Vitola: Lancero- 7.5” x 40 ring gauge
- $13.49
- Purchased at Burns Tobacconist
Background
It was almost four years ago that Nick Melillo started up Foundation Cigar Company and released El Gueguense. I reviewed it in late 2015 and found it to be a very nice cigar, although a little underwhelming for an initial release in retrospect. As I tried different vitolas, I found that I really just didn’t care for anything larger than a Robusto for this cigar. It wasn’t until more recently that I had a chance to try out the Lancero vitola, though.
The Lancero was released a year or so after the first Gueguense started shipping. It was intended as a “limited edition” but I think it’s turned into more of a “regular, but limited” release. El Gueguense is composed entirely of Nicaraguan leaf from Aganorsa Leaf, with Nick Melillo blending. I uses Criollo and Corojo fillers, a binder from Jalapa and a Corojo 99 wrapper.
I smoked a couple of these and decided to do this “cigar extra” followup. Leaf Enthusiast sponsor Small Batch Cigar does carry these.
Notes
I paired El Gueguense Lancero with some Weller Special Reserve.
The wrapper had a nice cinnamon brown color with some darker mottling. It smelled of cedar and earth, while the the foot had notes of ripe earth, cocoa powder and bell pepper. A prelight draw that had a nice, mellow sweetness gave way to initial puffs of cedar and black pepper. The retrohale was woody and nutty, with more pepper spice, as well.
As I went along, I got a nice intense pepper from time to time, lots of cedar and plenty of cocoa powder notes, along with just a touch of sweetness. The Weller Bourbon paired nicely with the cigar, as expected, adding a little more sweetness as well as notes of oak and vanilla.
I felt like the Güegüense Lancero did a great job of rising to the full potential of what this blend can be: spicy, woody, and just very flavorful. I’m planning to pick up a few more of these before they disappear.
