Fonseca CXX Anni Corona

The Fonseca CXX Anni is a special limited production cigar that made its debut in 2011.  The cigar is made by the folks at S.A.G Imports.  and released under S.A.G’s Fonseca line to commemorate the 120th anniversary of that particular brand.   Last year, based on my experiences of the three vitolas in the CXX Anni line, I could safely say that this is a cigar that I liked, but didn’t love.  A year later, I decided to revisit this cigar and time has been very kind to this cigar.   While I assessed the Gordo vitola last year, today we explore the Corona vitola.  In my opinion, the Corona is a better vitola of this blend,  I also think this particular blend really has developed and aged nicely into one outstanding line of cigars.

The name CXX is a roman numeral for 120.  This represents the 120th anniversary of the Fonseca brand.   The Fonseca brand was named for Don Fonseca who started the line in Cuba in 1891.  The cigar is meant to commemorate the brand’s Cuban roots.   It was blended by master blender, Manuel Quesada.

Let’s break down the Fonseca CXX Anni in some more detail.

Blend Profile

The  Habano Vuelta Arriba wrapper comes from the Navarrete region in the Dominican Republic.  It is a sungrown wrapper.  The intent was to build a more robust tobacco for the cigar experience.

Wrapper: Dominican Habano Vuelta Arriba
Binder: Dominican Grown Cuban-seed tobacco
Filler: Cuban Seeds grown in the Dom.Rep. and Nicaragua

Vitolas Available

The Fonseca CXX Anni us available in three sizes and the total production of these cigars will be limited to 120,000.

Corona: 6 3/8 x 46
Gordo: 4 7/8 x 60
Robusto: 5 7/8 x 52

Appearance

The Fonseca CXX Anni Corona features medium brown wrapper with some dark spots on it.  The wrapper itself has a slightly oily complexion and is bumpy to the touch.   There are some visible veins, but the wrapper coloring does a nice job hiding the seams of the wrapper.  There is a pig-tail on the cap.

The band to the Fonseca CXX Anni features a silver, gold, red, gray, and black color scheme.   There is a black Fonseca gothic-styled “F” sitting on a gold shield that is in the center of the band.  On the top part of the sheild is the text “CXX Anni” in small black font.  The text “HAND” and “MADE” appears in black font to the left and right of the shield respectively.   The shield itself sits on a silver background with the fonseca logo in lighter gray wallpapered on that background.  Above the shield is the text “FONSECA” in gold font (also on the silver background).  Below the shield it says “RARISSIMUS” which is also in gold font on a silver background.  It is worth noting that Rarissimus is Latin for “rarest”.

Preparation for the Cigar Experience
While the Fonseca CXX Anni Corona has a pig-tail cap, I still opted to go with a straight cut to remove the cap.   If you have read many of my other assessments, you know this is a typical procedure I do with pig-tail caps.  After the cut was completed, I proceeded to start the pre-light draw.   The dry draw notes of the Corona were very similar to what I got from the Gordo.  These pre-light draw flavors were a combination of cocoa and wood.  Overall, I considered this a satisfactory pre-light draw, so now it was time to toast the foot of my CXX Anni and see what this cigar experience would bring to the table.
Flavor Profile
Similar to the Gordo, the initial flavors of the Fonseca CXX Anni Corona gave me a mix of red pepper and cocoa.  However, I also detected some citrus sweetness with the Corona that I had not detected with the Gordo vitola.
Around the five percent, the cocoa flavors took on more of a traditional chocolate taste.  These notes moved into the forefront while the citrus and pepper notes remained in the background.  Around the ten percent point, the flavors all seemed to converge and work together in harmony – creating a very unique flavor.  This unified flavor would hold into the second third of the cigar.
In the second third, the citrus faded and left the chocolate and pepper notes as the key flavors.   While the chocolate and pepper alternated as to which flavor was in the forefront, it is safe to say that the pepper had the edge during this exchange.   This would be the flavor pattern for the remainder of the cigar experience.  The nub was not quite as ideal as I’d like – namely it was warm in temperature and soft to the touch, but there were no harsh notes.

Burn and Draw

For the most part, the burn of the Fonseca CXX Anni Corona was very good.  The burn was straight from start to finish requiring minimal touch-ups.   The burn rate was ideal.  The cigar did burn a little warmer toward the end and that resulted in the warm nub, but this still had no ill effects on the flavor.  The draw was excellent and it made this Fonseca CXX Corona a real joy to smoke.


Strength and Body

Originally when I heard about the strength and body of the Fonseca CXX Anni, I had seen conflicting reports.  When I smoked the Fonseca CXX Anni Gordo, I had felt the cigar had more nicotine strength and more body than many of those initial reports. It could easily be classified as a full strength, full-bodied smoke in my book. My subsequent smokes of the Fonseca CXX Anni blend and in particular the the Fonseca CXX Anni Corona have not changed my assessment of these attributes.  The strength and body balance each other very nicely with neither attribute overshadowing the other.

Final Thoughts

As a part of our 2011 Cigar of the Year celebration, we awarded a “Best Aged Blend” to a 2010 release that improved with age.   We plan on doing the same in 2012.  Right now, the Fonseca CXX Anni is a cigar that can contend for that honor.  As I referenced in the introduction, this is a cigar that I originally liked the blend for, and now its a cigar that I love the blend for.   I also believe the Corona vitola is the best vitola of the this line.  This is a cigar I would only recommend to an experienced cigar enthusiast who likes full strength, full-bodied smokes as this carries a lot of power.   This is a cigar I’d also recommend re-visiting, if you haven’t smoked it in a while.

Summary

Burn: Good
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength:  Full
Body:  Full
Finish:  Good
Assessment: Memorable
Score: 93

Source: The cigars for this assessment were purchased from Outland Cigars in Charlotte, North Carolina and Iwan Ries in Chicago, Illinois.