Fonseca by My Father Robusto

By Tony Casas | October 19, 2020

This week, I am taking a look at a cigar I’ve been itching to get my hands on. The Fonseca by My father cigars. Accompanying the cigar is a bottle of King Gary Loves the Coco by Civil Society brewery in Juniper, Florida.

The Good Stuff:

Late last year one of the more household cigar manufactures had announced that it would be under new reigns, that company was Quesada cigars who’s portfolio includes the Fonseca brand. The company who was acquiring the rights was none other than My Father cigars. While this caught a lot of us off guard, more than most have been excited to see what changes My Father would bring to an already well-honored cigar company right in history. Fast forward to August 2020 and the newly branded Fonseca by My Father started landing on shelves while die-hard cigar enthusiasts were waiting to gobble them up.

The Fonseca by My Father is blended using a Nicaraguan Shade Grown Corojo 99 Rosado wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers. The cigar is offered in six sizes: Petit Corona ( 4 1/4 x 40), Robusto (4 1/4 x 52), Cosacos (5 3/8 x 42), Belicosos (5 1/2 x 54), Toro Gorda (6 x 55), and Cedros (6 1/4 x 52). Each offering comes packaged in boxes of 20 running between $7 and $11.20 a stick. Big thanks goes out to my boy Jason for hooking it up with a few of these!

• Size: 5 1/4 x 52
• Wrapper: Nicaraguan Shade Grown Corojo 99 Rosada
• Binder: Nicaraguan
• Filler: Nicaraguan
• Body: Full
• Strength: Medium/Full
• Price: $9.50
• Pairing: Civil Society BA King Gary Loves the Coco (Imperial Milk Stout 10% ABV)

Prelight:

The Fonseca by My Father starts out with an extremely consistent milky brown wrapper which shines orange in the sun. The texture on the wrapper is extremely toothy and grainy with a good amount of oils coating the cigar. The wrapper itself feels very thick and very dense while the cigar as a whole is extremely hard and tightly packed. The meaty body showcases some slight veins and a ton of natural tobacco webbing leading up to the cigar’s round double-wrapped cap. The cigar is polished off with a VERY “My Father” looking, heavily designed band which showcases the Fonseca crest in the front. Its a bit odd for me, but we’ll get used to it. The cigar also carries a gold ribbon foot band.

The wrapper on the Fonseca by My Father gives off a very sweet mixture of spice and cedar aromas while the foot of the cigar carries a lot of the same spice but a much more earthy makeup. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces a ton of spice, cocoa, and musk.

First Third:

The Fonseca by My Father starts out with a nice subtle pepper blast which one lasts through the first puff before releasing a ton of sweet cedar, cinnamon, cocoa, musk, leather and almond. This cigar starts firing right off the bat! Despite being very tightly packed, the draw is absolutely perfect as each tiny puff kicks out a whole ton of thick, white smoke which dissipates rather quickly while the cigar releases a whole mess of stationary smoke while the oils burn off the wrapper while it rests in my ashtray. The burnline is slightly wavy as it leaves behind a decently compacted trail of medium and dark gray ash which held on for an inch before giving way.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Fonseca by My Father and the cigar is still firing on all cylinders. The almond, cedar, and chocolate lead the pack backed by light creamed coffee, cinnamon, earthiness, and honey. The retrohale brings out a ton of the sharp spice so I don’t find myself doing it too often. The cigar is burning perfectly at this point and hasn’t required any attention from my torch to either touch-up or relight. I close out the second third with a minor nicotine kick.

Finish:

Into the final third of the Fonseca by My Father and the cedar is now in charge, back by bold notes of cedar and chocolate over light coffee, musk, earthiness and coffee. It took me an hour and a half to smoke this cigar down to the nub and I loved every second of it. I experienced no harshness, no extended heat, and only a very minor nicotine kick.

Overview:

I’ve been on pins and needles awaiting the moment I could get my hands on these cigars. Quesada has been a favorite brand of mine for as long as I can remember, and My Father, I mean, who doesn’t love them? How did it go? Well, in short, it was absolutely amazing. The flavor profile is incredible and right up my alley, the smoking experience was flawless and the price is way below what I feel like I’d be comfortable paying for such a fantastic cigar. This is box worthy for sure, and a strong contender for my top 10 cigars of the year as it sits currently.

Pairing:

King Gary loves the Coco is a Barrel Aged Imperial Stout brewed with Cocoa and Coconut coffee. Coming in at 10% ABV this Florida raised beer leads with heavy cocoa, brown sugar, coconut, black coffee, and vanilla with a very heavy mouthfeel before finishing with very toffee-esque flavors over more cocoa and mild coffee with only a very light barrel bite. The choice for this beer was obviously the cocoa and coffee lead flavors in the beer and how well they complimented the cocoa and coffee flavors in the Fonseca while the coconut just added another layer to a already phenomenal experience.