Initial Smoke 

Initially, you may find this blend to be a bit heavy on the cedar and pecan crunch, with a healthy layer of pie crust and salt and pepper pricking the nose. The draw is grand, and smoke flow is fluid and filled with a creaminess that goes beyond flavor and texture. I know this is just the first ten minutes of the cigar, but hot damn if it isn't already living up to its name.

1st Half

As that creaminess increases, along comes the taste and smell of baking soda once more, which brightens the whole experience up and adds its own unique mineral note. With an ultra clean, crisp finish, but plenty of texture up front on the tongue, the first third is just as much about sensations as it is about flavor and aroma.

As you burn your way into the second third, that medicinal taste returns, and out comes some nuttiness, all coated in a fine layer of pulverized salt. This continues for a tick or two, until the taste of sweet cream washes over your taste buds, and a transition toward amaretto liqueur-covered pecans and cashews increases. It may sound super sweet on paper, but this blend is more about flavor, aroma, and texture than sweetness, at least until you reach the midway mark. 

2nd Half

Cross over into the second half, and the doughy sweet taste of snickerdoodle cookies comes out, complete with that traditional dusting of cinnamon sugar and vanilla-packed breadiness. Brilliantly balanced and begging for more, the cigar is indeed a total "cream machine" when it comes to smoke texture, and each retrohale feels fluffier and more fantastic than the last.

An increase in spiciness and the taste of white pepper does tend to fade in and out within the final third, but it is all balanced by the nutty milkiness that seems omnipresent. By now, the cigar has built to a solid medium in body, with flavors being closer to medium-full than anything else.

Parting Puffs

As cookie dough holds fast against the presence of pepper spice, a creamy nougat center turns the last few minutes of the lancero into a lip-smacking section loaded with tongue tingles. The finish has also become more intense, with a crisp dryness that features an odd paper taste being the only off-putting attribute. 

Ash / Burn / Smoke / Draw

Zero touch-up cigar sessions are always a good sign, especially when smoking the same cigar twice, back-to-back. Yes, the ash does like to bloom a bit on you as the stick burns, and you are going to need to puff routinely to keep the slender vitola combusting evenly, but that's a small price to pay for what you get in return. That ash may look like it's going to drop at any minute, but it holds on like nobody's business, and the result is a cool burn with plenty of smoke to satisfy even the largest ring gauge stogie fanatic in the crowd.

Final Thoughts

Caldwell crushed it with this smoke. Almost everything about it was extremely enjoyable, and I can see why Robert Caldwell recommends seeking out the lancero version. It burns great, provides more of that arapiraca claro flavor than other vitolas in the line thanks to having a greater wrapper-to-filler ratio, and has some seriously sensational retrohales along the way.

Even when the medicinal notes tried to take over, or odd tastes of paper and pepper punctured the creamy cloud in the closing moments, I didn't find myself disliking the overall cigar flavor profile being detected. Just further proof that sometimes it is worth ditching the garden variety robusto or toro for a vitola that you wouldn't always opt for first, and seeing where the tobacco trail leads you and your senses...