My Father Cigars No. 4 Lancero

Yes I know, I’m late this week. Tony will probably say something about me being a slacker (but it’s ok, we all know who the real slacker is around here 😉 ). But have no fear, I still managed to put together a nice review for you today to help brighten up an already exciting Friday. Why is it exciting? Well, cause it’s Friday! duh! lol. Ok enough chatter, time to get down to the nitty gritty, let’s find out the skinny on today’s cigar of choice, the My Father Cigars No. 4 Lancero.

Now the name Don Pepin Garcia has quickly become synonymous with fantastic cigars over his years in this industry. Not only does he have some of his own awesome brands but him and his son, Jaime Garcia, are also involved in tons of other brands. Some of these include Tatuaje, Padilla, and a ton of special edition and house blend cigars. In 2008, Jaime Garcia opened up the now incredibly popular My Father Cigars factory in Esteli, Nicaragua and the My Father Cigars lineup was born.

As you might have guessed, the No. 4 Lancero is produced out of the My Father factory in Esteli and made with all premium Nicaraguan tobacco. The wrapper itself is a Habano Rosado and has some awesome color and feel to it, definitely a cigar to be appreciated. We’ve also hit up other cigars in the My Father lineup for reviews that include the regular production Cedros Deluxe Eminentes, the more limited run Le Bijou 1922 and the one-time production Limited Edition 2010.

As with all the My Father lineup, the band is a piece of art. So much detail on these bands, they always impress me. Along with the wonderful detail of the bands, this cigar comes packaged in wicked cool dark mahogany colored boxes in quantities of 23. On top and wrapped around the sides of the box is basically a gigantic version of the band you see on the cigar. I don’t usually mention the boxes but this one is very neat so I had to! Now let’s have this cigar meet my good friend called the lighter and see what kind of magic will happen tonight.

Cigar: My Father Cigars No. 4 Lancero
Drink: Fonseca Bin No 27 Reserve Porto
Vitola: Lancero (7.5 x 38)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano Rosado
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: About $9
Burn Time: Just under 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The My Father Cigars lancero is wrapped in an oily leaf that has an awesome chocolate brown color to it with some orangey hints
• The smoothness on this wrapper is awesome, like velvet, with almost no veins at all
• There is a very firm spot right around the band but the rest of the cigar has a bit of give when squeezed
• The foot has a bit of damage from transport on this sample, hoping it doesn’t lead to any major issues
• The foot of the cigar looks well packed and evenly cut
• On the top of this cigar we have a neat little pig-tail type of cap, a nice touch to this great looking cigar
• The draw itself was very good on this cigar but it suffered from some tar buildup that required me to cut it a few times, but after the cut the draw would open up again nicely

Burn:
• The toasting was quick and easy with a single flame jet lighter as you would expect on a lancero
• Because of the cracks at the foot, the initial burn was all over the place but it actually burned through the cracks without needing me to touch anything up
• Once I passed the initial cracked wrapper, the My Father lancero started burning razor sharp and even
• As I burn past the halfway mark I’ve had no burn issues to report, it has stayed razor sharp and is staying lit with minimal effort
• Straight to the nub this cigar burned perfectly, even with the cracked wrapper at the foot, can’t ask for much more than that!

Smoke & Ash:
• A weird thing happened with this cigar, the initial draws were nice and easy giving me a big mouthful of smoke but shortly after the draw got super tight and the amount of smoke declined just the same
• Usually a cigar opens up for me rather than tightens up, I thought that was weird, maybe had something to do with the cracks near the foot?
• The ash is coming along nicely with some tones of white and very light grey
• Despite being a thin vitola, the ash is holding up tightly and cleanly without any flaking
• I decided to give it one more small cut near the cap to see if the draw would improve and I was met with a nice mouthful of smoke again
• Each of the ashes lasted about a half-inch before hitting the ashtray, and a couple of them hit the floor
• It stayed clean and neat but it was not very strong but I can’t knock it much for that since it’s a small ring gauge and it was windy tonight too

Tasting Notes:
• On the wrapper I’m picking up mostly a barnyard and tobacco aroma
• From the foot I’m getting a little more barnyard mixed with some sweet floral hints
• prelight lots of sweet cedar, barnyard and a bit of clove spice
• Starting off on the initial draws I’m met with lots of cedar and leathery flavors and only a hint of peppery spice
• As I smoke through the first half, the spices never ramped up like a lot of other Pepin sticks but kept nicely on the sidelines. This made room for some nice cedar and leathery notes mixed with some coffee flavors that started shining through later in the first third
• All the flavors are balancing together nicely and none of them are really overpowering at any point
• The body on the My Father lancero has been mostly at the low end of medium so far and the retrohale is giving me a nice little bite along with a smooth coffee and cedar finish
• A nice new flavor reared its head at the halfway mark as an awesome little tart sweetness started joining the flavor party
• The tart flavors are making an awesome addition to the profile as they keep peeking in now and then
• The roasted coffee flavors have also started to shine through nicely
• Right to the end, the flavors stayed well balanced and slowly build up with intensity but never overpowering
• The body never really passed into the full range but it did build up in body a little bit
• I was able to smoke the My Father lancero right down to the nub with no harsh or bitter flavors at all

Final Thoughts:
I don’t think I’ve had a My Father branded cigar that I didn’t like yet and this one is not gonna break that streak. The lancero is another solid addition to an already tasty lineup of cigars. The flavors in this cigar were varied, complex, and interesting, keeping my on my toes the whole time. The tar buildup and extra cuts were a bit of an annoyance but all in all it wrapped up to be a very enjoyable experience. At a price point of about $9 (or more if bought in singles) they are a bit on the higher range of cigar prices. With all that in mind, I would definitely buy these again but I’d probably focus my attention on tracking down some of the other vitolas in the lineup more simply because a lancero is not my favorite vitola.

Pairings:
Today we’re hopping back on the port train with this offering from Fonseca called the Bin No 27 Reserve. You’ve probably seen this is a couple of Tony’s pairings so when I saw it at the local store I decided to give it a shot. I have to say I’m quite happy I did. In this port you’ll find a nice mix of black current and black cherries wrapped up with some nice oaky flavors and sealed together in a nice full bodied wine. A great port for the price, that is for sure. As I say with many of my other port pairings, this is one beverage that I’m happy to pair with damn near any cigar and the My Father Cigar lancero was no exception, they paired wonderfully! Other suggested pairings would be a strong coffee or a nice full stout to match the interesting flavors of this cigar.