticeable transitions throughout each third, but nothing drastic. As was expected, there was hardly any spice heat, but there was a pepper flavor that I picked up almost the entire cigar that was surprising. I rarely smoke mild to medium cigars, as I tend to smoke in the evenings when I desire a medium to full cigar. But the Arturo Fuente Chateau Fuente would pair well with a cup of coffee early in the morning. For under $7, this is a cigar worth trying and I assume the majority of our readers have smoked one size or another in the Chateau Fuente line at one time in their life. For me, I look forward to smoking my last sample early one morning with some French-pressed coffee, but I don’t think I will be purchasing them anytime soon as they fall outside of my wheelhouse.