Arturo Fuente Curly Head Deluxe Natural - Box of 25

The banded, slightly more finished sibling to the classic unbanded Curly Head Natural, and a genuinely mild, budget-friendly Lonsdale built for casual, low-pressure smoking. Deluxe carries a red, bronze, and white band denoting "Special Selection," a step up in presentation from the naked, unbanded original, though the underlying construction philosophy stays the same: Dominican binder and mixed long-and-short filler tobacco, wrapped in a lighter natural leaf, sources describe this wrapper somewhat differently depending on the batch and retailer, with some identifying it as Connecticut Shade and others as Connecticut Broadleaf, so it's worth knowing the leaf can vary a bit from box to box.

At 6½ x 43, the cigar has a few distinctive quirks worth mentioning honestly. The foot is left unfinished, with the wrapper folding over the shorter binder and filler tobacco rather than a clean-cut open end, and the cap is bunched and pinched together rather than smoothly rounded, giving the whole cigar a soft, somewhat handmade-but-rough feel. Flavor descriptions vary meaningfully across reviews. Some smokers describe toasted cedar, paper, and mild black pepper opening the smoke, with a light creaminess developing early and earth rounding things out through the middle. Others have found the profile considerably flatter, airy and mild with only faint hints of butter, almond, or creamy spice, and a small number of detailed reviews specifically note the aftertaste developing an unwelcome paper-like bitterness by the second and final thirds.

It's fair to be direct about this: reception to Deluxe specifically runs more mixed than the classic Curly Head Natural. Several reviewers have rated it toward the lower end, citing a lack of real flavor complexity and occasional bitterness, while noting the construction itself, an even draw and flaky ash typical of medium-length filler, performs about as expected for a budget cigar. If you specifically want the classic Curly Head experience with genuinely rustic charm, the original unbanded Natural remains the more consistently loved option. Deluxe is best approached as exactly what it's priced to be: an inexpensive, mild, casual smoke rather than a cigar built around real complexity.

Browse the full premium cigar selection at Smokenza or explore all tobacco products in the catalog.

Flavor progression:

1. Opening: toasted cedar, paper, and mild black pepper lead the way, a light creaminess joining within the first quarter inch
2. Mid-smoke: earth develops alongside the cream, though some reviewers note a mild bitterness emerging from the paper-like binder character
3. Close: the profile stays flat and mild through to the final draws, with the bitterness sometimes becoming more noticeable on individual sticks

Key Features:

1. Brand: Arturo Fuente
2. Line: Curly Head Deluxe (Gran Reserva, Special Selection)
3. Founded: 1912, by Don Arturo Fuente
4. Factory: Tabacalera A. Fuente, Santiago, Dominican Republic
5. Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
6. Wrapper: Natural leaf (Connecticut Shade or Broadleaf, varies by batch)
7. Binder: Dominican Republic
8. Filler: Dominican Republic (mixed long and short filler)
9. Construction: Handmade, banded, unfinished folded foot
10. Vitola: Lonsdale
11. Size: 6½ inches x 43 ring gauge
12. Strength: Mild
13. Flavor Profile: Cedar, paper, black pepper, cream, earth, butter, almond
14. Smoke Time: Approximately 60 to 75 minutes
15. Box Count: 25 cigars
16. Price per Cigar: approximately $3.50