El Viejo Continente Maduro Lancero cigar review: A long and exquisite smoke of beautiful complexity

One of my cigar revelations this year has been the beauty and complexity of a lancero cigar. The El Viejo Continente Maduro Lancero has only served to cement my opinion that this is one of the most delicious and interesting vitolas available.

This particulticular cigar is longer than your average lancero cigar coming in at a beautiful 7¾ inches. This only adds to the appeal of the slender El Viejo Continente Maduro Lancero cigar. The wide bands at the top and the silver ribbon around the foot made this a delightful cigar to look at. Added to that, the fact that there was no heavy veining on the dark chocolate maduro wrapper, I couldn’t wait to light up and start smoking it.

As I slid the El Viejo Continente Maduro Lancero cigar out of its cellophane wrapper my nose was met with scents of rich and earthy black cardamom that mellowed towards caraway seed as it sat in my ashtray waiting to be lit whilst I took some photos. Once cut, the cold draw reminded me of carrot-infused pilau rice. There was a hint of sweetness alongside the earthy cardamom and caraway seed that I had smelt when I initially held it.

The first flavours that hit me on the first draws were sweet and herbaceous. The black cardamom from the initial aromas and cold draw was present alongside the eartiness of bay leaves and peat, which left me salivating and hungry to find out what other mouthwatering delights were in store for me.

I chose to pair this delightful lancero cigar from El Viejo Continente with some chilled rum infused mead. This turned out to be a perfect match. The mead brought out the sweet chocolaty notes in the cigar, whilst the cigar tempered the honey saccharinity of the drink.

Smoking my way to the middle of the El Viejo Continente Maduro Lancero cigar, I started to taste the richness of grilled aubergine coming through, leaving the more earthy notes from the first third as a memory. The intensity of the roast aubergine flavour grew steadily throughout the middle of the cigar as it was joined by a warming flavour of a deep pile of crisp autumn leaves.

There was a weightiness to the smoke, which echoed the savoury flavours in the cigar. I watched the gentle clouds dissolve into sensuous tendrils as my mind wandered to thoughts of splashing through the autumn leaves on a chilled November day to release the moist aromas of the slightly damp leaves at the bottom of the pile.

My entry into the final third of the El Viejo Continente Maduro Lancero cigar was marked by a hit of jalapeño pepper. A quick blow through to release the heat and the next draws were full of rich sweetness that brought to mind a salsa verde slathered all over a thick roasted aubergine steak with a handful of bacon crumbs sprinkled over the top.

There were only two slight problems I had with this cigar. The first was when I came to remove the bands as I neared the final third of the cigar; they were a little too well stuck and unfortunately split the wrapper slightly, though not to the detriment of the cigar. The second was despite the extra quarter-of-an-inch that the El Viejo Continente Maduro Lancero has on other lancero cigars, I really wanted to smoke another inch or so of it because it had such a rich, delicious and varied flavour palate.

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El Viejo Continente Maduro Lancero Cigar Details