Cigar Review Showdown: FDW vs. JFR pt.1

Hey all, Cigar Czar here, and I’m just trying to get back into the rhythm of things. Today we are beginning a show down between the Arganese FDW (First Draw Wrapper), and the Tobcalaera Tropical JFR Maduro Pyramid cigars. Both of these cigars are distinctive for having the wrapper fold over where you light, so, literally, the first draw on the cigar is all wrapper. Today we focus on the Arganese FDW. This was a cigar that was originally told to me by a reader and fan of my Facebook page. So doing a little research into it, I was told by Tyler at Edward’s Pipe & Cigar, that the FDW was made to compete with the JFR, neither were cigars that I had had. So I thought what better way to review these, than to actually have a showdown!
Now, I had been waiting patiently for the FDW’s to come in to Edward’s and, finally, they hosted a cigar event with Arganese. And low and behold, they brought several boxes of FDW’s. So I got one as part of their offer for the day and started puffing! I was enjoying this cigar while hanging out at the event smoking with the Arganese rep, Edward’s staff and owner and a few regular patrons. Looking at this beauty, it was a nice, dark and rich brown, wrapped very nicely. It was a bit difficult to light at first and get it burning evenly, but once it was going this cigar was beautiful. Between jokes on politics, sex or at one of the patron’s expense, I noticed that this cigar burned very even and with a good draw. While spinning the wheel for my door prize, which I had won an Arganese guillotine cutter, the ash had kept nice, white, and clung very well to the cigar, even with the spinning.
The flavor upon lighting this cigar was amazing! A very wooded, vanilla flavor that once the long filler started to light, melded with a robust nutty flavor. I enjoyed this cigar with many laughs and stories of Armando, Edward’s owner, with a couple of guys and the Arganese cigar rep staying in the Dominican Republic, or their recent trip to Mardi Gras. I shared this cigar with an IBC Root Beer which was a fantastic match. I like using IBC Root Beer as a palette cleanser between pulls on my cigar reviews, but the flavors of vanilla in the cigar, matched wonderfully with the spices in the root beer. Smoking this cigar was an incredible pleasure and I had a lot of fun while smoking it. I would highly recommend at least giving it a try. At a retail of around $5-$6, it’s not too expensive of an investment in a great evening! Tomorrow we will see what kind of rebuttal Tobcalaera Tropical’s JFR has for the FDW.