Don Carlos Edicion de Anniversario 5 Cigar Assortment

Don Carlos is the blend Carlos Fuente Sr. made for himself, and the Edicion de Aniversario was built to mark his eightieth birthday. It is not the regular Don Carlos in a nicer box. Where the standard line has worn an African Cameroon wrapper for decades, this one is wrapped in Dominican leaf grown on the family’s own Chateau de la Fuente, the farm that supplies Opus X.

That single change remakes the cigar. It becomes an all Dominican puro, and it sits a full step stronger than the medium to full the rest of the line runs at. Expect cedar, espresso, dark chocolate and leather, and a dried-fruit sweetness that lingers well past the finish.

Five cigars is the sensible way into it. The Aniversario runs in a narrow set of sizes, from a 5 1/4 by 50 robusto up to a 6 1/4 by 48 toro, and a blend this concentrated genuinely reads differently at a 48 ring than at a 52. Tasting them against each other is how you find out which one to buy by the box. Contents come as packed by Fuente, and allocations of this line do not reorder.

Pairs well with bourbon, espresso, or cognac.