Cigar Review: God of Fire Series B

Robusto Gordo, 5.5" x 54 ring gauge / MSRP $22, Tobacco World
The God of Fire line was first introduced in 2004 as a collaboration between the Fuente cigar company and the Prometheus lighter company, with Keith Park in charge of the marketing of the brand. Normal annual releases have tended to wear either a Carlito or Don Carlos secondary band to distinguish between blends. They were joined in 2010 by the Series B, which was released in two sizes: a Gran Toro that features a Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro wrapper, and the Robusto Gordo that I am featuring today which comes with an Ecuadorian Sun Grown wrapper. Why two different wrappers on two vitolas that share the same name? I'm sure there is a reason, but nothing was indicated in any of the promotional materials. Both share the same filler binder blend as the original God of Fire, which is all Dominican. These come in boxes of 10 and each size is limited to 10,000 total sticks for the 2010 production year. These are very pricey...I am only smoking one for this review, but if I love it, I would be interested in buying more if I run across them again.

I was told these were "God of Fire Maduros" when I bought this sample in December and I have to say that regardless of the company statement that it is a Sun Grown, this looks very much like a Maduro...dark and rugged...and not so much like any Sun Grown leaf I can remember seeing. It was rich and sweet in aroma, too, earthy and chocolatey...also very much like a Maduro. There was more oil to the touch than to the eye on this stick and what looked like some excess dried glue in a couple places, which is unfortunately becoming very common with many sticks issuing from the Fuente factory. The foot also had a rich chocolatey scent. My go-to Xikar Xi made a perfectly clean cut on the head of the Series B and the resulting draw was good, if just a little snug. The cold draw had notes of cocoa powder and dark roast coffee, and it left a slight spicy tingle on the lips.

After lighting up, I noticed the flavors to be very earthy with just touches of the cocoa and coffee from the prelight. Despite all senses saying "Maduro" during prelight, the slightly spicy notes on both tongue and nose, as well as the lack of really significant sweetness, are more suggestive of the Sun Grown that this apparently actually is. As the first third continued to burn I noticed a sour citrus note coming through a combination of bitter earth, dark coffee, and baker's cocoa. This could have used just a touch of sweetness to balance out all the bitter and sour notes. It was not "bad" so far, but it also was not as balanced or refined as I would expect for this price tag.

On the plus side, the ash was strong and not flaky...and the burn line was decently straight. On the not so good side, the draw had started off fairly good, but by the time I got deep into the second third, it was tighter than it really should be. Not unsmokeable by any means, but certainly not as easy as a cigar of this caliber should be, either. The flavors of earth and unsweetened cocoa were still dominant. The sour notes had disappeared and there was a bit of leatheriness about it.

In the last third the God of Fire Series B came to life and seemed like a totally different cigar than what I had been smoking. While still very earthy, there was some sweetness to balance the bitterness and a nice spiciness was building up. The draw had opened up again and the whole experience was very enjoyable. If only it had been that way the entire time! The body ended up in the medium to full range and there was enough of a nicotine hit that I can't recommend this stogie for newer smokers. If the draw had not been difficult at times, I wonder how the whole of this cigar would have turned out. I also wonder if it would have been better with the Broadleaf Maduro wrapper used on the larger vitola since that may have provided a better balance. In the end, though, I felt like the first two thirds were a bit of a letdown for a $20+ cigar and when you are paying this much, I just feel like there should not be any letdown at all. I know some disagree..."it's a handmade product and variations in quality happen"...and all that. But for my money, any variation in quality when you're paying this much for a cigar is unacceptable.

Body: 7/10
Strength: 7/10
Complexity: 6/10

AFP Scale
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 1.5/2
Flavor: 3/5
Value: 1/2
Total: 7.5/10