Puros on the Low Low: Centurion Lancero, by Don Pepin Garcia (5.5" x 38)

Centurion Lancero, by DPG (5.5" x 38)

Here's a photo of this mini lancero before I sparked it up. I like the band.

Here's another "cream puff" shot of this sweet stick.

I decided to smoke this outside this morning…looked warmer than it is! Nasty Dodge City wind is not improving the experience but I haven’t had a good smoke in over a week so I toughed it out! I paired this stogie with 40 Sardines coffee and they mate very well.

Here's what a vendor selling the stick had to say:

This the first Limited Edition smoke made by Don Pepin Garcia under his own label and it is limited to a production run of 600 boxes per size. This is an absolutely exquisite medium to full bodied smoke made in Don Pepin's Nicaraguan cigar factory, Tabacalera Cubana (TACUBA). A carefully selected blend of Nicaraguan grown, Cuban seed tobaccos featuring both Criollo '98 and Corojo '99 leaves have been meticulously aged for 3 years for the filler and binder. The wrapper is a beautiful, smooth looking, and oily medium brown colored Nicaraguan Habano wrapper also aged for 3 years. To ensure that these tobaccos were aged to perfection, Don Pepin was checking the status of the aging process himself. It's his baby and he was dead set on making sure that this was one of the best cigars he has ever produced.

The smoke is as smooth as a well aged scotch and the flavor is rich and balanced with flavors of cedar, coffee and leather with a spicy finish. Pepin says that El Centurion taste like "old Cohibas" and that they are "aromatic".

RTR notes: beautiful wrapper, dark and smooth, prelight aroma was of strong cinnamon, wrapper is gold and attractive. Held off buying any of these due to price and low availability but received one for Father's Day this year as part of a Don Pepin Garcia Lancero collection....ultra smooth and cinnamony; reminds me of JJ or My Father only smoother. Actually, it also remind me of Holt's DPG house blend "Old Henry", though Old Henry is a little rougher in appearance and not as smooth.

RTR quick rating: 3. This is a really good cigar-so smooth that the body (around Medium) really sneaks up on you. I would give it a 4 if it had more flavor but I think a “mild to medium” cigar smoker would rate this a 4. I cannot imagine anyone disliking this cigar-though, when these were available, the price point was a little steep (above $14 I think). If these were readily available and the price was closer to $6, I would get more of these.