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JFR Lunatic Maduro El Chiquito

Alec Bradley Magic Toast

Initial Smoke

Wet and dry oak, unsweetened nougat, and that mixture of cinnamon and brown sugar bring out the best right away. These cigar flavor profiles are perfectly placed and provide plenty of graham cracker bliss to please almost any kind of cigar smoker, especially since there is zero pepper spice to be detected. Body is medium, the draw is perfect thanks to a V-cut, and retrohales lead to a medium length finish that is punctuated by both raw and roasted walnuts.

1st Half

It isn't often that I encounter rice flavors in a cigar, so when I do, I tend to pay extra close attention to what follows, and how the overall cigar flavor profile plays off this grain taste. In the Lunatic Habano, that translates to a dry, toasty taste that is more of a basmati rice profile than the glutinous white kind. In the first third of the cigar, this plays perfectly with the little bits of leather scrap, toasted oak, dried tree nuts, and sunny habano tobacco flavors. It also feels right at home beside the sweet tea-like secondary notes, which I feel are coming forth more from the binder and filler than the wrapper. 

With these tea notes increasing, the second third starts off with more herbal bitterness, and a pinch or two of pepper to increase intensity. The overall profile of the smoke is still creamy and nutty, though, so one can expect tastes that are very traditional in an habano sense without going too heavy in any direction. Retrohales lay this on even thicker, with the satiny smooth texture of the smoke and the mixture of sun-grown leaf, tangy spices, citrus, and dried walnuts being borderline blissful.

2nd Half

Although oak has maintained its slot on the tasting card, it is not until the middle of the cigar that it gets to show what it has to offer. Intense tannin dryness and one stave after another of that organic wood-like flavor hit the tongue hard and drives away almost any sweetness left in the cigar. Although a milk coffee taste does materialize right around the same time as this increase in oak, it seems to struggle to keep the stronger cigar flavor profile in check the further down you puff. 

By the time you reach the final third, the whole tasting card is in disarray. While the habano flavor profiles and creamy nuttiness doggedly try to keep some form of order and a pleasant flavor upon the tongue, everything else slowly spirals out of control. What was once perceived as a pleasant tea and citrus corojo tobacco taste has devolved into a bitter underbite. Oak notes have gone entirely dry upon the tongue and force me to sip more water than I would prefer, and the heat of the cigar itself has literally grown hard to handle. 

Parting Puffs

Creamy smoke textures and a few last-minute additions aren't enough to save this blend from its own self-destruction. Walnut tastes are there, but they have all gone bitter. Oak and cedar can be noted, but they are both charred and dry. Tea leaves can be detected, but they, too, have grown bitter and entirely too spicy as well.  What a pity...

Ash / Burn / Smoke / Draw

What began as a beautiful, burning, big ash building cigar gradually devolved into a jagged-edged, flaky, intensely hot stub. A lengthy touch-up in the second third didn't help matters either, as the sheer size of the relight area required quite a bit of attention, and resulted in even more heat. 

However, everything prior to the last few minutes of the second third was pretty much on point. Smoke flow was fluid, creamy, and cool on the tongue, while the ash was impressive in its appearance and rigidity, with only the occasional random flake being noted. That said, I did find that discarding the ash regularly did help keep the burn in check, but it also encouraged heat flare-ups to occur.

Final Thoughts

Seeing a cigar slowly self-destruct is pretty frustrating, especially when said cigar was tasting and performing perfectly in the first half. While my sample cigar did burn a bit better, it too required a couple of smaller touch-ups and delivered just around the same amount of heat in the final third and beyond. Even though a certain amount of nuttiness, creaminess, and tea-like tastiness remained intact in both cigars as the band was reached, I can only wonder how much better this blend may have tasted if it had not gotten so damn hot. 

This is not an issue that is exclusive to this smoke, either, as my Lunatic Maduro El Chiquito review in 2025 also struggled with overheating issues, albeit in less intense doses. It's the large ring-gauge conundrum. You have to puff regularly to keep all that tobacco burning, but you also run the risk of the blend overheating at any given moment if it gets hit too hard. 

Where does that leave the Lunatic Habano El Chiquito? Well, I suppose somewhere between really good and completely off track. While the first two-thirds of the cigar were borderline outstanding, there is no ignoring the issues that ruined any chance this blend had at securing a spot as one of the best large cigars in the Klaro collection. 

However, if you are fine with only smoking the first 66% of this cigar and are comfortable with tossing the last section when it turns south, then go for it. It is by no means an expensive cigar, and by the time you get to the final third, you will have probably already burned through a toro's worth of tobacco. As for me, I will continue to stick with the equally stubby, but slightly slimmer 4″ x 60 Camp Aladino Gorbusto line until something better comes along.

Overall Balance & Repeatability