Nomad Connecticut Fuerte

The Nomad Connecticut Fuerte is set to become the third core line – and fourth blend overall released by Nomad Cigar Company.  This line adds an Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper offering to the Nomad portfolio.  Nomad Cigar Company was launched in 2012 by Fred Rewey.  The company first released the self-titled Nomad line which is made in the Dominican Republic. In 2013, Rewey turned his attention to Nicaragua launching the Nomad Lot 1386 Esteli and Nomad S-307 lines – both of which are made in that country.  With the Connecticut Fuerte, Rewey returns to the Dominican Republic to make this cigar.  We’ve said it many times that Rewey and his company are definitely worth watching.  With the Nomad Connecticut Fuerte, he doesn’t miss a beat.  This might be his best core line offering to date.

At the start of 2014, Rewey put out the following communication in which he publicly mentioned the Nomad Connecticut project:

“The blending of a Connecticut cigar reminded me of just how much I have to learn – and I already knew I had a lot to learn. The entire process, which I thought was going to be easy, knocked me on my ass. It was frustrating, exciting, challenging, and elusive.  The fact of the matter, as I mentioned I learned a bit earlier, I was fighting the tobacco – trying to force it into being something it was not.   As I write this, I know how esoterically artistic that sounds, but it is the truth. I have learned the blending process is more an art than a science.“

As the name indicates, the company considers the Nomad Connecticut Fuerte to be a bolder cigar. The company is using the slogan “Not your father’s Connecticut Cigar”. Over the past few years, we have seen many companies try to push the envelope away from the milder strength, milder bodied Connecticut cigars.

Without further ado, let’s breakdown the Nomad Connecticut Fuerte and see what this cigar brings to the table. Since we are assessing this before the release date, we will default to our pre-review format to share our thoughts and perspectives. Once the cigar officially is released to retailers, we will revisit this cigar and provide an assessment rating and score.

Blend Profile

As mentioned, Nomad Cigar Company returns to the Dominican Republic to make the Connecticut Fuerte.  The cigar is made at Tabacalera L & V – the same place that makes the core blend.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut
Binder: Ecuadorian Habano
Filler: Dominican Republic, Nicaragua

Vitolas Available

The Nomad Connecticut Fuerte will be available in four sizes.  The cigar is packaged in twenty count boxes.

Corona: 5 1/2 x 44
Robusto: 5 x 50
Toro: 6 x 52
Robusto Grande: 5 1/2 x 54

Appearance

For this cigar experience, I smoked the Robusto offering. The Nomad Connecticut Fuerte Robusto’s wrapper is a classic golden brown color found on many Connecticut Shade wrappers. There is a slight amount of oil on the wrapper, but I found the wrapper to have more of a silky look than an oily one. At the same time, the wrapper is a bit bumpy on the surface. There are some visible wrapper seams and some visible veins.

The band is pretty much the same band that is on the Dominican-made core Nomad line.  It features a red, maroon, black, silver, and white color scheme.  Highlighting this band is the winged Nomad logo with a navigator symbol at the top.  The text “NOMAD” is on the logo in a white colored modern style font.  To the right of the band is the text @GODFADR which is Rewey’s Twitter handle.

Preparation for the Cigar Experience

Prior to lighting up my Nomad Connecticut Fuerte Robusto, I went with my usual choice of a straight cut.  Once the cap was removed, I moved on to the pre-light draw experience.  The dry draw yielded me a mix of cream, grass, and some natural tobacco sweetness.  I also picked some slight cedar/pepper spice.  Overall I considered the pre-light draw of this cigar to be very good.  At this point, I was ready to light up my Nomad Connecticut Fuerte and see what the overall cigar experience would bring to the table.

Flavor Profile

The start to the Nomad Connecticut Fuerte provided a mix of cream, pepper, and natural tobacco sweetness along with some background grass notes.  I definitely picked up what I term a pepper “bite” on both the tongue and on the retro-hale.  I define this “bite” as a little extra sharpness when compared to the other notes.

Toward the middle of the first third, the pepper and cream notes were the primary flavors while the natural tobacco and grass notes were secondary.  Around this point, I also picked up some nut flavors in the background.

As the Connecicut Fuerte moved through the second third, I found the nut flavors increase in intensity and soon it made its way into the forefront – joining the pepper and cream notes.  The grass and natural tobacco sweetness still remained more of a background flavor.

In the last third, I found the primary flavors to be a combination of a nut and pepper.  I found that there was slight increase in the natural tobacco sweetness, but it was still a secondary note.  The cream and grass notes were now in the background.

The last third of the Connecticut Fuerte saw a slight increase in the natural tobacco sweetness . I found the flavors were now a combination of nut and pepper.  The cream notes had receded into the background, and now I wasn’t picking up any grassy notes.  This is the way the flavor profile held until the end.  The end of the cigar was flavorful with only a slight harsh note.  The resulting nub was firm to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn and Draw

Quietly, Nomad Cigar Company is building a reputation for very well-constructed cigars.  The Nomad Connecticut Fuerte continues to keep the bar high in this area.  This is reflected in both the burn and draw of this cigar.  The burn remained sharp from start to finish – requiring only minimal touch-ups along the way.  This burn was the true definition of a “low maintenance” burn as it did not take much to keep it burning straight.  The resulting ash was tight with a nice silvery color to it.   The burn rate and burn temperature were ideal.

Burn of the Nomad Connecticut Fuerte

I also found the draw to be low maintenance.  While this cigar produced ample amounts of smoke, this was not a loose draw by any means.  This was a very easy cigar to draw from – making for an enjoyable experience.

Strength and Body

From a strength perspective, I found the Nomad Connecticut Fuerte to start out in the mild to medium range.  By the second half, it has just enough strength to qualify for medium strength.  I found the flavors followed a similar pattern.  The flavors started out in the mild to medium-bodied range and by the second half progress to medium-bodied.  Both the strength and body balance each other very nicely.

Final Thoughts

In terms of whether this is “your father’s Connecticut cigar”, I found the Connecticut Fuerte to be on-par with many other major Connecticut Shade wrapper releases found over the past few years. At the same time, I think there has been an overall trend to try to “amp up” a Connecticut Shade cigar out of the mild category, so in general, I think today’s Connecticut Shade cigars are bolder than ones from several years ago. The Connecticut Fuerte fits into this category.

Overall, I found the Nomad Connecticut Fuerte to have no shortness on flavor and no shortness on quality. From a flavor perspective, the pepper “bite” I referred to might be the differentiating factor from other Connecticut Shade cigars. I also found this cigar has a nice amount of complexity to it. This is a great cigar for a novice or experienced cigar enthusiast. As for myself, I found this to be an excellent smoke – and one that has all of the makings of Nomad’s best core line. 2014 might see a lot of Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade offerings – and this one has all the makings to rank right at the top of them.

Summary 

Burn: Excellent
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: High
Strength: Mild to Medium (1st Half), Medium (2nd Half)
Body: Mild to Medium (1st Half), Medium (2nd Half)
Finish: Excellent

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