The Alma Fuerte Natural by Plasencia

BRAND / CO:  Plasencia
CIGAR:  Alma Fuerte Colorado Claro [Sixto I]
VITOLA:  Hexagono (Box Press) - 6" x 60
STRENGTH:  Medium
WRAPPER:  Nicaraguan Jalapa, Colorado Claro (Aged 10-Yrs)
BINDER:  Nicaragua (Condega, Estelí, Jalapa, Ometepe)
FILLER:  Nicaragua (Condega, Estelí, Jalapa, Ometepe)
ORIGIN:  Nicaragua, Plasencia Cigars S.A.

APPEARANCE & CONSTRUCTION:   Good
A beautiful light milk chocolate brown with a nice sheen and some light mottling.  It has a light rosado to it that pushes slightly orange.  No noticeable tooth but the wrapper has a velvety soft feel to it.  Some veins but they're all thin and pressed in.  The hexagon press is pretty fun and I notice it still has a fully rounded traditional parejo head.  The seams are tight and the cap is perfect.  Again Plasencia is on the money with their band design and use of colors to coordinate with the tobacco color.  I feel like these are a little under packed because it's pretty light for the size, especially compared to some of their more non-pressed vitolas that felt quite dense.

DRAW & BURN:   Average / Great
The draw is very open, with no real resistance to it.  The burn starts a little wavy but even.  The ash is a medium to light gray with tight banding between the striations, and flaky in spots with minor petaling.  By the midpoint, the waviness in the burn line is gone, but it's getting a little uneven with one side burning a hair faster, getting caught up on the seam, but then eventually flattens out.  The ash holds on nicely, making it past the midpoint before falling.

FLAVOR PROFILE:   Great
Earth and dark cocoa right out the gate.  Then followed by breadiness, cedar,  light leather, cinnamon and pepper.  It's smooth, refined and creamy.  There's a little bit of salty mineralness that's giving the breadiness a pretzel taste.  Slight hints of honey sweetness peek in but it's not overtly sweet.  It's starting off as a fairly dry profile in the first third.

I'm the second third the pepper and earth are ramping up along with the sweet, but it's keeping a dry profile being driven by the breadiness.  The complexity and balance are in good order though.  I'm getting more graham cracker and stronger caramel sweet now, moving away from the pretzel flavor of the first third.  There's occasional bits of almond nuttiness that's really accentuate the smoothness of the blend.  There's a nice level if refinement that I'm assuming is coming from that aged wrapper.

The strength of the flavors pull back a bit in the final third, but largely unchanged.  Dry earth, baking cocoa and breadiness have been the constant drivers here.  Then it falls off even more at the very end.  I'm disappointed because we hit a great crescendo in the middle third but this wraps up on the bland side in the last inch.

OVERALL EXPERIENCE:   Excellent
A nice and very relaxed blend, it's a nice way to wrap up the week with the Sixto I because it's a very laid back vitola.  Not one to be rushed and one you can enjoy thoroughly with this blend without being overpowered by it.  I need to try the Toro or Robusto to see how the thinner vitola is where there's more wrapper in the blend.  The biggest issue is the Sixto carries a hefty price premium and as much as I enjoyed this cigar, there's a lot of other great options at the same price point.

Purchase Singles or by the Box HERE

Review by Sean McCloskey of The Collective.