Arganese – Uno Puro
Posted By ironmeden on March 23, 2008
The great hairy face experiment is over. I didn’t shave for 2 weeks and was surprised by the positive reviews I received from friends and family. Part of the experiment I was going to shave in increments. First I was going shave my cheeks so I had a goatee. That part of the experiment went over really well, sexy vibes were oozing from me. Next step was to shave the chin hair so I had whats called the “Fu ManChu” facial hair. Reviews of that style were mixed. I was told I looked like a bad guy in a B-Movie from the 70′s or a bit player in a bad porno. I stress ‘bit’ in that sentence. The final phase was a mustache. That, no one seen. When I shaved it down to a mustache, it just wasn’t me, I realized I had crossed a line. The facial hair gods were not smiling down on me. So off with the facial hair. The experiment was fun, but I do find having facial hair does take some work. I found I liked stroking my face alot during the day. I received many queer looks as I would do this out in public. I don’t stress ‘queer’ in the previous sentence.
Elvis and I received a shipment of the Arganese Uno. This is a new line from Arganese. Its full name is the Uno Puro. Its a cigar entirely made from Dominican tobacco leaves. It is also lightly infused with Cognac.
The cigar comes in it’s own coffin. The box is black accented with silver/white lettering. The coffins themselves are sold in a box of 5 cigars. The cigar is a giant 6×60 Double Toro. This is advertised as a full strength cigar.
As you can see, the Indian was quite pleased to be holding the new Uno.
The label also is in black with silver lettering accents.
The cigar sports a brown and reddish hue wrapper. The wrapper has an slight oily look and feel. There are some prominent veins, the overall the cigar has a smooth look.
As I took the cigar out of the cellophane, I would expect to get a whiff of the cognac, but there was none to be found. I stuck my nose directly on the cigar and got no scent of cognac.
I made a punch hole to the head of the cigar and the punch looked so small in that 60 ring gauge cigar head. I licked the head of the cigar and lo and behold there was a slight taste of cognac. It was so minimal in taste, I’m not sure why at this point Arganese would even promote it being infused with cognac.
I lit the cigar with 2 matches, it took both of them to get this baby lighted up. The draw is smooth and easy for the
thickness of the cigar. About a half inch into this cigar I got a really bad taste. I’m really not sure what it was, but the nose cringe factor was quite high, possibly an 8. As the cigar continued on past this point, there was a aftertaste that would not go away. This could of been the underlying cognac flavoring, if it was, it didn’t taste like cognac.
The ash is thick and strong, It boasts a light gray tint with some white accents. I could wave this thing around and the ash would not drop.
Now I get almost halfway through when this happened: 
It dropped in my lap and it exploded. I’ve had many ashes fall in my lap, but this one was quite funny, It seemed like everything it hit it kept showering off bits of ash until it landed in my crotch area.
There was a lot of ash to clean up. If you wanting to see how long this ash can go, I was say go about 1/3 of the way up the cigar then ash it, otherwise the collateral damage is just to much.
Another thing I wanted to address was a possible burn issue noted at another cigar blog The Daily Doormatt. Matt who reviewed the Uno took a picture of a burn issue exhibited by the Uno and noted this happened a few times smoking this cigar. My experience is not the same, the cigar burned evenly through out the smoke. The only noted possible issue and i’m not sure it’s an issue is with about 2 inches to go the ash started to look like it was peeling apart. This didn’t take away from cigar experience.
Now as I smoked on past the halfway point, the cigar did seem to get a little more enjoyable. The aftertaste was less noticeable and it really smoothed out. I could really start tasting the tobacco flavors and they were earthy notes. From this point on I could really enjoy the cigar.
If this cigar could of been like this all along, I could give it a more favorable review. After I snuffed out the cigar, I did take notice that the aftertaste in my mouth was very light. I was only drinking water with the cigar and I felt like I had only smoked a small Robusto and not this huge Double Toro.
Arganese is advertising this as their Premium cigar which is to compete with the Camacho Liberty line which also comes in it’s own coffin. I have not had the Liberty so I cannot compare the two cigars. On the retail side, this cigar can go from $15 to $20 a stick depending on your area. Honestly, I would try this cigar because it is a new cigar on the market, but I would have a real hard problem going back to it.
If you are new to the Arganese line, I would bypass this stick until you have tried their more superior lines such as the Maduro Chairman and Nicaruguan Presidente’.
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[...] The Velvet Cigar’s Ironmeden experiments with facial hair (dude, that early-80s porn look is coming back in a big way!) and Arganese’s Uno Puro. [...]