Pre-light Experience

Seth: This Bond Roberts Fenomenos Linea E No. 1 is a big boy. The cigar is finished with a very round cap and has a nice firmness throughout. The wrapper has medium sized veins that are present to touch, and the cigar sports a dark Colorado wrapper. It has an antique brown coloring to the cigar, and it sports aromas of tobacco, leather and warm spices.
John: The Bond Roberts Fenomenos Linea E No. 1 has a Colorado Rosado color of wrapper and is a substantial vitola, measuring over seven inches in length with an estimated 58 ring gauge. I weighed the cigar at 21.4 grams and measured the humidity at 60.1% with the HumidiMeter Pro. Aromas from the wrapper included light wood, hay and faint earth. From the foot, I was getting more intense minerality and earth, along with aged wood.
Jiunn: The Bond Roberts Fenomenos Linea E No. 1 has a nice wrapper. It’s at Colorado but shows a nice oily sheen to it. Veins are well pressed, seams tight, bunch and roll even and the head is well wrapped and capped. Pre-light aromas give mixed nuts.

Bond Roberts Fenomenos Linea E No. 1

First Third

Seth: This is a flat cigar from the beginning. Musty barnyard and faint tobacco notes with some wood qualities. No spices, creaminess or anything of substance. Medium in strength and body.
John: The first third starts out with sweet tobacco and wood leading at light plus strength. After just a few puffs, some vegetal notes come into the finish, followed shortly by sweet wood lingering through the post draw. Musty wood works its way into the retrohale as the first third continues. Baking spices join the finish as the cigar approaches the halfway point, while the remainder of the profile stays quite consistent.
Jiunn: The first third shows great balance and nuances. Very Euro style. The kind where the skinny jeans and tight skinny shirts that doesn’t fit my fat ass. All the flavors are equal level with mixed nuts, aged cedar and creamy bread. Retrohaling gives dried red pepper spice but also elevated sweet creamy goodness. The finish is silky smooth with creamy bread. Strength and body is medium.

Bond Roberts Fenomenos Linea E No. 1

Second Third

Seth: The second third is in line with the first. No change at all. I am ready for this cigar to end.
John: The second third begins with creamy baking spices and wood leading off, while musty tobacco makes up the center of the profile. The finish combines baking spices, wood and musty tobacco. As the second third continues, the profile settles into a sweet wood-forward experience with baking spices providing an accent and lingering into the post draw.
Jiunn: The second third is less complex with just aged cedar and creamy bread. The intense sweetness from the first third is gone. Strength and body remains medium.

Bond Roberts Fenomenos Linea E No. 1

Final Third

Seth: Thank goodness! No change in flavors. Massive cigar that is lacking.
John: The baking spices intensify in the last third to medium minus strength and linger into the finish. Earth combines with mildly tannic wood through the finish as the profile quickly settles in. Dryness on the post draw intensifies as the final third progresses toward the halfway point. Wood combined with earth carries the profile through the bottom half of the final third.
Jiunn: The final third is unchanged from the second third. This especially is a downer because the cigar is so large that without transitions it’s extra mundane and taxing. Still the same aged and creamy bread remains. Strength and body finishes the same medium.

Bond Roberts Fenomenos Linea E No. 1

Burn

Seth: The burn was off at times, but never a problem. I expected a better burn to be honest.
John: I lit my cigar with the standard lighter that I use, which is a Xikar Tactical single torch flame. The burn was straight through the first and second thirds. In the last third, a section of wrapper remained unburned for a period before self-correcting without requiring any intervention.
Jiunn: Great burn performance featuring an even burn, tight ashes, ample smoke production and cool burning temperatures.

Bond Roberts Fenomenos Linea E No. 1

Draw

Seth: The draw was perfect.
John: For the cut I used the same cutter that I typically use, which is a v-cut with the Colibri SV cutter. The draw measured 72 inches of water on the Cigar Medics draw tester. Subjectively, it was between two and two-and-a-half notches towards the resistant spectrum, making each draw noticeably resistant.
Jiunn: The draw was also great as it hit the ideal balance of air flow and resistance.

Overall

Seth: The Bond Roberts Fenomenos Linea E No. 1 is not a cigar I would come back to, and it is not something I would recommend. It’s not a good cigar. I imagine the men and women who enjoy this cigar or lean towards this cigar will not even consider what I have to say anyways, and more power to them. I do appreciate keeping us in touch with the market though.
John: The Bond Roberts Fenomenos Linea E No. 1 opened with a pleasant combination of sweet tobacco and wood, supported by subtle vegetal notes and lingering sweet wood through the post draw. While the first third didn’t deliver a great deal of complexity, it remained balanced and enjoyable, with musty wood through the retrohale and restrained baking spices adding enough variation to keep my attention. The profile became increasingly wood-driven in the second third, with creamy baking spices and musty tobacco providing supporting roles rather than significantly changing the overall character. By the final third, earth, mildly tannic wood and an increasingly dry post draw shifted the experience toward a more straightforward finish. Although the baking spices gained some intensity, the cigar never developed beyond its core profile, resulting in an experience that remained enjoyable but lacked the evolution necessary to score higher. Construction was another positive. The burn remained excellent throughout, with the minor wrapper issue in the last third correcting itself without intervention. The draw was consistently more resistant than ideal, but it never became difficult enough to significantly detract from the smoking experience. The challenge with a larger format cigar like this for me, is providing enough complexity that I don’t get bored for the lengthy smoking experience, while not overwhelming the palate. I think, overall, the experience with the Bond Roberts Fenomenos Linea E No. 1 was pleasant, but other than the first third, the remainder of the review was relatively unremarkable. The total smoking time was 2 hours and 40 minutes.
Jiunn: I am so confident on what brand this is that I’m literally going to copy paste what I already wrote about a different vitola of the same brand. It’s actually quite fitting because I feel the same about this vitola too. “No doubt the best part of the cigar was the first third as it was smooth and easy going with a plethora of sweet, spice and umami characteristics. The vibe of something like this feels very European and I go straight to brands like Curivari and the early days of Cavalier.”

Seth Geise

SCORE

3.93

Cost/Point

$5.97

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

5.80

Cost/Point

$4.05

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

6.10

Cost/Point

$3.85

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Bond Roberts Fenomenos Linea E No. 1