CroMagnon Fomorian (2014)

There are not that many candela-wrapped blends on the market, so when RoMa Craft Tobac introduced the CroMagnon Fomorian six years ago, it was a release worth taking note of.

The original release in 2013 was more of a lark than a planned release: RoMa Craft decided to play around with about 250 of its CroMagnon EMH that had been set aside for aesthetic issues and replace the normal Connecticut broadleaf wrapper with an Ecuadorian Connecticut candela leaf. Those 10 boxes of unbanded 5 x 56 cigars were then released to attendees of the D.C. Cigar Tweet-Up that took place in March of that year.

In 2014, the Fomorian returned for the D.C. Cigar Tweet-Up that took place on March 14-15.

Interestingly, the 2014 event also featured a barber pole version of the Fomorian that was not offered for sale, but was given out to a few people, that cigar is known as Black Irish.

Here is what I said in my original review in April 2014:

The candela wrapper seems to be hard to blend around, as the vast majority of the ones I have smoked over the years have had an overwhelming grassy or hayish flavor that dominates the profile. The CroMagnon Fomorian has those flavors in spades, but does manage to remain fairly balanced throughout the smoke, and the black pepper on the retrohale is a nice addition as well. Overall, a fairly good candela wrapped cigar, but I prefer the regular CroMagnon blend to this any day of the week.

• Cigar Reviewed: CroMagnon Fomorian (2014)
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: Fabrica de Tabacos NicaSueño S.A.
• Wrapper: Equador (Connecticut Candela)
• Binder: n/a
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Length: 5 inches
• Ring Gauge: 56
• Vitola: Robusto Gordo
• MSRP: $7.75 (Box of 24, $186.00)
• Release Date: March 14, 2014
• Number of Cigars Released: 100 Boxes of 24 Cigars (2,400 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Redux: 1

Despite the fact that they were taken from the same box, the color of this CroMagnon Fomorian seems quite a bit more pale green than I remember from 2014, although that could just be the effects of time. Regardless, the wrapper is both smooth as silk and devoid of any oil. The aroma from the wrapper is a somewhat surprisingly faint combination of grass, honey sweetness, cedar, earth, leather and dark chocolate, while the cold draw brings stronger flavors of floral sweetness, hay, leather, cedar, espresso beans, cinnamon and very slight citrus.

The profile of the CroMagnon Fomorian starts out creamy and sweet from the first puff, with notes of pecans, bread, cedar, toast, leather, barnyard and a touch of floral on the palate. There is an obvious grass note to the profile as well, but it is really only noticeable on the retrohale, where it plays second fiddle to a strong honey sweetness that is also present. Although some black pepper makes itself known on the retrohale early on, it loses steam quickly, and becomes a non-factor by the time the final third begins. The second half of the CroMagnon features a dominant combination of cedar and dark chocolate, and although the honey sweetness is still very much present on the retrohale, the floral note from the first third continues to slowly gain prominence until the end of the cigar.

Construction-wise, the Fomorian features an excellent draw after a simple punch and while the burn is far from razor sharp at any point, it only needs to be touched up once in the second third. The smoke production is copious and thick from the first puff to the last, and while the blend has some obvious strength to it—there is a major and fast increase just after the halfway point—it falls far short of the close to full mark that it started with, ending up closer to slightly stronger than medium by the time I put the nub down with less than an inch to go after one hour and 27 minutes of smoking time.