Arturo Fuente cigars have a cult following, and I use them as a benchmark for a lot of other brands in terms of flavor, construction, and value for money.
Their cigars consistently compete with far more expensive sticks, and it’s all down to quality tobacco and attention to detail.
“We don’t hurry things; we just do things the way they are supposed to be done.”
Carlos Fuente Sr.
Especiales Cazadores
Hemingway Short Story
Don Carlos Belicoso
Some of the best Arturo Fuente cigars will only run you $10 or so – and their Chateau Natural is only $3.50.
If you’re looking for a premium quick smoke, check out the Hemingway Short Story. It’s one of the best small cigars of all time, with no hyperbole.
Don’t listen to the hipsters, it’s won stacks of awards for a reason.
In this guide, I’ve tried to cover something for everyone. Short or long, mild or full-bodied – there’s an Arturo Fuente cigar that should have a place in your humidor.
So let’s check them out.
7 Best Arturo Fuente Cigars
Arturo Fuente Hemingway Short Story: Best Arturo Fuente Cigar Overal
Arturo Fuente Especiales Cazadores: Best Arturo Fuente Cigar Under $5
Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Belicoso: Best Arturo Fuente Cigar Under $10
Arturo Fuente Chateau Natural: Best Mild Arturo Fuente Cigar
Arturo Fuente 858 Claro: Best Sweet Arturo Fuente Cigar
Arturo Fuente Exquisitos Maduro: Best Maduro Arturo Fuente Cigar
Arturo Fuente Añejo: Best Congnac-flavored Arturo Fuente Cigar
The 8 Best Arturo Fuente Cigars
Arturo Fuente Hemingway Short Story – Best Small Arturo Fuente Cigar
- Best Price: Check Famous Smoke Shop Here
I had to try out these smokes, named after my favorite author Ernest Hemingway. I loved his novels, and I love these stogies, too.
This medium-bodied smoke is the perfect accompaniment for after work when you need to relax but don’t have all the time in the world. Pull up a chair, kick back in the garden, and take 45 minutes to reflect on how good life can be.
Hemingway Short Storys come in the Perfecto shape, which is one of the hardest to pull off while maintaining good construction and consistent draw.
It packs evolving, layered flavor without overpowering. The whole journey is smooth, but with enough body to feel like a serious smoke.
The ash stayed for half the cigar, which tells you all you need to know about the construction quality at play here.
| Strength | Medium |
| Shape | Figurado |
| Size | 4 x 48 |
| Country | Dominican Republic |
| Color | Natural |
| Wrapper Origin | African |
| Wrapper Leaf | Cameroon |
Arturo Fuente Especiales Cazadores – Best Arturo Fuente Cigar Under $5
Sold in boxes of 30, Especiales Cazadores is one of the best value Arturo Fuentes out there. They are excellent value for money – at this price, I get to smoke AF’s every day.
- Best Price: Check Famous Smoke Shop Here
This is a good-looking cigar with flawless construction in a smooth, Ecuadorian Habano wrapper.
The Dominican filler produces plenty of smoke, too. More than you might expect.
It’s an evolving stogie that starts off pretty mildly but builds towards a medium body as you approach the final third, brimming with sweet, nutty woodsiness throughout.
It is, as I’ve come to expect from the best Arturo Fuente cigars, perfectly balanced.
Especiales Cazadores have an even burn with a smooth easy draw that didn’t require a single touch-up.
Dollar for dollar, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better smoke. And if you do, please let me know in the comments.
- Check out our full guide on the best budget cigars for more.
| Strength | Medium |
| Shape | Toro |
| Size | 6 x 50 |
| Country | Dominican Republic |
| Color | Natural |
| Wrapper Origin | Ecuadorian |
| Wrapper Leaf | Habano |
Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Belicoso – Best Arturo Fuente Cigar Under $10
Another great value pick here with Don Carlos Belicoso, housing the vintage Fuente Chateau filler I love in a rare Cameroonian wrapper.
- Best Price: Check Famous Smoke Shop Here
This is a medium-bodied smoke that delivers a nuanced balance of sweet woods and spices for a smooth and creamy smoke.
With hints of cedar and nuts, this is a versatile cigar that will pair equally well with breakfast coffee or as an evening nightcap. There’s not a hint of harshness here, just tantalizing, spicy nut elegance with a savory aftertaste.
This is a cigar that benefits from a bit of humidor aging. 4 – 6 weeks in the humidor will take Don Carlos Belicosos from good to great. With that bit of patience, you will start to notice dryer, leathery notes emerge in a fuller, stronger palate.
Construction is notably stellar, with ash that holds like cement in this perfectly balanced stogie.
| Strength | Medium |
| Shape | Belicoso |
| Size | 5 3/8 x 52 |
| Country | Dominican Republic |
| Color | Natural |
| Wrapper Origin | African |
| Wrapper Leaf | Cameroon |
Arturo Fuente Chateau Natural – Best Mild Arturo Fuente Cigar
Chateau Fuente natural is one of the harder Arturo Fuente cigars to find, but if you can get hold of a box you certainly get the rewards.
- Best Price: Check Famous Smoke Shop Here
This smooth and aromatic smoke is a memorable blend that draws upon natural accords of hay and greenery, with evocative hints of leather and crushed black pepper.
As the smoke develops, sweeter notes of cocoa and vanilla arrive to lend Chateau Fuentes a gourmand quality and brighten up the earthiness.
This beautifully wrapped cigar burns evenly, and holds ash very well – it lasted almost half the cigar for me, and that was in the garden with a breeze.
Each cigar comes beautifully presented in a sleeve of Spanish cedar, and opening them feels like a real “event”. This is the perfect cigar to buy a box of to dish out to friends and loved ones – they will think you’re gifting them much more than a $3.50 cigar.
- Check out our full guide on the best mild cigars for more.
| Strength | Medium |
| Shape | Rothschild |
| Size | 4 1/2 x 50 |
| Country | Dominican Republic |
| Color | Natural |
| Wrapper Origin | Ecuadorian |
| Wrapper Leaf | Connecticut Shade |
Arturo Fuente 858 Claro – Best Sweet Arturo Fuente Cigar
I don’t have much experience with Candela wrappers, but the 858 Claro has inspired me to explore it further. I’d always considered it a bit of a cheaper option, which turned me off – but here, Arturo Fuente uses it very well to produce a very impressive, mild smoke.
- Best Price: Check Famous Smoke Shop Here
The smooth wrapper has a smooth, silky feel, with impeccable construction as I’ve come to expect.
The Dominican Fuente blend combines so well with the Claro wrapper that I almost burn my fingers because I just didn’t want to part with this one. I could smoke this refined stogie every day and not get tired of it. Incredibly satisfying
The only drawback to this cigar is, like Chateau Naturals, it can be tricky to get a hold of. If you get the chance to buy a box, jump on it.
- Check out our full guide on the best sweet cigars for more.
| Shape | Corona |
| Size | 6 x 47 |
| Country | Dominican Republic |
| Color | Claro |
| Wrapper Origin | Connecticut |
| Wrapper Leaf | Connecticut Shade |
Arturo Fuente Exquisitos Maduro – Best Maduro Arturo Fuente Cigar
This hand-rolled cigar goes perfectly with espresso, with the naturally sweet notes of the dark Maduro wrapper melding gorgeously with the bitterness of the coffee.
- Best Price: Check Famous Smoke Shop Here
The smooth, clean draw is packed full of chocolate, tree nuts, and cedar. The body is lusciously dark and doesn’t have the salty/sour quality that poorer quality Maduros tend to suffer from.
Exquisitos Maduros break all the rules of a smaller cigar. All the depth and complexity you would expect from something weightier is present here, with a volume of rich smoke that belies its smaller form.
Perfect if you want the full cigar experience in half the time. Occasional smokers and experts alike will enjoy this smoke that proves you don’t need to pay large sums for a top-tier Maduro.
- Check out our full guide on the best Maduro cigars for more.
| Strength | Medium |
| Shape | Panatela |
| Size | 4 1/2 x 33 |
| Country | Dominican Republic |
| Color | Maduro |
| Wrapper Origin | Connecticut |
| Wrapper Leaf | Broadleaf |
Arturo Fuente Añejo – Best Congnac-flavored Arturo Fuente Cigar
Anejo is a phenomenal line. These smokes blur the line between subtle and strong – there’s plenty of flavor in this inherently smokeable stick.
- Best Price: Check Famous Smoke Shop Here
The rich, 5-year-old Maduro wrapper undergoes the same Cognac aging process as the Opus X, lending it that unique Arturo Fuente creaminess.
This underlying buttery sense grows throughout the smoke, with the addition of a little pine nuttiness towards the last third. It rests on top of peppery, leathery depth, with a little bright sweetness thrown in to mellow out this complex blend.
There’s enough going on here to keep me fully engaged for the full 2-hour ride, that’s for sure.
The velvety smoke has an incredible mouth feel, with an earthy retrohale that won’t overpower you. The flavor lingers in your mouth for 15 – 20 seconds per draw, which is perfect for my pace.
Anejos are worth every penny – I just wish I could afford to smoke them every day.
| Strength | Medium – Full |
| Shape | Various |
| Size | 6 5/8″ |
| Country | Dominican Republic |
| Color | Natural |
| Wrapper Origin | Connecticut Broadleaf |
| Wrapper Leaf | Dominican Republic |
What You Should Know About the Best Arturo Fuente Cigars
The Story Behind Arturo Fuente Cigars
Established in West Tampa, Florida, Arturo Fuente cigars have been in business for over 100 years.
In 1902, a 14-year-old Cuban named Arturo Fuente left his hometown in the wake of the Spanish-American War in search of a better life.
He started production 10 years later, using Cuban tobacco to produce cigars out of his three-story wooden factory.
Wooden being the operative word, unfortunatley.
In 1924 the whole building caught fire and was completely destroyed, leaving the company in tatters.
Fuente didn’t resume production for another 22 years, when he restarted out of his own home in Ybor City, Florida. It became a family affair, with his wife helping him roll the cigars by hand full time, and his two sons doing their part after they returned from school.
The Cuban trade embargo in 1962 provided something of a reset for the cigar market that the Fuentes were able to capitalize on, producing blends that mimicked the Habana flavor American consumers had grown to love.
This allowed them to establish themselves as one of the market leaders in the new cigar landscape and start doing some serious business.
Who would have known that such humble beginnings would lead to a brand that’s now known the world over?
Where are Arturo Fuente cigars from?
At the moment, Arturo Fuente operates out of a factory in the Dominican Republic. They produce over 30 million cigars per year, taking advantage of the rich volcanic soil in the Santiago region.
What’s the best place to buy Arturo Fuente cigars online?
It’s hard to believe with over 17 million cigar smokers just in the US that there are little more than a dozen credible places to purchase cigars online. Now of course there are small shops all over that sell online cigars, but just don’t come up on any broad google search.
Most will let you down somewhere – if they have good shipping, they’re expensive. If they’re the right price, you’ll lack a proper guarantee.
My favorite online cigar store – Famous Smoke Shop -strikes a great balance, and most importantly – they’re reliable.
There’s nothing worse than your cigars arriving late, not showing up at all, or receiving dried-out stogies in terrible condition.
FAQs – The Best Arturo Fuente Cigars
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