Size: 7 1/2″ x 39
Vitola: Lancero in the Culebra format
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra, Cameroon & Oscuro Ecuadorian Sumatra
Origin: Dominican Republic
Age: Infancy
What a lucky guy I am. The La Flor Dominicana Culebra Lanceros are some of the hardest cigars to find. The Double Ligero Lanceros by LFD are themselves a tough find. But every once in a while Litto Gomez produces the Culebra Lanceros in super small batches, and Empire Cigars was lucky enough to get a whole bunch of them in recently.
The packaging is simple and elegant: cedar coffins housing the culebra in shrink wrap. After removing the shrink wrap it was evident that the culebra goes into the coffin just so, do not get in the habit of pulling these in and out as you will damage the cigars!
Before I get to the actual review, I should point out another thing that makes the Culebra Lancero such a special cigar. Unlike other culebras, this format features three different wrappers: a Natural, Oscuro and Cameroon! I will review each of the wrappers individually and pick my favorite of the three at the end.
Natural
You really can’t judge a culebra on appearance as the wrappers are generally twisted and often overlap. The cigar drew well, but I was worried after the first puff that this was going to be a very mild cigar. Too mild even. However, that soon faded and the cigar opened up a bit leaving wood and a little bit of leather on the tongue.
There was some creaminess and some slight coffee flavors but that was about it. I was looking for some of the spice that is in the Double Ligero Lanceros, but did not find any here. It was just a good unassuming cigar that would probably disappoint the fans of some of Litto’s stronger smokes.
Cameroon
Now this is where I got excited. I’m a huge fan of Cameroon wrapper, and Litto’s Cameroon Cabinet is one of my favorite smokes out there.
The Cameroon Double Ligero Lancero is also one of the best cigars I have smoked in a while (but super hard to find). But I digress… This particular cigar was easy to identify from the other two as it has the unmistakable tooth of the Cameroon leaf.
The flavors, like the Natural were milder than I expected but the slight spiciness and sweet flavors from the Cameroon were still present. There was a little more coffee and wood present with a longer finish. Like the Natural it was not that complex or spicy but still a good cigar.
Oscuro
The darkest of the three, this also had the roughest looking wrapper. But this also had the most flavor and strength.
Slightly spicier than the Natural and Cameroon the Oscuro had stronger coffee flavors and a little pepper spice on the finish, but not much. This actually developed a little complexity as I smoked it, yielding more and more cocoa notes as I got closer to the end. It was also slightly dry.
Now, little is known about the Culebra Lanceros but one thing is for sure, these do not taste like the same lanceros in the Double Ligero line. These are more on the medium side without all of the pepper and spice.
So my favorite? It had to be the Cameroon (I’m a Cameroon guy!), with the Oscuro a close second. I think these are too mild to have any real aging potential, so if you are lucky enough to find these (or just give Empire Cigars a call), go ahead and smoke it.
Natural Rating: 85 (B)
Cameroon Rating: 86 (B)
Oscuro Rating: 86 (B)
