Wrapper: Ecuadorian
Binder: Mexico – Sumatra Seco
Filler: Dominican Republic – Mejorado Seco / Piloto Seco / San Vicente Visus / Yamasa Ligero
Size: 7 x 40 Lancero
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $29.00
I’ve had my cigars ruminating and raving naked in my humidor for a singular month. Extremely limited so I’m diving in ass first.
BACKGROUND:
5,000 boxes of 10 cigars released in the United States.
From Davidoff of Geneva:
“Back in its day, “Millennium Blend Lancero” was the most popular format to fully enjoy the legendary hybrid 151 wrapper. However, it is also the most difficult act to pull off successfully. To marry a small ring gauge with such a generous length required a virtuoso performance from our rollers. Now, a new generation of rollers have brought back this medley of tastes and flavours so a generation of aficionados can appreciate the craft which goes into the cigar.
“Today, we bring back this balanced taste experience in the Davidoff Millennium Lancero Limited Edition Collection. Thanks to the expertise of our rollers, this limited cigar is going to be music for the palates of a whole new audience.”
THE WHOLE MEGILLAH:
The leaf stats seem appropriate for an expensive cigar. Will the blend rise to the occasion? Dunno.
The score card of the cigar’s flavors, as generated by Davidoff, are listed below:
1/3 – Daring notes of oak wood and coffee accompany aromas of sweet prune.
2/3 – Dark Chocolate complements intense bouquets of almonds and white pepper.
3/3 – Pronounced flavours of peat finished with piquant white pepper and liquorice.
Mother’s Day is approaching. Maybe I will get my wife and my daughter a bouquet of almonds and white pepper. I just know they will love me even more upon receipt. Either that, or I duck and cover.
Mumford & Sons deliver this morning’s soundtrack. A little Delta music. Sets the mood.
The cigar reeks of gingerbread cookies, creamy vanilla ice cream, milk chocolate, an array of spicy components, and black licorice.
The cap has a little rat tail on top. Just missing a mullet.
The cigar is ultra-light in the hand. Once the cap is clipped, the draw is wide open. My PerfecDraw draw adjustment tool is asleep. I know this because it is either the cat or the tool that is snoring. Dr. Rod is a mad scientist.
Nice start. Very thick on the lips. Complexity is present during the first puffs. A mild smoke with creamy caramel and prune Danish…Damn. Davidoff got it right.
I’m watching the clock. Curious to see how much this price point is per inch.
Café au lait pops up and bows politely. I wave a hand and the flavor sinks into the morass of the blend.
Strength is mild. I need some arse kicking from this blend.
The flavor points aren’t bold…but they are extremely pleasing. My lips get as big as the grown Audrey II. Flapping that they need more and whisper, “Feed me.”
I stopped using critiques by the thirds a long time ago. I guess I’m just lazy. Geriatric syndrome.
The almond bouquet shows up early. It’s very pronounced and adds some fattiness to the blend.
The depth is on the light side. Davidoff blends always need extensive humidor aging. Still, this blend is still for sale so no reason not to report the blender’s intent I experience for yours and my benefit. It’s an expensive cigar and I don’t want you to waste your money if it is a clump in the litter box.
The complexity creeps up on me. The depth that I felt was missing, just moments ago, increases giving the cigar some light nuances that come from the multi layered leaf stats. It becomes the base for the cigar’s integrity. The ancillary flavors come second. I’m happy that after reading what it took to build this cigar that those aspects are now becoming inspirational. Hallelujah.
My college days were spent in a rented house in Santa Ana with two friends also in school. There were huge lots on the main drag that were still undeveloped. One lot allowed traveling revival shows to set up their massive tents. My buddies and I always attended the Friday service because the music and the choir were made up of killer musicians and singers. We were long hairs and the only white people in attendance…yet we were always welcomed with open arms. It was a wonderful time that I shall always be grateful for.
The first third took 17 minutes to burn.
Strength is close to hitting medium/full. A good choice by the cigar.
A strong aroma of floral notes appears in a dreamlike state of heightened awareness. (More Hippie speak ~ Refer to your “The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers” comics for translations).
The depth plotzes right on top of my palate and plants a flag claiming the territory for Switzerland. This blend is on the right track and is becoming quite delightful. Subtleties and nuances fan out like the players readying for Roger Maris’s swing to the bleachers.
Lawdy, lawdy…this cigar transforms from a minor league performance to soloing at the Hollywood Bowl. Great fucking cigar.
First sip of water and creamy dark chocolate spreads like an out-of-control lava flow. I love this.
A broad spectrum of transitions flies by my palate like they are being chased by Wile E. Coyote on an Acme rocket. Gentle and soothing. A gentleman’s cigar.
The halfway point arrives at 30 minutes.
The intensity of this blend is just outstanding. The Dude abides. “Forget it, Donny, you are out of your element!”
Strength is piling up logs that I can barely see over. My head spins like Linda Blair.
Men…I’m telling you that this cigar will be an absolute killer with the right amount of naked humidor time. A killer.
I now get why Davidoff did not provide a laundry list of flavors. The disparate tobacco leaves are doing the heavy lifting and they provide an inherent impact of brilliant blending. Passion is at work.
Holy shit. The cigar is knocking my undies off. (I usually review naked so it makes sense that I’m disrobed without my consent).
I find that Lanceros can be hit or miss. But I find that the best blenders love this size for really showing off their stuff. Davidoff is strutting like a big rooster with this stick.
Never been to a cock fight. But once, in Tijuana, my buddies and I attended a donkey show. It was fun for the first two minutes and then our stomachs turned and we left the building.
Mumford & Sons are providing the perfect balance of music that is in sync with my cigar journey. A slow groove that is written with intense passion. Too many notes are not used.
Right after I auditioned for Curved Air in 1974, Darryl Way called me at my bedsitter in West London and asked me why I played so many notes. I merely told him that I was trying to show him 10 years of playing in 10 minutes. He had an epiphany and told me he understood. That was the last time he understood anything I played. He wrote the worst bass lines for his compositions. He never listened to my suggestions. He was his own worst enemy. Plus, he didn’t understand funk. I never cared much for Curved Air’s music. It was just a good paying gig…and I understood that I was simply a hired gun…not a real member of the band. That was a helluva’ lesson for a 25-year-old.
With nearly 3” to go, the blend has reached its pinnacle. The complexity is captivating. The finish is setting up a homestead in my mouth. The flashing transitions are selling nuances for pennies on the dollar. I love this cigar.
The prune Danish is screaming laughter. I grew up being treated with those babies as a kosher deli was nearby and prunes became a lifelong love affair. Odd for a kid.
Black licorice is hand in hand with the creaminess that creates a totalitarian essence driving the overall flavor experience. Spiciness is a bit of that pepper and a bit of another pepper working to give the blend some heft.
I know this is an expensive cigar. But for once, I deem it worth the dough. It is a treat for sure and only a go to cigar for wealth management agents who want to impress their comrades at their private club with overstuffed black leather chairs. But having a stick or two for when you feel you deserve something extraordinary is OK…just never tell your wife.
The cigar goes into its death throes at just over an hour.
That will be $4 an inch please. Try one or two. The price anxiety will disappear almost immediately.
My sponsor, Small Batch Cigar, has them. Use promo code ‘katman’ for 10% off.
RATING: 96
Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS
Cigar Reviews by Phil 'Katman' Kohn 
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