Bellas Artes translates into Fine Arts and utilizes a binder from a lesser known growing region of Nicaragua: Quilali. In addition to spanning across three separate countries and at least six growing regions, all tobaccos used in Bellas Artes were aged for at least three years.
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan, Brazilian, Honduran
Vitola: Short Churchill (6 x 48)
Factory: Tabacalera AJ Fernandez Cigars de Nicaragua S.A.
Production: Regular
Purchase Link: Bellas Artes
Bellas Artes Review from California
Summary: Draw is on the money. Opening up with pepper and milk chocolate. There’s a nice bell pepper sweetness coming through. Oh man, sage? This thing is singing to me and I’m no more than an inch down.
Aside: I’ve always wanted to date a girl with a killer voice. Back to the cigar, I’m getting some cooking spices.
Burn is a tad wavy but the ash is solid. The ash has held on for the entire first third and is showing no signs of weakness. There’s a faint bubble gum sweetness now but not enough to taste artificial. Knocked off the ash just before the halfway point. The complexity has taken a dive but it’s still enjoyable. Tootsie roll.
Final third fell flat for me. Boring, with a red pepper kick to it.
If You Like That, You Might Like This: If you like this, you probably liked the film La La Land (unexpectedly melancholy endings).
Pairing Suggestion: Pair with spiked coffee.
Purchase Recommendation to a Friend: Fiver. First third flavors and construction are worth it as long as the price is right.
Bellas Artes Review from Wisconsin
Summary: The flavors started with spice, orange, and honey. Smoke poured out of the cigar like crazy. Caramel, salt, bread, and mineral notes joined in. As it continued it kept a bready core, but lost most of the citrus and gained pepper.
It required a few touch-ups, but the ash on this thing couldn't have been any tighter. That surprised me. Before lighting this cigar, I noticed it was springy and not very densely-rolled. I wasn't surprised to find the draw loose.
Overall, I don't think I quite got from this cigar what the blender intended. I'm interested in reading the other two blind reviews of it to see if their experiences were different.
If You Like That, You Might Like This: If you dig the Espinosa Laranja, there might be something here for you.
Pairing Suggestion: Cola.
Purchase Recommendation to a Friend: Single, but worth another shot.
Bellas Artes Review from Oregon
Summary: This softly box-pressed cigar had a smooth, graham cracker brown wrapper and smelled quite sweet. The cold draw was perfect and while it didn’t offer much insight into flavors, the mere outward appearance spoke of quality.
If You Like That, You Might Like This: If you like this, you probably like scrabble and haggis.
Pairing Suggestion: I personally feel like the sky is the limit with this cigar for pairing. I paired water in the first third, black coffee in the middle and some sweet profile bourbon towards the end and all of it worked perfectly.
Purchase Recommendation to a Friend: I’d recommend a 5er with this one and splurge on a box of it the profile suits you.
Participants in this blind review were completely unaware of the cigar they were evaluating until all submissions were received and processed. Each participant was asked to answer a summary paragraph, an if/than statement, a pairing suggestion, and a purchase suggestion. Cigars were provided by Small Batch with only the expectations of candid responses. All pictures, information, and formatting were completed by a Coordinator outside of the reviewing process.
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