Cohiba Lanceros: Cuban Cigar Classics

The Cohiba Lancero Cigar is possibly one of the most classic of all of the cigars for sale. Many historians, cigar aficionados and enthusiasts have noted that the Cohiba Lanceros was the cigar which introduced Fidel Castro, Cuba’s President from 1959-2008, to cigar smoking and became his favourite cigar of all time.

COHIBA LANCEROS

The Cohiba Lancero is praised for its medium-full flavoured profile which exhibits smooth and sweet notes typical of Cohiba. It too has a kick of spice which is wonderfully wrapped in an oily and shiny wrapper.

This fantastic format provides the smoker with a smoking time of 90 minutes to 2 hours, making it perfect for warm summer evenings. 

THE STORY BEHIND THE LANCEROS

A cigar can be seen attached to some of the most prominent people in Politics, or should we say it’s them that become fervently attached to the cigar. We are of course talking about the likes of Winston Churchill and Fidel Castro, two long standing President’s and Prime Ministers who were obvious enthusiasts of Cuban cigars. The Lancero was one particular cigar that Castro was barely ever seen without, and if you type Fidel Castro cigar into google you’ll see exactly what we mean; the Lancero might just be the most photographed cigars online.

Castro (above) smoking his favourite vitola during a speech. [Photo sourced from https://www.aftenposten.no/.]

In a conversation with Marvin Shanken in 1994, Fidel said: 

'One man who used to work for me as a bodyguard (mid 1960s), I used to see the man smoking a very aromatic, very nice cigar, and I asked him what brand he was smoking. He told me that it was no special brand, but that it came from a friend who makes cigars and he gave them to him. I said, let’s find this man. I tried the cigar, and I found it so good that we got in touch with him and asked him how he made it. Then, we set up the house [the El Laguito Factory], and he explained the blend of tobacco he used. He told which leaves he used from which tobacco plantations. He also told us about the wrappers he used and other things. We found a group of cigar makers. We gave them the material, and that was how the factory was founded.”

The cigar Fidel is referring to is the Lanceros and it continued to be his favourite cigar up until the day he quit smoking in 1985, but one that he still admired and thought about fondly until he the day he died. The brand the El Laguito Factory housed was Cohiba, Habanos S. A’s Flagship brand.

Benjamin Menendez from General Cigar Company explains that the Lancero/ Laguito No.1 vitola did not exist before Cohiba created it and since then many brands have created one or something very similar (not to be confused with Cohiba Esplendidos).

The traditional measurement for a Lancero is 190mm by 38 ring gauge, making it one of Cuba’s slightest and slimmest cigars. In the past, it was popular as a new vitola but never reached levels seen in the much loved Robusto or Churchill vitola. Nevertheless, as of late, the vitola has picked up in popularity and many are choosing it as their preferred vitola.

The visual appearance of the Lanceros is both striking and elegant, with its slim ring gauge and long silhouette it’s known for being both complex and smooth. This is because it owes most of its flavour to the wrapper leaf which is more prominent than the filler leaves in this format (less filler).

The Lancero has been less popular compared to other vitolas because they can sometimes be the most expensive and can be poorly constructed. This is because it is a difficult size to roll and needs high quality control in factories as it can be very easy to under or over-fill. The former will mean that the Lancero will burn hot, giving it a bitter taste, and the latter will mean that it will be almost impossible to smoke due to the tight draw.

Nevertheless, major brands including Cohiba Cuban cigars, have perfected the construction issues seen in previous Lanceros and most Lanceros cigars now exhibit some of the finest composition and combust impeccably.

For further information on the brand, it’s history and some of its most famous releases, see our Cuban Cigar Blog for the post Spotlight: Cohiba Cigars. We talk about the Cohiba Siglo II and the world famous Cohiba Behike 56. 

What are your thoughts on the Cohiba Lancero cigar? Is it one of your favourite formats or do you prefer the thicker and short ring gauge seen in the Cohiba Robusto? Let us know in the comments below!