“Abe Flores has certainly built himself into one of the most sought after blenders in the industry. He has been behind a lot of great lines from his own brand and for other brands. Right now the AFR-75 is as good a cigar as he has made.”
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| #28 – AFR-75 by PDR Cigars (Sublime) |
Coming in at #28 on the 2013 Cigar of the Year countdown is the AFR-75. This is a new limited production offering offering that was launched by PDR Cigars in 2013.
The AFR-75 marks a return for PDR Cigars to the Cigar of the Year countdown for the first time in four years. It also marks the first maduro and first San Andres wrapper offering selected for this year’s countdown.
The AFR-75 derives its name from the initials its Master Blender, Abraham Flores Rosario as well as his year of birth (1975). At his PDR Cigars factory, Flores has been working with a lot of companies to help develop their blends. At the same time he has his own line under his own PDR Cigars. is own offerings, Flores has lately been focusing on small batch releases. The AFR-75 is one of those offerings and is intended to be his company’s most premium line to date.
The flavor profile of the AFR-75 consists of black pepper, cocoa/chocolate, and earth. There are also some floral and cherry notes that can be detected. This isn’t a cigar that will undergo a lot of flavor transitions, but there are some nice flavor nuances. The cigar starts out medium in both strength and body, and in the second half progresses to medium to full for both attributes. This is one of the best constructed cigars I’ve seen by PDR Cigars and this is reflected in the burn and draw.
The price point for this line does start at $14.75 for the Sublime. Overall, this cigar smokes as well as I would expect for a cigar at this price point.
Click here for our assessment of the AFR-75 by PDR Cigars.
Wrapper: San Andres Maduro
Binder/Filler: Nicaraguan Criollo 98, Connecticut Broadleaf, Dominican
Vitolas Available
The AFR-75 is available in three front-marks skewed toward larger ring gauges.
Sublime: 5 x 56
Edmundo: 6 x 58
Immenso: 7 x 60
Recommnded Vitola: Sublime 5 x 56
Score: 93 (11/8/13)
Assessment Rating: 4.0 – Box Worthy
For more information on our vision and criteria for the 2013 Cigar of the Year countdown, see our December 2013 Editor’s Corner.
