RP Edge Maduro

Notes: Perfect draw with flavors of cocoa, oak, black and red pepper and an occasional vanilla sweetness. Several occurrences of severe canoeing, but all seemed to self correct. Complexity was moderate.

Smoking time: One hour, sixteen minutes

Rating: Four stars

RP Edge Corojo

Notes: Feels underfilled with a loose draw. Very spicy retrohale with dominant flavors of cedar, red pepper and some clove. Burned a bit hot and quick. Decent complexity but nothing outrageous.

Smoking time: One hour, seven minutes

Rating: Three stars

Mbombay Mora

Notes: Stunning, oily Corojo wrapper and shaggy foot. Also developed a combustion problem at about the halfway point. Flavors of earth, pepper and something tangy. Became a bit soft towards the end, with flavors becoming bitter. Similar trouble as the other MBombay lancero, but not as bad.

Smoking time: One hour, forty eight minutes

Rating: Two stars

Mbombay Vintage Reserve 1973

Notes: Very densely bunched and hefty with a shaggy foot, light in body and flavor. Draw is slightly tighter than I would like and becomes increasingly more difficult through the duration. I am fortunately able to get some delicious flavors of cedar and coffee with cream, but am completely distracted by the combustion trouble.

Smoking time: One hour, forty two minutes

Rating: Two stars

GTO Pain Killer

Notes: The soft and squishy feel of this Dominican cigar was an instant indicator of the problems I would encounter while smoking. It had been kept at 67% RH for over a month from the time I acquired and I managed to catch some savory and sweet flavors, but they were drowned by the wet, hot and bitter smoke from my strained draws. Required ten relights. May revisit eventually.

Smoking time: One hour, four minutes

Rating: One star

Jericho Hill Honest Man

Notes: Another with near perfect construction and combustion and a savory, earthy cold draw. Flavors of unsweetened cocoa, espresso and black pepper build and darken in a very linear fashion.

Smoking time: One hour, thirty eight minutes

Rating: Five stars

La Barba Purple

Notes: Very oily and unique HVA wrapper with excellent construction and draw, medium body and full flavor. Strength was medium and became full in the last third. Flavor notes of bright tangy fruit to start, becoming somewhat darker in the second half, and black licorice throughout. Delicious blend!

Smoking time: One hour, twenty eight minutes

Rating: Five stars

262 Paradigm

Notes: Gorgeous Mata Fina wrapper, but overly firm towards the head and tight draw. Great complexity from flavors of earth, toast, black licorice and a hazelnut sweetness, with red pepper on the retrohale. The combustion trouble contributed to a bitterness dominating the last third. I'd like to revisit this one again.

Smoking time: One hour, twenty eight minutes

Rating: Three stars

262 Allegiance

Notes: Very light in body with less than desirable smoke production and I suspect the bunch is slightly too full. Otherwise very good construction. I had a difficult time picking out any enjoyable flavors.

Smoking time: One hour, twenty four minutes

Rating: Two stars

Edgar Hoill OSOK

Notes: Flavors of earth, black pepper, mineral/soda and barbecue provide excellent complexity. Construction suffered a bit in the second half, but overall extremely enjoyable.

Smoking time: One hour, five minutes

Rating: Four stars

Edgar Hoill Prensado

Notes: Perfect construction with medium body and complexity. Beautiful Habano wrapper and dominant flavors of sweet graham cracker and assorted woods throughout.

Smoking time: One hour, eighteen minutes

Rating: Five stars

Asylum 13 Ogre

Notes: The grassy flavor of the candela is just barely noticeable under the very familiar flavors of the previous Asylum 13, aside from a faint spearmint flavor towards the very end. Also a noticeably lower moisture content than the previous cigar, with better complexity.

Smoking time: One hour, fourteen minutes

Rating: Four stars

Asylum 13 "99 Problems"

Notes: Feels a bit mushy but draw is perfect. Dark Habano wrapper with a good amount of oils. First half has some cocoa and black licorice. Second half gains some earth and more sweet flavors. Decent complexity and very good construction aside from a minor canoe that self corrected.

Smoking time: One hour, twenty two minutes

Rating: Four stars

Foundation El Gueguense

Notes: Beautiful, evenly colored, milk chocolate brown wrapper. Wood and dark chocolate but very little on the retro. Very different from the other sizes of the blend.  Draw is a little tight till the last two inches, where it swells slightly and both the wrapper and binder split.

Smoking time: One hour, twenty four minutes

Rating: Two stars, but I also want to revisit this one too

(That's three goofy smokes in a row, all from very good factories... hmmm..)

Foundation The Tabernacle

Notes: Super dark Connecticut broadleaf wrapper. Tunneled almost immediately and after a few puffs it burned through the side about an inch down. Rich and earthy, but somewhat typical broadleaf maduro blend. Construction problems continue until the last third.

Smoking time: One hour, thirty six minutes

Rating: Two stars, but I feel the need to revisit this one too

Warped El Oso Mama

First attempt: December 21st, 2016

Notes: One eighth inch short and closer to 36 rg. Muted, dark brown wrapper with very fine tooth. Very firm and draw is almost non existent. Very surprising for a cigar made at El Titan de Bronze, one of the last and most reputable factories in Miami. Maybe it's just bad luck, with this being the thirteenth cigar in the shootout. Unsmokeable, but I'll update with a second attempt.

Smoking time: I stuck with it for about forty minutes.

Rating: (sad trombone)

San Lotano Connecticut

Notes: Somewhat sickly looking shade grown wrapper. White pepper, some citrus, and mint on the retro. Black licorice in the last third. Another with perfect construction and combustion. All three San Lotano lanceros were fantastic, but Connecticut shade isn't really my thing.

Smoking time: One hour, sixteen minutes

Rating Five stars

San Lotano Habano

Notes: Cold draw flavors are similar to the Maduro. Same great construction, but not quite as savory or complex.

Smoking time: One hour, eight minutes

Rating: Four stars

San Lotano Maduro

Notes: Flavor was rich and earthy with some cocoa and a bit of pepper on the retro, just the right amount. Great construction and complexity, but I know its a couple years old already.

Smoking time: One hour, ten minutes

Rating Five stars

Swag Elite

Notes: Wrapper leaf is ugly. Great density, draw and combustion. Light in body and flavors were very muted until the middle where I got popcorn and caramel. Judging by the stain on the cellophane, I'm guessing this had too much shelf age.

Smoking time: One hour, thirty two minutes

Rating: Three stars

1502 Emerald

Notes: Corojo wrapper is a couple shades lighter than any photos I've seen of this cigar, definite claro. Woody flavor with some red pepper on the retro. Great construction and combustion till the last third, where it softened up and became bitter. My guess is this blend would do much better in largeg ring gauges.

Smoking time: Sixty minutes

Rating: Three stars

1502 Ruby

Notes: Medium brown, slightly reddish and oily wrapper, assuming some type of Habano. Perfect draw with dominant flavors of earth and cocoa. I could do a full retrohale on every puff because of the lack of spice or pepper. Great construction and complexity.

Smoking time: One hour, thirteen minutes

Rating: Five stars

1502 Black Gold

Notes: Very dark Mexican San Andres wrapper with very even color and faint tooth. Nice black pepper is very dominant on the retrohale. Soft, gentle box press but somewhat under filled which causes it to burn quicker and become somewhat harsh.

Smoking time: Sixty six minutes

Rating: Two stars

Viva Republica Advanced Warfare

Notes: Also measured 36 rg instead of 35. Medium brown, more typical looking Sumatra wrapper. Flakey ash, most likely from being under filled, and required two relights.

Smoking time: One hour, nineteen minutes

Rating: Three stars

Viva Republica Guerrilla Warfare

Notes: Measured 36 rg instead of 35. Somewhat ugly, mottled, dark Sumatra wrapper with a few spots that probably shouldn't have passed QC. Creamy caramel finish with a bit of black pepper. Good combustion except for the first inch.

Smoking time: One hour, fifteen minutes

Rating: Three stars

La Galera Pirillas Habano

Notes: Closer to 40 rg than 38. Beautiful, oily Habano wrapper. Excellent construction and perfect draw, but complexity could be better. Definite nicotine kick by the end.

Smoking time: One hour, fifty five minutes

Rating: Four stars

J.R.E. Aladino Elegante

Notes: First and second thirds were similar, last third much more complex. Dominant flavor is nutty which seems to be common with Corojo. Perfect construction and near perfect combustion.

Smoking time: One hour, twenty three minutes

Rating: Five stars

JRE Unbanded

Notes: Not sure of the blend, but if it's Eiroa, it's most likely 100% Honduran Corojo, which is superb. A few draw problems in the first inch. Somewhat one dimensional flavor that unfolded gradually, in a very linear fashion. Medium complexity.

Smoking time: 63 minutes

Rating: Three stars

Criteria and additional info...

I have a few criteria for what I chose to smoke in this shootout, because anyone at any company can call anything a Lancero. I don't want to get too far away from the original vitola, so after a bit of pondering, I settled on between 6 3/4 and 8 1/2 inches in length, and 36 and 44 ring gauge. If I went down to 6 1/2 inches or higher or lower on the ring gauge, this list would have doubled in size. The lancero shape is almost more defined by a maximum ring to length ratio. We don't want to drift into Churchill, Lonsdale or Panatela ranges. I think maximum ring for 7 inches or longer will be 44, 6 7/8 inches will be 42 and 6 3/4 inches will be 40. This should do well to preserve that ratio and exclude a few that should be titled Lonsdale, etc. The only other requirement I had was the price had to be between $5 and $15 roughly. Why? I don't know really. Those uber premium, usually super limited, 20-some-dollar-a-pop cigars just don't end up on my radar as something most people will get to enjoy at some point.

I'm going to provide some brief notes, nothing fancy, and a rating out of five stars. I'll mention any aspect of each that stands out as particularly bad or particularly good. To me, construction is paramount in this vitola. The article I linked in a previous post should give you an idea of why. When the history of the Lancero is explained, it makes sense. If any of these are unsmokeable due to draw issues, I'll attempt to smoke another. If this occurs a second time, they will be disqualified.

That's it!

I'm going to do a little intro video with some shout-outs to those who've helped me with this project, and I've embedded a spreadsheet for those of you that want to see the nitty-gritty detail on everything I'll be smoking. If anyone finds any mistakes in the list, please leave a comment for me to correct it.

Thanks for reading!

The Love of Lanceros

This is a nice write-up on the Lancero from a summer 2008 issue of CA written by Greg Mottola.
http://www.cigaraficionado.com/webfeatures/show/id/The-Love-of-Lanceros_9116

"It's the best size that I make." -Carlos (Carlito) Fuente Jr.

"Love lanceros, they were part of my original six brown-label sizes five years ago. I was making this in early 2003 when everyone was running from them, except maybe Carlito." -Pete Johnson

"[A Lancero smoker] knows it's great, and that's enough." -Michael Herklots

"We made it for connoisseurs and for ourselves." -Jose Oliva

Introduction

17th Dec 2016
  A few weeks ago, well into my annual quest to try all the new releases from IPCPR, I noticed there was quite a few cigars of the Lancero vitola accumulating in my humidor. Upon closer examination of my "new stuff to smoke" queue, which had quickly grown to over one hundred items, there were thirty some Lanceros. Wow! Since I started working at a tobacco shop over fifteen years ago, it has long been one of my favorite sizes. At the time, there weren't too many being produced, for whatever reasons, but it appears the classic 7 1/2 x 38 with pigtail cap has made a HUGE comeback. By my rough estimate, at this time, there are over two hundred different Lanceros, of varying exact shape, in current production. This is a simple chronicle of my attempt to smoke them all. Or, at least as many as I am able to acquire.