Along with the company’s famous Hemingways, the 8-5-8 line is one of Arturo Fuente’s best-selling families of cigars (if not the company’s all-time best-seller).
Late Fuente family patriarch Don Carlos Fuente Senior described how the company came upon the name for the 8-5-8:
“…My father [legendary AF founder Arturo Fuente] showed me how to blend the tobaccos into a shape that later became known as the 8-5-8. When my father passed away at the age of 85, as a way of honoring him and as a means of expressing our eternal love for him, we called it 8-5-8, so the number would be legible from both directions. It became very well accepted almost immediately… He was instrumental in originating this cigar.”
Plainly stated, these cigars are one of Arturo Fuente’s greatest values. They feature a genuine, silky, sweet-and-spicy mottled Cameroonian wrapper, imparting a citrusy character, with a background of baking spices. This surrounds premium aged Dominican long-filler tobaccos and a Dominican binder.
Originally blended in 1975, these are timeless, mild-to-medium-strength, medium-to-full-bodied, mellow cigars that aren’t harsh or bitter. Their flavor is redolent of nuts (almonds, cashews and chestnuts), dark cedar, cocoa, bittersweet chocolate and coffee, topped by a touch of cream and honey.
Extremely well-constructed, they offer a slow, steady, even burn, along with an easy draw, a short non-peppery finish and clouds of cool, aromatic smoke. These are great “dessert” cigars for enjoying after a delicious meal; they also age splendidly in a humidor.
Some people say these classic sticks are the perfect cigar for new smokers, but many of these same enthusiasts stay loyal to the 8-5-8s for decades — even a lifetime. Try some yourself, and see if you can detect the influence of the one and only Arturo Fuente.