Cohiba Lanceros 25

Description

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I sat on a piece of driftwood, one of those elongated logs the sun and salt have bleached white, in an area of beach that doesn’t appear on most maps. It’s one of those places where the tide does all the talking. The sun had just begun its slow, weighty descent toward the horizon and the Caribbean Sea became a sheet of hammered copper. I didn’t have cell signal, I didn’t have a watch and for once, no one was asking me to do them a favor.

Product Specifications

I had only a torch lighter, a double-blade cutter and a cedar coffin I’d been saving for just this occasion. You ever just feel like the world is too damn loud? Where everything is a “priority” and everybody needs a response ten minutes ago? That’s when I go to the coast.

I need the salt air to scour the brain some. But a time like that — thoughtful, serene, observing the sky go from orange to bruised purple — requires a particular sort of companion. You can’t just set fire to a short, squat Robusto and puff through it in forty minutes. That’s a “business lunch” smoke.

No, this is when the sun decides to dawdle on closing time and you require a cigar that complies with the clock only in doing away with it. That smoke? The

Cohiba Lanceros. It’s a pencil so thin and delicate-looking that I felt slightly embarrassed holding it in my fat fingers with the great expanse of ocean behind — but also, I’m telling you, it has more character in its slender little body than all those “gorilla finger” cigars put together.

I pulled it from my travel humidor and the wrapper was kissed by a cool breeze, for free — so I knew that the next 90 minutes were something I’d remember long after the tan had faded. The Specs

But first, before I let you know how the thing actually performed for me on the sand: The vitals.

This is no ordinary cigar, it’s a piece of history you can light afire. Feature
Detail
Product Name
Cohiba Lanceros (Box of 25)
Factory Name
El Laguito (Havana, Cuba)
Vitola de Galera
Laguito No. 1
The Transition: History to My Hand

I’ll tell you – there is something substantial about lighting up a Lancero. If you know your history, you know that this was the cigar Fidel Castro used to hand out back in the day when heads of state and diplomats came calling. It was the Cohiba “secret” before Cohiba even existed as a brand that members of the public could buy on 1.

Just to clutch it in my hands feels a little like something out of an old-school spy novel, or at least the story of someone who knows a guy who knows a guy. It’s the “King of Cubans” for nothing, though it’s a low-key king. There’s no need for it to be heavy in order to pack a punch. The first thing that caught my eye when I was sitting there on the beach was that pigtail cap.

It’s a small pigtail of tobacco at the head, characteristic of the El Laguito factory. It’s elegant. It’s refined. Also, it rolls like a son of a bitch.

You see, 38 ring gauge is skinny. You know, if a torcedor (the roller) gets even one blade extra in there, the cigar is a tent peg — you ain’t gonna get a lick of smoke.” If they under-fill it, the smoke burns hot and tastes like camping gone bad. This is the real test of a roller. Checking out mine, the build was sturdy.

No soft spots, no lumps. Just a tall, slim beauty of a Colorado shade. Construction and Pre-Light

I cut my cutter, clean straight cut just enough to get rid of that pigtail and took a cold draw.

I hadn’t even gotten the flame to it and I was already having these grassy, herbal notes. It was loaded with flavor, a fresh meadow after a rainstorm. The wrapper was almost oily to my thumb – it felt smooth and slick. The dusk of the beach made me see the tiny veins inthe Vuelta Abajo leaf.

This is tobacco Central Park, the dirt that makes other stuff look like a backyard garden. The draw was what I wanted, at least. A little resistence — something like drinking a thick milkshake through a straw — but smooth. I’ve smoked Lanceros before that were a struggle to draw, but this one?

This was rolled by an insider. I toasted the foot gently and gradually, ensuring that every bit of that 38 ring gauge was aglow before I drew on it proper. The Flavor Profile: A Three-Act Drama
The First Third The Golden Hour

As the sun dipped into the ocean, I received the first plumes of my Lanceros.

I mean I’d be lying if I thought there would be a gut punch. But instead, I got honey. Dark, honey flavour, almost like molasses and a sharp cedar-y after taste. That’s classic Cohiba — polished, balanced, surprisingly sweet.

There was also a vegetal earthly tone to it, something that reminded me of the wet sand along the waterline. It wasn’t dense; it was light and fragrant. The puff generated the tortilla coated smoke I expect naught less from a well made cigar for something so thin and had sweet smelling flowers attached. I had the sense that I was sitting in a garden, which also just happened to be on fire in the most delightful of ways.

II The Transition to the Darker Phase

After about half an hour, the sky had become as dark indigo and the cigar began to change. The honey remained, accompanied by a sweet licorice note that I wasn’t expecting. The cedar was a little spicier, more like a spiced cedar chest than just pure wood. This is where the Lancero excels.

Because there’s less filler and more wrapper-to-tobacco ratio, you taste the quality of that outer leaf. I began to detect the roasted-nuts-in-cream-like coffee notes, and perhaps a slight creamy coffee bean feel. It’s complex. It was as if with each drag it were recounting a different part of the story.

It wasn’t just smoking; I was listening. The Last Third: The Midnight Finale

By the time I had only a couple inches left, the stars were beginning to emerge.

This is often where a cigar begins to take on a hot, bitter taste—but not the Lanceros. The strength had inched up from medium to a solid medium-full. The spice was the lead singer — cinnamon and an edge of black pepper — but it never turned aggressive. It was a handshake, but firm and long, like those given during a hearty conclusion to a meeting.

I could taste notes of dark cacao and a long-lasting herbal finish that remained on my tongue long after the smoke had left. I smoked it so long that my fingers started to warm, not wanting to lose the moment. The Pairing: What to Sip?

Now, because I was on a beach, I didn’t have a whole lot to choose from beyond what I had in my cooler. But with a Cohiba Lanceros, you have to be careful. You don’t want a heavy, peaty Scotch that’s going to punch those delicate floral notes of the cigar in the teeth. I opted for a plain, old Cuban rum—nothing more, nothing less.

The rum sweetness matched perfectly with the honey and cedar on this smoke. If you’re not a spirits person (we’ve been there!), try a clean black coffee, or even a sparkling water with a twist of lime. You want something that hoses the things down, not something that paints them with sugar or smoke. This is the lead cigar — the drink’: it’s only singing backup.

Value and Use: Who Is This For? Look, I’m going to be honest with you. A box of 25 Cohiba Lanceros is a commitment. It’s not the kind of thing that you’re going to buy to hand out at a bachelor party for guys who are going to chew on the tip and let it go out after ten minutes.

That would be a tragedy. This is for the person who wants to smoke because they love smoking. It’s for the vet who understands what a tough vitola it is. It’s for the person who has ninety minutes to kill and stays up at night pondering how to use that time wisely.

If you’re a “power smoker” looking to blow through a cigar in 30 minutes, not for you. You will overheat this thing and destroy it. But if you have patience? I’d you can handle thin ring gauge?

It’s a top-tier experience. The Verdict

Pulling myself up off my driftwood log and sweeping the sand from my jeans I turned to look at what was left of the little nub of the Lanceros.

I felt. still. The montecristo did exactly what I wished it to do. It slowed me down. It was an excuse to sit and watch the world without a sense that I should be checking for email or solving something.

It’s not just a cigar; it’s a vibe, man. It’s sophisticated, it gets finicky when you don’t treat it right, and it’s got a ton of flavor, in layers that just aren’t present in thicker sticks. Is it the most “bang for your buck” with regards to pure amount of tobacco? No.

But in the experience? It’s difficult to find much that rivals it for a pensive evening. If you happen upon a box, and can stand waiting as long as it may take for them to mature a little (they’re even better with time, I promise), get them. Throw them in your humidor and save for a day when the world is too loud and you live nowhere near a beach.

You won’t regret it. Final Thought:
Solid.

Absolutely solid. Just be sure to remember a decent lighter; the wind at the beach is serious business, and you don’t want a battle with nature while you’re trying to enjoy your masterpiece. Stay smoky, my friends.