Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf

Binder: Nicaraguan

Filler: Nicaraguan

Size: 7 x 38

Body: Medium/Full

Price: $6.50

Not a lot of things about the La Aroma de Cuba Lancero New Blend are brand new. Pepin Garcia began blending the La Aroma de Cuba line in 2002. The New Blend Line came into being in 2009. It was at the time that Garcia moved into his new digs in Esteli. Now there is virtually zero information about this cigar anywhere so I had to glean what I could by Googling it.

But apparently, only 2000 boxes of the Lancero are made yearly. That might be a lot if this was an expensive stick but at $6.50, they won’t last the year. I bought mine at Atlantic Cigar and their price is pretty good. Even better if you join their VIP Club, which I did.

Lanceros are a fun cigar. It looks like you are sucking on a long licorice whip. But seriously, they are mostly fun due to the fact that the size concentrates the flavor to the palate. I’ve been smoking robustos, coronas, petite coronas and lanceros a lot lately. I have no idea what’s gotten into me other than the cigar ages much quicker, is ready to smoke sooner, and the flavors are more intense than the larger cigars.

Construction is good. But vary from stick to stick. The one I picked has tight seams, very few veins, a good triple cap with a pigtail and is very solid; no soft spots. But as I said, it varies. Some do not have tight seams. Some have some horrifying large veins. There seems to be no consistency. I bought a 10 count box at Atlantic Cigar. Half are excellent and half are a bit sloppy. Garcia needs to work on this.

I sniff it and detect the obligatory Nicaraguan cocoa that seeps through the Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. It’s a milk chocolate aroma. Like hot cocoa. There is some cedar, leather and some espresso.

I slip the little red condom off the foot, clip and light up.

Shazam! There is a Garcia Blast of Pepper! The draw is perfect and the smoke gets in my eyes and I can’t see the laptop screen. The red pepper is on Terminator or Go Home.

I have a humidor full of different Garcia blends and none have the blast of pepper that this Lancero has.

Quickly, the cocoa arrives and takes my mind off my tongue melting. The burn line is getting out of control so I must touch it up. I find that I have this problem with all lanceros. But once fixed, all is OK.

The espresso shows up but no real creaminess yet. Just a dang big wheel barrow full of red hot peppers. The ash seems to hang tough as I let it rest at the bottom of the ashtray.

I smoked one a couple days ago and the good part starts at the second half. The pepper will die down and the flavors become complex, so keep on reading.

As the first third starts to end, the cocoa gets much stronger and the creaminess begins to show. The pepper is still strong but tamped down by the aforementioned flavors.

As the second third starts, all hell breaks loose in the flavor department. The cocoa and creaminess hit the roof. There is a gorgeous sweetness that seems to come from the tobacco. The espresso is dark and scintillating. The spiciness is tamed and just leaves burn marks on my tongue. The body is at classic medium.

At the halfway point, the cigar keeps on chooglin’. The flavors are booming with authenticity. It’s taken me 30 minutes to get to the halfway point. And now the stick is really cooking.

The last third finds the cigar getting very complex. The spiciness has become muted. The others are firing on all cylinders and I don’t want it to stop. By the last couple of inches, the stick moves to full bodied.

Atlantic Cigar makes it easy to get some of these by purchasing a 10 count box for $65.

Get some.

And now for something completely different:

Phil Spector. You probably have no idea who he is if you’re under 50. HBO debuted a movie last night about him while he was on trial for his life for murdering a girl in his home.

Spector was the originator of the “Wall of Sound.” Bruce Springsteen used the modern day version of that sound. In other words, music and sound, wall to wall. Not a single space left unused.

Spector created some of the greatest songs of the 20^th Century and was known as a tyrant in the studio who thought of his musicians and singers as insects. He even produced a John Lennon solo album.

You should read about him on Wikipedia in order to understand the impact he had. There is no way I could be comprehensive in this narrative: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Spector

While Spector directed the overall sound of his recordings, he took a relatively hands-off approach to working with the musicians themselves…usually a core group that became known as the Wrecking Crew, including session players such as Hal Blaine, Larry Knechtel, Steve Douglas, Carol Kaye, Roy Caton, Glen Campbell, and Leon Russell.

I had the good luck of growing up in L.A. and Carol Kaye was my bass teacher and, later, Hal Blaine, became my mentor and friend.

Spector had the persona of a lunatic. He was known for his wild mood swings. He would make a 16 piece band work on a single note for 8 hours until he felt it was right. Really.

One day, Hal was doing a solid for me on a session at my Long Beach recording studio. While waiting for the band to show up, we were kibitzing in my office and he was telling me these wondrous stories about the music biz. This man was a virtual Uncle Remus of storytelling. He dropped names like you fart. All the time.

And then he told me a story about Phil Spector. It was sometime in the late 1960’s. And Hal got a call from Spector’s people asking Hal to visit the mansion. Now Hal Blaine is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame percussionist. He has played on dozens upon dozens of top 10 hits. He played drums on the Bridge Over Troubled Water album. And he once pulled out the drum chart that Paul Simon wrote for him.

So a limo is sent for Hal. He is ushered into a huge room with the strangest accoutrement’ as furnishings. The ceilings are 16’ feet tall. And the windows went ceiling to floor. They were covered by pitch black curtains and were closed on a beautiful sunny California day.

Hal waits for half an hour before Spector enters the room. Hal rises, shakes his hand and the sit on chairs surrounding a Louis XVI coffee table. After that…dead silence. Spector doesn’t say a word for 45 minutes. Hal sits there waiting. Nothing.

Finally, Hal tells Spector that he called him there and if he has nothing to say, he is going to leave.

“So….what is Neil Diamond like?”

Hal almost falls off his feet. WTF? This is what Spector wants to talk about after an uncomfortable 45 minutes of silence? Yep.

Hal excuses himself, leaves the room, and climbs back into the limo. “Take me home.”

A note of vanity here…I needed Hal for a session I was doing at my studio and he promised to be there. He left a huge Neil Diamond session to come to my studio and spend 4 hours recording. Not wanting to lose Hal, the Diamond people waited. Is that crazy, or what? I have some great stories about Hal that I shall explore in future reviews.

PHIL SPECTOR IN COURT

HAL BLAINE

CAROL KAYE

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS