Cain F Lancero

[Don Fernando]

The people that know me and my cigar preferences know that I’m a big fan of thinner ringed cigars and that my favorite vitola is probably the lancero. I have a decent selection of lanceros in a dedicated ‘lancero humidor’, an old 50’s refrigerator turned humidor. My collection currently has about 600 (petit) lanceros. Now because it’s a cigar that requires a lot of attention, I don’t smoke it when I have company, I don’t smoke it when I’m watching a game, I don’t smoke it when I’m watching a move, I only smoke them when I really want to focus on the cigar. And maybe because it’s such a hard cigar to smoke, smoke too fast and it gets bitter, smoke to slow and you get to relight it often, it’s not a popular size but boy, do I love them. For me the wrapper filler ratio is the best there is, a lancero or any other thin cigar has so much more dynamic than the large ring gauge sticks that are so popular nowadays. My goal for this year is to review at least one lancero each month and post my findings on the 15h of every month, at the end of the year I will not only make a top 25 but also a top 12 of the lanceros I smoked.

The first lancero I will review this year is the 7×38 Cain F lancero. I had this Nicaraguan puro in my humidor for years, I smoked several in the past and always quite enjoyed them. The Cain F was designed by Studio Tobac, Oliva’s think tank, in the hay day of the strong cigars and it contains a lot of ligero tobacco and the body flavor ratio in the thicker sized was way off because of it. The wrapper has a nice color with three small water spots but I’m not bothered by that. The veins have been rolled flat, like Oliva always does, before the wrapper is applied and that gives a smoother appearance of the cigar, the bands are simple, the regular Cain F foot band with an added skinny Studio Tobac band. The construction feels good and the cigar has a nice yet very faint cedar aroma. The cold draw is flawless with a mild peppery flavor to it.

Since it’s a small cigar there is no way to punch it, so I used my xikar cutter and Ronson lighter to decap and light the cigar. It’s a thin cigar so lighting is quick and easy. Straight from the get go I taste coffee and pepper with soon a little nutmeg. After a centimeter there is also a little sweetness and a mild acidic aftertaste on my tongue. After an inch the cigar loses the coffee and gets spicier with a sharp pepper on the tip of my tongue. Slowly but surely the cigar gets spicier and more peppery. The ligero strength also kicks in. The flavor doesn’t change dramatically but in little nuances every few puffs, just like you can expect from a thin stick. Halfway the strength toned down a little and I taste a lot of pepper with some licorice on the background. After two thirds i also taste sweetness with the pepper and the licorice changed to an earthy flavor.

The smoke is a little thinner than I would like, but still reasonably. The amount of smoke is fine and it’s white. The ash is beautiful, colors range from dark to light gray and it’s firm for such a thin cigar. The burn is razor sharp. This cigar is full full bodied and medium full flavored. Just like it’s bigger brothers the body flavor ratio is off, but not as bad as the thicker versions of the Cain F. I suspect this Cain F line was blended for strength with flavor as a second priority. Now I don’t mind a strong cigar, but it has to be balanced. I didn’t have to relight the cigar and it lasted me for almost two hours.

Would I buy this cigar again? This is a limited edition so that is impossible and I still have plenty.

Score: 90

Full review with photos on www.cigarguideblog.com