Don Pepin Garcia My father Lancero

Another lancero made by Pepin tonight! This time around its the cigar called My Father, blended by Jaime garcia for his father, Don Pepin Garcia. This has a Habano Rosado wrapper and is a Nicaraguan Puro with tobacco grown at one of the most prestigious farms in Esteli, Nicaragua. This Lancero measures in at 7.5 inches X 38 ring gauge.

This is a great looking lancero, with a flawless wrapper that has a slight reddish hue to it. This has the pigtail cap, just like the Triunfador i reviewed last week. (not a surprise considering its made by the same guys).

The predraw is very rich and clean tasting, with loads of cocoa, cedar and a bit of the typical Nicaraguan spice found in Pepin's cigars. The draw is perfect for a lancero, just the right amount of resistance.

Wow. Right away this is a stellar cigar. It starts out with a slew of complex flavors, including cocoa, roasted nuts, a bit of toffee and a slight honey like sweetness. The complexity of this cigar is impressive, with such an array of flavors that really keep your palate excited. The flavor is constantly changing, with some flavors coming out with one puff, then something else coming through a few puffs later. About 2 inches in there is a really nice cakey flavor, almost like a spice cake. A few inches after that, i got a really pleasant salted meat like flavor that really surpised me and worked well with this blend. It was nice to smoke something like this with flavors that were constantly changing and intermingling together.

What an amazing cigar! I have one of these left in a different size and i can't wait to smoke it. This is a bit more refined than the El Triunfador, with a complexity i rarely see outside of Cuban cigars these days. This cigar is very well balanced and sits right at medium bodied. These will age magnificently, but smoke great now. After smoking this and the El Triunfador last week, i am very impressed with Pepin's Lanceros. If you see these, i highly recommend picking up a few! I paid a little over 7 bucks for this cigar, and it is well worth the price. This was an online purchase though, so i got it a bit cheaper than you would probably find in a shop. I like to buy locally when i can, but wasnt able to find this particular cigar in the area. I will definitely be buying more of these.

El Triunfador Lancero

This is a cigar i have been after for a while now, and finally found a shop that carries them! This lancero measures in at 7.5 inches X 38 ring gauge. This cigar is made for Pete Johnson (owner of Tatuaje) by Don Pepin Garcia (who rolls all of Petes cigars) is made up of a Nicaraguan filler and a really nice dark connecticut broadleaf wrapper. These are made in very small batches, and are blended exclusively for the lancero size. This cigar hit the market in a very sneaky fashion in September of 2008. Very few people knew about these cigars coming out, which is a rare thing in the cigar world. I like how Pete was sneaky about releasing this particular cigar, and that he chose to do it in a Lancero, a very classic size. Now, you can find them several places online and at select retailers, but who knows for how long.

Ok, onto the review! The wrapper is very dark and oily, with no imperfections at all. I like the simple brown band Pete did for these as well. The pigtail cap looks great, and brings to mind the traditional Cuban lanceros such as the Cohiba Lancero and Trinidad Fudadore that also sport this style cap. The predraw is slightly restrictive, but that is ok because a Lancero needs to be smoked very slowly, and if the draw was too open it would be easier to smoke this too fast and get it too hot, making it bitter. The prelight flavors are dark chocolate and a bit of leather.

The flavor upon lighting is more of the same from the predraw, dark chocolate, leather, and a bit of classic Nicaraguan spice. There is also a touch of a darker sweetness flavor that im guessing comes from the Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. As ive said before, with a lancero, you need a great flavorful wrapper since the ratio of wrapper leaf is much higher on this size cigar. There is a nice complexity to this cigar, with loads of different flavors coming and going as you get into it. An espresso flavor joins the mix of chocolate and spice. This is a medium bodied cigar, just shy of being what i consider full bodied.

The lancero is such an elegant size, and unfortunately is not a very common cigar anymore. This cigar demands you to slow down and sip at it, and if you take your time, you will definitely be rewarded. So far this is one of the best Non Cuban lanceros i have had the pleasure of smoking.

Hats off to Pepin on rolling this lancero. This size is one of the harder cigars to roll because of its thin ring gauge. If it isnt rolled perfectly, the draw is usually tight, but all the lanceros ive had from Pepin are spot on. Overall, the El Triunfador is a great cigar. I had to drive an hour to get this cigar, and ill gladly do it again for a few more. I paid just under 9 bucks for this cigar, and it is definitely worth the price tag. The flavors are rich and complex, and the construction of this cigar is pretty much perfect. If you are a fan of the Pete/Pepin combo cigars, then you will really enjoy this one! The lancero shape isnt for everyone,but for those that havent had one, this is a great one to go out and try. This is one that might make people who think they dont like lanceros finally see the light on thin ring gauge cigars!

Ashton San Cristobal Event

Tonight was the Ashton San Cristobal Event at Bull and Bear Tobacco, my favorite local shop. What a fun evening filled with a ton of cigars, great food and drinks (beer, wine, you name it)! A San Cristobal Fabuloso (Torpedo) was provided to smoke, which i did, and i also picked up 3 San Cristobal Guajiro's (6 5/8 X 46) and smoked one of those as well. They did a few different raffles, and i won a bag of Ashton cigars to cap off the night! San Cristobals are fantastic cigars, blended by Don Pepin Garcia for Ashton ,and as anyone who reads my blog knows, im a huge Pepin fan.

The La Aroma De Cuba Especial (pictured on the right) and the machine made cigar on the bottom were given to me on the side by the rep, who i talked to for at least 2 hours tonight. There was also an Ashton Maduro in the cigars i won, but i gave it to my buddy Jim who went to the event with me. Alex Merick was the Ashton rep at the event, and was an absolute pleasure to talk to. He was very down to earth and a fun guy to talk shop with, and he certainly knows his cigars!

Thanks again to the fine people at Bull and Bear for a really fun event!

Quai d'Orsay Coronas Claro

Quai d'Orsay is one of the lesser known Cuban brands, and is one of the few brands i haven't tried before. This is the Coronas Claro, 5.6 inches X 42 ring gauge. This brand was originally created for the French market, catering to the mild and light cigars preferred in France at the time (1973).

This is a fairly basic looking cigar with a slightly wrinkly wrapper and some splits at the foot (damage occured during shipping) with a nicely applied cap and simple mustard colored band. The predraw flavors are very light and grassy.

The flavor up front shows some grassyness, a slight tea characteristic, and a honeylike sweetness. This is definitely a mild, toasty cigar, great for early in the day. The tea and honey flavors are very pleasant. Sometimes that grassy flavor can be overwhelming in a cigar, but it really works with this mild blend. I do not smoke a lot of mild cigars, since most mild cigars tend to be a bit on the boring side. This one however, is not boring at all.

The further i get into this cigar, the more i like it! That honey sweetness is still there, with the grassyness fading away a bit and being replaced with a very tasty shortbread cookie like flavor. At the tail end of this cigar, a slight leathery flavor showed up that i really didnt expect, but definitely enjoyed.


This cigar was a pleasant surprise for me. Usually cigars marketed as mild (especially in the non-Cuban market) are very bland and a waste of time for me. The Cubans got it right with this one though. This is a light, mild cigar, and has very pleasant and intriguing flavors that definitely keep you interested throughout the smoke. This could possibly be one of the best morning cigars available. I know the thought of a cigar in the morning sounds awful to most people, but lighting this up after a nice breakfast with a cup of tea would certainly be a pleasant and relaxing start to any day.