Stroke of Luck!

So it all started with an innocent question:

All this talk about Fuente 8-5-8 Sungrowns being available at a select number of cigar shops led me to email my local cigar shop to see if they would be getting any of them this year. As an aside, I asked if it looked like they would be getting any Anejos this year. The reply floored me. The owner, Jim, said that last year he had gotten a box of them and had held on to them. Would I like to buy the box? Box of Anejos with a year of age...OK! Here they are:



Needless to say, I was stunned. They are still shrink-wrapped (There is some holes in the shrink wrap). And the seal on the box is unbroken. The box is signed on the top-right corner by Carlito Fuente "First of a kind. Round to square." I'm not sure how long the sharks have been out, but does this mean that this is the first year they came out? I really want to open the box, but does the signature make this a collector's item, or all the shark boxes signed? I know there's a lot of really knowledgeable guys and gals on this forum and I'd love to know more. Thanks very much,

Aubrey

I forgot to mention...THANK YOU ALEX for giving me info regarding the 8-5-8 Sungrown in the Fuente Questions thread. If you hadn't mentioned that stores get them around Christmas, I wouldn't have emailed my local shop. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Well, I smoked one of the sharks tonight. It had a few spots of white...mold. Unfortunately, I don't think it was plume, though I'm not 100% sure. No matter, though, because it wiped off pretty easily and I sure wasn't going to let it stop me.
The year of age did this thing wonders and it was even better than the 46s that I've smoked previously. I will definitely let a few of these age even longer and see how they are.

The first inch or so was very mild. You could definitely taste the "anejo" taste for lack of a better term. The cigar really opened up after that first inch and you could taste the opus filler that is put in the cigar as well. The cedary taste of the cedar-wrapped anejos was not there as prominently as they are in the others since the shark is not cedar-sleeved. I only wish I could be as descriptive as Kuzi and others in describing cigars. I will tell you that this is probably the best cigar I've ever smoked. I'm still not sure how this relative newbie was able to get so lucky to get my hands on these, but I'm sure glad I did.