Vitola: Lancero
Size: 7.50″ x 38 ring gauge
Price $12.00 MSRP
Obtained From Drew Estate as a review sample
Background
First off I’d to like to again congratulate Willie on his new role within Drew Estate. If you don’t know, Drew Estate announced that Willie will be their new master blender. I look forward to seeing what he comes up with. On to the cigar. This is a cigar that I have heard rumblings about for a while and even seen in the wild a time or two. Once the cigar was announced Johnny Brooke over at Drew Estate sent me over two of these cigars (thanks Johnny). The blend on this is exactly the same as the other sizes in the line. It is only rolled by two people in the DE factory so production is low. They come packed in 15 count boxes with the Edicion Limitada second band on them. This review cigar was the second one of this size I smoked.
Prelight
The cigar looks very much like the other cigars of this line I’ve had. It had a golden brown wrapper that had a good amount of oils to it with some light tooth. This sample had only scattered fine veins to it and was slightly velvety to the touch. I did notice that there was still the misspelling on the main band. When I gave it a squeeze I didn’t detect any soft spots and it was fairly firm. Putting my nose to the wrapper I got the aroma of leather and hay with some nuttiness from the foot. After clipping it and taking a cold draw on it I noted the flavors of cinnamon and sugar with a slightly tight draw.
Flavor
The cigar starts off with a fairly intense blast of spice especially on the retrohale. After taking a few puffs on it I started to get notes of leather, sugar, cinnamon, green herbal notes with a slightly sweet finish. The cigar starts off in the medium to full range. As I moved into the second third the spice definitely tones down and the cigar drops to medium strength. The flavors changed slightly to cream, cedar, leather, green herbs with hints of cinnamon. The final third saw the spice start to build back up and the cigar moved back into the medium full range. The flavors of the cigar didn’t change all that much in the final third from the previous third.
Construction
Even though the cold draw was slightly tight it opened up as soon as I lit it up and it continued to be great throughout. The burn line was pretty straight the entire way in spite of the slight breeze that was blowing while I was outside smoking the cigar.
Value
This cigar is a little expensive in my opinion but it fits right in amongst the price of the other cigars in this line.
Conclusions
Overall this was a good cigar. I do think that other sizes (robusto extra & lonsdale) are more complex and show off the blend more. I don’t know if this was that these cigars are fairly new or if this is related to the size. I do recommend this line and have enjoyed many of these cigars, especially the robusto extra.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
Very nice Keith. I am hoping to get my hands on at least one of these. Cedar, cream and cinnamon, yum. Maybe give it a little aging time, if I can.
I have had this in the robusto format and loved it, I hope to find these cause Iove Lancero smokes. Although this is well out of my comfort range for a cigar Herrera’s are a great stick and I would drop extra coin to enjoy one of these.
The Herrera’s are one of my favorites. I have yet to try the lancero but am now really looking forward to picking some up.
I hope to try this line one of these days. Sounds like a good cigar and once again, another great write up.