Foundation Cigar Company The Tabernacle Havana Seed CT #142 Lancero

By Tony Casas | February 10, 2020

We got snow about 3 days ago, a good 5 inches. Today, its 70 degrees and sunny. Gotta love El Paso weather. But I am going to take advantage of this beautiful day, venture outback and light up a Foundation Cigar Company Tabernacle Havana See CT #142 Lancero paired with a bottle of The Bruery’s Rue’d Attitude porter.

The Good Stuff:

By now we all know the badass that is Nick Mellilo, founder of Foundation Cigar Company who has been kicking out some of the most popular cigars to hit the market over the past few years. The Havana Seed CT #142 is an extension of the Tabernacle line which features a new, experimental wrapper.

The blend starts off with a cuban-seed Connecticut Havana Seed CT #142 wrapper, hence where the cigar gets its name from, over a Mexican San Andres Binder and Nicaraguan / Honduran fillers.

The lancero is the fifth addition to the blend which features the Robusto (5 x 50), Corona (5 1/4 x 46), Toro (6 x 52), Double Corona (7 x 54), and the Lacnero (7 x 40). The The Foundation Cigar Company Tabernacle Havana Seed CT #142 lancero, and all the other formats in the line come packaged in boxes of 24 and runs $12.75 a stick. We got ours over from the great folks at Fox Cigar Bar who have them in stock now, with free shipping, no minimum.

• Size: 7 x 40
• Wrapper: Connecticut Havana Seed CT #142
• Binder: Mexican San Andres
• Filler: Honduran and Nicaraguan
• Body: Full
• Strength: Full
• Price: $12.75
• Pairing: Bruery Rue’d Attitude (Imperial Porter 12.6% ABV)

Prelight:

The Foundation Cigar Company Tabernacle Havana Seed CT #142 starts off with a very pretty, dark chocolate brown wrapper. The wrapper is much darker around the foot of the cigar and lighters as you near the cap while the wrapper leaf is laid seamlessly over itself. The wrapper’s texture is extremely toothy and gritty with a great amount of oil coating the cigar’s body. The cigar features some very mild veins and tobacco webbing as the slender body leads up to the cigar’s round, triple-wrapped cap. The cigar is then polished off with a red and gold version of the Tabernacle band.

The wrapper on the Foundation Cigar Company Tabernacle Havana Seed CT #142 gives off mild musk and dirt aromas while the foot of the cigar smells much more bright with spice pepper, and natural tobacco scents. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces notes of musk, spice, and black cherry.

First Third:

The Foundation Cigar Company Tabernacle Havana Seed CT #142 starts off with a pretty potent black pepper punch that while strong, only lasts through the first few puffs and quickly fades away allowing the cigar to hit me with loads of black coffee, dark chocolate, musk, pecan, and black cherry over some great cedar flavors. The draw is incredible, as usually when it comes to the lancero format allowing each puff to release a massive amount of thick, gray smoke which doesn’t take anytime before it vanishes into the air. The burn line is razor thin and dead even leaving behind a semi-compacted trail of dark gray and black ash which only held on for about 3/4 of an inch before giving way.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Foundation Cigar Company Tabernacle Havana Seed CT #142 and both the body and strength have continuously ramped up in power. The flavors are now bold coffee, cedar, and musk backed by black cherry, pecan, and caramel. The taste is a bit on the dryer side, but that meshes well with the flavors in the cigar. The retrohale really bring out the spice and cedar and its a bit rough so I don’t find myself doing it too often. I close out the second third with a decent little nicotine kick.

Finish:

Into the final third of the Foundation Cigar Company Tabernacle Havana Seed CT #142 and man, this thing just won’t quit. The leading flavors are still cedar and coffee backed by dark chocolate, black cherry, musk and pecan. While the flavors haven’t changed up much, they didn’t need to and I prefer that they didn’t as I really enjoy this profile. It took me 2 hours to take this cigar down to the nub, I experience no harshness, nor extended heat. It did leave me with quite a bit of a nicotine buzz though.

Overview:

What an absolute treat of a cigar. I really appreciate not only the complexity of the experience but also the unique blend of the flavors that the Foundation Cigar Company Tabernacle Havana Seed CT #142 offered. The cigar was much more bold and powerful than I expected, and quite frankly I loved that as it fit the blend really well. The lancero in particular really poured on the body. This is just another gold notch in Nick’s already glowing belt. I am always going to have a few of these in my regular rotation, and this is something you don’t want to pass up.

Pairing:

Brewed at The Bruery in Placentia, California Rue’d Attitude is a 12.6% imperial porter aged in bourbon barrels and then treated with vanilla, tart cherries, and coffee. The beer leads with a very pleasant cold-brewed coffee flavor backed by caramel, vanilla, nutmeg, and a nice mild tartness from the cherry. The mouthfeel is very light before the beer finishes with even more cherry and vanilla over dark chocolate and coffee. The coffee was spot-on and wasn’t over acidic especially in conjunction with the cherry flavors. Add that to the chocolate, coffee, and cherry flavors in the Tabernacle and you can see exactly why I chose to pair this cigar and beer together.