Appearance & Construction

The Delirium from J. Fuego features a Brazilian Maduro wrapper with a Costa Rican Corojo binder and filler consisting of Honduran and Nicaraguan Corojo. The wrapper on this Lancero is a nice deep brown with a slightly rough look. The band on the cigar was nice, nothing real flashy. There were no construction issues to speak of really. The cigar was capped off with a nice pigtail and was pretty solid with just a slight give during the squeeze test. This was consistent with all three of the cigars I smoked.

Nose & Taste

This cigar puts off alot of nice sweet tobacco and chocolate smells with a hint of coop. The pre-light draw allowed my taste buds to instantly pickup the cocoa flavors. After lighting the cigar I was again hit the chocolate that rather quickly shared the driver seat with a pleasant nutty flavor. For a lancero, this cigar was putting out a nice amount of smoke. Once I was into the second third I was thinking that this was going to be it. Just a nice, but one dimensional smoke. Luckily, I was wrong. A little ways into the second third the nuttiness and cocoa was joined by a nice spice that also brought another flavor with it that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. The cigar really began to pick up some strength during the final third. The first two thirds were medium but by the final third it was entering the full bodied department. The sweetness had faded out during the final third and left the cocoa, nuts and spice that complimented each other very nicely.

Final Notes

Overall, the J. Fuego Delirium Lancero was very enjoyable. If you give this cigar some time and take it slow, it will reward you with a great smoke. The finish on the cigar was very smooth and the cigar was in no way harsh. The burn wavered just a bit but never required me to look after it and the ash held on for a good 3/4 to an inch before appearing to need to be tapped off. The draw was perfect and put out TONS of smoke for such a little guy. I would definitely recommend you give the J. Fuego Delirium a try in any size. If you like Maduro cigars then there’s a good chance you’ll like this one.

Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Overall smoking time: 1 hour 30 minutes

My Father Lancero #4

Size: 7.5 x 38

Appearance & Construction

This is a great looking Lancero.  It has some veins that run up and down the entire length of the cigar and it has a nice triple cap with a pig tail to top it off. You can really see the oils on this cigar as well.  The cigar felt a bit spongy when I gave it the squeeze test, but not to the point that I was worried about it causing any issues for me.  Finally, I really liked the band on the Lancero, it gave it a nice elegant appearance and seemed to fit it nicely.

Nose & Taste

During the pre-light draw I picked up a nice chocolate like flavor right away.  The aroma the cigar put off was a nice barnyard smell that I really enjoy getting from cigars for some reason.  I lit the cigar with my trusty Blazer and clipped the head with my Palio.  The first third offered up some of the chocolate flavor I picked up during the pre-light and gave a bit of spice and a little sweetness was thrown in there.  During the second third the flavor profile remained fairly consistent although the chocolate had disappeared and a touch of leather was picked up.  The final third brought some pepper along with the spice and sweetness. Some notes of chocolate came back for a second and disappeared rather quickly.

Final Notes

I was not overly impressed by the cigar.  Don’t get me wrong, I liked the cigar, but I expected just a little bit more.  I didn’t find it to be very complex and changed only slightly throughout the 7.5 inch smoke, but what it did offer was quite good.  The ash was a bit flaky and held on for about a half inch or so before it looked like I would ash on myself.  The draw was a little too loose for me which may be related to the sponginess I felt during the squeeze test.  I would recommend picking up the Belicoso or one of the other sizes over the Lancero if you run across these cigars.

Score: 4 out of 5 stars

Overall Smoking Time:  1 hour 30 minutes

La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero 452

Size: 4×52

 Appearance & Construction

 This is a very nice looking cigar.  This is the first band that I noticed from La Flor Dominicana that used a band similar to Lito Gomez’s line.  The construction is great.  The wrapper is a nice deep brown and the cigar feels nice and firm with just a slight resistance, no soft or hard spots anywhere.  I used my Palio cutter and was rewarded with a nice clean cut. 

 Nose & Taste

 I placed the cigar to my nose and the aroma I picked up was a mixture of pepper and coffee.  The prelight draw confirmed my thoughts on the pepper – it was a little sweet with some spiciness on my lips.  I lit the cigar and right away I was hit with tons of full flavor. This cigar was not lacking in the strength department either.  The initial flavors during the first third were that of espresso, hints of nuts and white pepper.  Once the second third began, the strength of the flavors dropped down a notch and the spice began to disappear.  The sweetness from the maduro wrapper began to finally surface now that the intensity from the flavors settled a bit.  
The final third wrapped up the cigar nicely with the sweet maduro flavor dominating at the very end with the espresso flavors remaining in the background.

 Final Notes

The DL-452 cigar was a great cigar.  The burn was almost flawless, only requiring a minor touch up that may have been my fault due to a BIC lighter I was forced to use from a co-worker.  The draw was perfect and produced tons of smoke.  I really enjoyed this smoke, and will be picking up a few more the next chance I get. It kept its strength throughout the cigar and I had a nice buzz going a little after the half way point.  This cigar would easily get 4 stars the first go around, but I found that the some of the flavors and their intensity seemed to be because they were a little young.  Once these settle and age for a bit longer this will be another great cigar from Lito Gomez!

Score: 3.5 out of 5 Stars
Overall Smoking Time: ~45 Minutes during lunch

Arturo Fuente Hemingway Best Seller

Size: 5×55 Perfecto

The Hemingway line from Arturo Fuente is a highly sought after cigar handmade by only the most experienced cigar makers, with a production limited to only 75 cigars per day, and finally aged for six months to fully enhance the flavor and aroma in cedar lined aging rooms.  The entire line is a perfecto shape and made with carefully fermented and aged tobaccos, specially selected from only the best crop years.

Appearance & Construction

The tobacco used consists of an African Cameroon wrapper, and a secret blend of Dominican tobacco for the filler and binder.  The construction was excellent.  I did however, find a patch with glue hidden under the cigar band once I slid the band off.  The pre-light draw felt just right with a slight resistance after clipping the cigar with a V-cutter I borrowed at my local shop.

Nose & Taste

The flavor of the draw was of a sweetness, almost like honey along with a slight spice.  I couldn’t detect much more.  Upon lighting the cigar, you really get the sweetness from the Cameroon wrapper.  Once you get past the nipple of the cigar, the draw opens up a bit more.  The initial flavors were those from the pre-light draw.  Mostly sweetness with a bit of spice and a cedar base.  The halfway point let the spice and some of the sweetness fall into the background while the cedar taste became dominant. I began to pick up some leather at this point that continued throughout the final third of the cigar along with the cedar flavor.

Final Notes

The Hemingway Best Seller is a very nice cigar with classic Cameroon flavors.  The cigar really opens up once you hit the bulge.  The construction was perfect, minus the patch neatly hidden away under the band, and the burn wavered just slightly but did not require any touch-ups.  The Best Seller is easily a recommended cigar to try.

Score: 3.5 out of 5 Stars
Overall Smoking Time: ~1 hour at local cigar shop

Rocky Patel Renaissance Toro
Size: 6×52

I am a Rocky Patel whore.  I haven’t tried all of his blends (there are so many who could?), but of those I have had, I tend to buy boxes of them.  The Decade is by far my favorite blend by Rocky to date.  I just wanted to issue that warning before the review started. 

There, I feel better now.

Now, the Renaissance is made at the El Paraiso factory in Danli, Honduras.  The cigar features a silky four year old Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper surrounding a binder from Jalapa, Nicaragua, and a blend of rare Nicaraguan filler tobaccos including a rare ligero leaf from an “undisclosed” region of Central America.  Not much else could be found about this blend during my research.

Appearance & Construction

I have been holding onto this Toro sized cigar since mid-October.  It has been resting in my humidor for about 3 months now.  The cigar looks great, the wrapper is a nice light to medium brown.  There are no flaws that I could see; the wrapper leaf was pretty smooth with very fine veins.  The cap was almost seamless.  I had to look closely when cutting the head as not to snip too far down.  The cigar was nice and firm with no soft spots to be found.  The band was what I would call “classy,” a very nice gold leaf with Rocky’s signature RP in the middle.

Nose & Taste

The cigar gave off a very nice tobacco smell, a faint sweetness and some earth with a touch of barnyard.  I couldn’t wait to fire this baby up.  I used a single torch lighter and the foot toasted evenly.  Took a few puffs and we were ready to go.  Right away there was some pepper that hit me and I was expecting this to be a full-bodied smoke.  Once I got about an inch and a half into the cigar, the pepper began to fade and turned into a nice mellow, creamy flavor.  Almost like a creamy vanilla.  A little over 2 inches in, it fully settled and continued the rest of the length of the cigar with the creaminess along with a nutty-like earthiness. 

 Final Notes

 Overall, this was a very nice cigar.  It has great construction and some nice complex flavors.  I would have no problems starting my morning smoking one of these.  Another thing I have to say is that this cigar put off huge billows of smoke without even trying.  You’ve gotta love that.  I will definitely be trying more of these and if they all give consistent results, I’ll probably be purchasing a box of these as well.

Score: 4 out of 5 Stars
Overall Smoking Time: 1 hour and 15 minutes