Ramon Allones Hunters & Frankau Aniversario 225 Review

[JohnS]

Ramon Allones Hunters & Frankau Aniversario 225 Review

Vitola: Gorditos 50 ring gauge x 141 mm or 5.6 inches

How does one follow-up smoking a Cohiba Gran Reserva Cosecha 2003 Siglo VI? Answer: with great difficulty! And so it was that after Trevor and I enjoyed that sterling cigar, I offered my humble split of Ramon Allones Hunters & Frankau Aniversario 225 cigars. I too, was able to get some of these thanks to @LordAnubis (or Mus as we know him), so a big thank you to you! For those of you wishing to know the background of this special United Kingdom Regional Edition, please kindly read below:

About this cigar: To mark Hunters & Frankau's 225th Anniversary, we are offering a very special Havana cigar and a commemorative humidor. Just 50,000 of the cigars have been produced in numbered SLB boxes of 25. Master blender Arnaldo Vichot at the Partagas factory, created the rich mixture of leaves for the cigars. Two different blends were submitted to a tasting panel in November 2012 and once the blend was chosen by H&F representatives, production of all 50,000 cigars took place between February and May 2013 and was undertaken by just three top grade torcedores.

In the traditional British manner, the cigars were then shipped to the UK and aged for a period of two years in their condition-controlled warehouse so that they would be fully matured before being released to the market.

Popular Vitola: H&F 225th Aniversario
Factory Vitola: Gordito con Cabeza Tumbada
Ring Gauge: 50
Cigar Length: 141 mm / 5.5 inches
Body: Medium - Full

Hence, as can be seen in the notes above, it was intended as a special cigar (the very fact that the head is tapered, like a Numero 109, alludes to this, visually). But if you've tasted it, what exactly is special about it? After sampling it, I was most impressed, as was Trevor. However, I believe this is because of the fact that this cigar has been aged a few years and utilised a blend that was, in my opinion, a touch under medium body, unlike your standard Ramon Allones cigar which tends to be fuller-bodied. @Jeremy Festa wrote a review recently stating that this cigar had notes of madeira cake and was floral. I feel that this is an apt description of what this cigar is like...

A Ramon Allones cigar that is like madeira cake and is floral, and medium-bodied? Surely not! Alas, this is what this is, and if you are an archetypal Ramon Allones aficionado, then dare I say, this cigar may not be for you. So whereas Rob and Ken didn't mind this refined offering...

our dear friend from the UK, Laurence Davis, didn't like it in quite the same way. FoH Forum member @Luca and I regularly discuss Laurence's preference for larger ring gauge and powerful cigars, and his passion for fine cigars, so I can understand why the RA H&F 225 Aniversario was not to his liking.

And so the question remains...if you enjoy your Ramon Allones cigars fuller-bodied with a rich 'Christmas cake' profile, is this 'pared' release, in comparison, for you? While you ponder that, below are some other references on our forum to this cigar.

One thing I know for sure, if you have these, and you feel you need to age them further, I'd say they won't improve much more than what they are now. This is definitely one cigar you can enjoy now, if it suits your profile.

[TheMonk]

Nicely done once again, John!

[dicko]

Great review John i love the production story behind these

Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk
 

[Mattb82]

Great review 

[Raskol]

Great review  & Thank You.

[Tommy_Tao]

Great knowledge here! Thanks!

I smoked one when I wasn’t aware of the stories and its rarity, but years later when I recall it I realized it’s a top smoke I ever had.

[Puros Y Vino]

I took the plunge and grabbed about 10. They weren't cheap but they smoke like a dream.  Everything about how this release was put together was top notch. 

 

[Lotusguy]

Thanks for the review. I traded for one and smoked it recently - while excellent, i felt it would benefit from a few more years aging.

[ayepatz]

3 hours ago, Lotusguy said:

Thanks for the review. I traded for one and smoked it recently - while excellent, i felt it would benefit from a few more years aging.

That's my feeling, too. ?