The Fuente Eye of the Bull is a short Robusto or short toro sized cigar, depending on who you talk to…I’m going with short toro since it’s got “bull” (English for “toro”) in the name. It is an offshoot of the Don Carlos line from the Arturo Fuente cigar company, featuring Dominican filler and binder, along with an African Cameroon wrapper leaf…and a dark piece of tobacco on the center of the cap to resemble a bulls-eye. I got a 5-pack of them before Christmas 2024 and ended up letting this last one age more than a year before smoking it just after Christmas 2025 while getting ready for one of the two family Christmas get-togethers we were having.
The wrapper had had light-medium brown color to it with shades of gray thrown in there…kind of a hallmark of Cameroon leaf. It had an aroma that combined light barnyard with cedar and bell pepper, while the foot was just really earthy and barnyardy.
When I lit the Eye of the Bull up, I got some of the familiar flavors I associate with the Don Carlos line…earth, red pepper spice, a little note of sweetness on the palate, while the nose gets an intense red pepper and cedar. Familiar, but this expression is maybe a little more refined…maybe from extra age on the tobaccos? Who knows since Fuente doesn’t seem to like to talk about any of their products with that much specificity. The general attitude they have is, “just smoke it and enjoy it!” And I did.
I paired this short morning smoke with some Jeptha Creed 6 Year Old Wheated Bourbon, bottled at 93 proof, which showed up with plentiful vanilla, honey, and cinnamon notes, along with a consider amount of chocolate on the palate. A really exceptional bourbon to go with a really exceptional cigar. If you can get your hands on them for a decent price…do so…if the price is just too steep, I would just go with your favorite size in the Don Carlos line because all those are pretty awesome anytime you can get them!
