Arturo Fuente Anejo Shark No. 77 5 7/8″ x 64

The Arturo Fuente Anejo exists because of a hurricane. When Georges tore through the Dominican Republic in 1998 and wrecked the Chateau de la Fuente crop that supplies Opus X wrapper, Carlos Fuente Jr. reached for an aged Connecticut Broadleaf instead, and the Anejo line came out of it. The Shark, officially the No. 77, is the shape people hunt hardest for. It has a rounded belicoso head that gradually squares off into a box-pressed foot, a 5 7/8 by 64 figurado whose ring gauge shifts as it goes. The blend is the one that made the line: a Connecticut Broadleaf maduro wrapper aged five years in cognac barrels over Dominican binder and filler from Chateau de la Fuente. That barrel time shows up as a dark, faintly sweet thread running under cocoa, espresso, cedar, and dried fruit at a medium to full body. Anejo ships only in small runs around Christmas and Father’s Day, and the Shark tends to go first. Pairs well with cognac, espresso, or port.