Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial The Fox

By Tony Casas | July 6, 2015

I hope you all had a great, safe, and fun time celebrating the fourth of July. Since the weather has been so hot here,  I’ve been spending most of my time in the pool but I found some dry time to venture out back with a Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial “The Fox” and a bottle of Odell’s Fernet Aged Porter.

The Good Stuff:

Fox Cigar Bar is probably one of, if not my favorite place to relax, and burn a few time. Both me and Jeremy stop by a few times every time we find ourselves in the Phoenix area. They are also the people responsible for the annual Foxtoberfest celebration, one of the largest cigar events in the southwest. Fox Cigar Bar already has quite a few shop exclusives and we’ve reviewed just about every one of them: Ortega “The Fox”, Illusione Sin Cinta Fox, and the La Flor Dominicana Foxtoberfest but this week we take a look at the Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial “The Fox”.

The Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Fox is an entirely different blend than the standard Reserva Especial in which Jaime and Fox Cigar Bar’s General Manager Cliff Coen blended together. The blend is a Nicaraguan Puro which features a Corojo Oscuro wrapper. The Fox only comes in a single 6 x 50 format which comes packaged in boxes of 20 running $7.99 a stick. These are only available at Fox Cigar Bar in Gilbert, Arizona and their brand new location in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Size: 6 x 50
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo Oscuro
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Body: Medium/Full
Strength: Medium
Price: $7.99
Pairing: Odell Fernet Aged Porter (Baltic Porter 9.4% ABV)

Prelight:

The Jaime Garcia Fox starts off with an extremely consistent milk chocolate brown wrapper which carries a good amount of oils over a very rough, toothy texture. The wrapper is scattered with very small, thin veins and a good amount of natural webbing in the leaf. The wrapper feels very dense, hard, and thick as the cigar itself feels decently packed with a little softness around the foot. The Fox is capped off with a round double cap, the standard Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial band, as well as an added double band using the same colors with Fox Cigar Bar’s logo in the front and “MMXIV” on the side.

The wrapper gives off a very nutty/musky aroma while the foot of the cigar releases some soft spice and sweetness. The cap cut clean and easy using my double bladed Palio cutter. The cold draw releases some strong musk, spice, pepper and dark chocolate flavors with an easy draw.

 

First Third:

The Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Fox starts out with a big black pepper blast which quickly faded after the first few puffs leaving behind some very bold dark chocolate, musk, sweetness, creamed coffee, and spice. The draw is perfect as each little puff kicks out a massive cloud of thick, white smoke. The burn line is razor thin, and dead even leaving behind of trail of compacted medium/light gray ash which caught me by surprised as it first ashed not even a half in and into my lap nonetheless. Sorry about not getting the chance for the first ash picture.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial the Fox and I’m impressed with how smooth and creamy this cigar is while still keeping my invested in the experience with great, bold flavors. The flavor profile is still leading with dark chocolate and musk over sweetness, creamed coffee and subtle spice notes with some nice oak starting to creep it’s way in. The retrohale is very smooth and enjoyable as it coats my nasal passage with lots of deep oak and spice. The burn line is still flawless and the ash is still falling more often than expected (which isn’t a bad thing, you just gotta keep it in mind) as I close out the second third with no signs of nicotine at all.

Finish:

While there hasn’t been a lot of change ups in the Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Fox, the flavors are downright enjoyable so you won’t get any complaints here. The flavor profile still leads with lots of musk and dark chocolate over some ramped up oak and spice with subtle creamed coffee and sweetness. It took me about an hour and a half to smoke this cigar down to the nub and I experience absolutely no harshness (actually this one of the smoother cigars I have smoked for some time) and no nicotine whatsoever.

Overview:

I really enjoyed every aspect of the Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Fox. First of all, the cigar leads with some semi-complex, bold flavors which all compliment each other creating a creamy and smooth experience. Add that to a medium strength cigar that won’t knock you on your ass and it’s easy to see why this cigar is a winner. Not to mention the modest price point. The only downfall about this cigar is it’s an exclusive. That being said, it’s just another reason for me to make the trip up to Phoenix, hang out with the gang at Fox Cigar Bar, and take a few back.

Pairing:

Brewed at the Odell brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado the Fernet Aged Porter is a 9.4% Baltic porter consisting of 50% porter, and 50% porter aged in fernet barrels provided by the Leopold Bros. The Fernet Aged Porter leads with roasted malt, coffee, spice, and chocolate with a medium mouthfeel before finishing clean with lots of spice, malt, vanilla and a bit of mint on the aftertaste. The coffee, spice, and chocolate made for a perfect marriage with the Fox while the vanilla and malt added a bit of extra character to the experience. An obvious alternative pairing would be some sweet, creamed coffee, a Belgian dubbel, or a nice glass of tawny port.