My Father #4 Lancero Review
Cigar: My Father
Vitola: #4 (lancero) 7.5" x 38
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano Rosado
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
MSRP: ~$10.50
Initial Impression/Prelight
The My Father #4 sports an Ecuadorian Habano Rosado wrapper, but even though I smoked this outside in the sunlight I didn't see much if any red hue. Instead, I found a nice, even mocha-colored wrapper with a pigtail cap, well-rolled and symmetrical, with very few veins and no soft spots.
The aroma was a bit milder than I expected from what I know is a fairly strong cigar, but I noticed some leather and spices from the wrapper and foot. I clipped with a guillotine cutter, and the pre-light draw was on the tight side. I picked up some light pepper and a fig or dried fruit sweetness from the cold draw.
I hate not being able to go back and verify anymore, but I THINK this cigar came to me from Tobias about 8-10 months ago, and the cello is dated '13 (do I recognize his handwriting? Is that weird?). It's been in my humidor at 65% since I got it.
Oh and...first Bums review!
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1st Third
The #4 starts out with a Pepin-ish pepper blast along with some oakiness. There's a hint of bitterness through the first 1/2", but that dissipates rapidly and I got into earthiness and leather, with more black pepper and some citrus on the retrohale. The flavor is med-full so far, and strength is actually in the medium range, below what I expected.
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2nd Third
The flavors really smoothed and and picked up in this section, with espresso and a more subtle leather as the primaries. I also tasted a lighter pepper and some bitter chocolate, spices and earth here, but still none of the dried fruit flavor from the cold draw. The burn is dead on, and smoke output is terrific for the vitola.
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Final Third
I remember this from my first #4 - the ending is real crescendo. The rich leather and earthiness is still there, along with a big rush of mouth-warming baking spices and an almost creamy finish. The strength picks up a bit, and the cigars ends on a high note.
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Overall Thoughts
What a great cigar. I love the vitola, I love the flavors, and I love the construction and perfect burn. If you like pepper you get it here, but the pepper is integrated in nicely with the earth, leather, chocolate, spices and espresso. Too many Nicaraguans I had last year just pummeled my mouth, which sounds dirty, and it is. I want rich, full flavor, but I don't need to taste it two days later, scraping my tongue to try to get rid of it. This cigar is the best of both worlds to me - rich but smooth, and minimal or no ashtray mouth.
- Granted, this cigar has a couple years of age which may have helped smooth things out. All the more reason to pick some up and get them aging, I say.
- Maybe it's because I only smoked one last year, but somehow the #4 got left off my personal "Best of 2014" lists. It's certainly one of if not the best I've smoked so far this year.
- Too many lanceros burn poorly, need relights, or don't put off much smoke. This one defied the odds and ran perfectly. Ash piled up nicely and hung on for 3/4"-1" at a time.
- The ending is just awesome, and reminds me of what I love about the La Aurora Preferidos line. There's this big, warm spiciness to the flavors, but it's still smooth and borderline-creamy. Love it.
- The traditional lancero size is just stately, and this one has the gorgeous My Father band, with the green and pink colors and raised gold lettering and relief. It's one of my favorite bands.
- I drank iced coffee with the smoke, and final burn time was about 1 hour and 45 minutes.
I noticed that my scores all clustered together pretty tightly in my reviews before (similar to how they tend to show up for a lot of professional reviewers too, I think), but for some reason I felt obligated to stick with the numbers since that's how I'd started. Now I think I'll just say 'yea' or 'nay' with a single, 5-er, or box recommendation, and otherwise let the flavors do the talking. Or maybe I'll give a 1-5, or 1-10 scale. If anyone has feedback let me know. I may be incorrectly assuming that anyone cares.
I derive a lot of psychological pleasure from "getting deals", but these don't seem to go on sale very often, at least where I shop. Either way, I'll give this a rating of 'box-worthy' and plan to pick up a box this year at some point.
