Manuel Quesada’s Fonseca brand is known for mild to medium strength and quality construction. I’ve always liked the standard Fonseca as a mild cigar. The Connecticut shade wrapper on the standard Fonseca is a perfect example of that wrapper’s delicacy.

But these days I’m usually looking for a cigar with a little more body, as are many other veterans of the leaf. For this reason Quesada introduced the Fonseca Serie F. (F for Fuerte, of course.) It’s smoking characterics are similar to the standard line, but amped up a little. Not a lot, but a little.

So along comes the Habana Seleccion, with more Nicaraguan leaf and ligero than any of Quesada’s entries to date. The wrapper is Nicaraguan grown Habana Criollo 98; the binder is “Cuban Seed” Nicaraguan; and the filler is a blend of Dominican seco and ligero leaf that has been aged for five years.

The Fonseca Habana Seleccion is available exclusively from Cigars International (at 4 to 5 USD) or from its auction affiliate Cigarbid.

The sizes in this line are named after the classic Cuban vitolas from Fonseca: Cadetes, Cosacos, Delicias, etc. The Cosacos are presented in tissue wrappers, similar to the way the Honduran El Rey del Mundos are. The Cosaco is a slightly undersized robusto at 5 inches by 48.

The wrapper is a fairly oily colorado maduro, and in the Havana tradition the head is finished with a triple cap.

The construction on this stick is good, though the draw is not easy and does not loosen up at any point. It has the fullest body of any of the Fonsecas I have tried, though it still rates only a medium at it’s strongest point.

And while the Habana Seleccion is not a heavyweight by any means, it is indeed full flavored. A woody flavor serves as a base with some cinnamon hints and a touch of earth. The aftertaste is negligible.

All in all this is a very civilized cigar, suitable for a mid-day accompaniment to a cup of joe, or an afternoon stroll in the park. I picked up four of these in a Fonseca sampler pack from cigarbid at a very reasonable price and I’m not disappointed at all.