Cigar: Franklin Maduro Lancero
Size: Lancero
Wrapper: Mexican San Andreas
Price: $8.99 Courtesy of Underground Cigar Shop
By: Danny Smith
Alright guys, time to review a cigar that has taken the Internet by storm! If you browse around the Underground Cigar facebook page or CATS you have undoubtedly seen folks posting about Franklin Cigars. These cigars are rolled by Franklin Pichardo as a house blend for his shop in PA but are also available now outside of PA exclusively at the Underground Cigar Shop in Fort Worth Texas. Hats off to Don for getting these out to the UG faithful! Alright, back to Franklin....Franklin rolled the famous Opus X for Fuente for years before setting up shop in the states and his cigars seem to be a hit. I spoke to the man himself via telephone to get a little insight into the blend. The cigar features tobaccos from the Dominican, Peru, and Nicaragua tucked into a dark Mexican San Andreas wrapper.
Pre-Light/Appearance: As mentioned above, the wrapper on this cigar is a chocolaty brown in color with minimal veins. The cigar is firm to the touch with just enough give....I bet the draw will be nice!
First Third:
The smell of this baby is intoxicating....time to stop looking at it and light it up!
The smell I mentioned already only gets stronger after you've gotten into this thing. The burn line is spot on and the draw is just about right...not too loose but you don't have to work for it either. Flavor wise, I'm picking up a little sweetness and a bit of pepper. The pepper isn't over powering at all...it's just there as an accent and lingers on the back of the palate a bit. The smoke production is very nice at this point.
Second Third:
Closing in on the second third the spice fades a bit and the sweetness remains. Burn line remains fantastic and the smoke production has really picked up. This thing is really putting out some serious smoke! I rarely retro hale. I'm a sissy. I know. Anyway, the retro hale wasn't harsh at all and really brought out some complex flavors. At about the halfway point the strength of this cigar picks up significantly. Early on we were hovering around medium mark but I'm starting to feel the strength of this little firecracker as it has moved into a fuller smoke. Burn continues to be spot on with plenty of smoke and a bit of white pepper on the palate.
Final Third:
Moving into the final third...life is about to get "gooder" as we say in Kentucky. Pouring a little Rowan's Creek bourbon to go with the rest of the cigar. As this thing winds down the burn got a little wavy but corrected itself after a few minutes. And I've got to say, this thing is smoking like a chimney. I love it. The flavors of pepper and salty caramel sweetness are working together. The pepper lingers slightly on the palate after each puff. The strength has stayed on the fuller side of medium but this isn't a cigar that will overwhelm you in the strength department. It has been an enjoyable smoke.
Final Thoughts:
It took me about an hour and ten minutes to get through this and an enjoyable hour and ten minutes it was. The cigar gets high marks in all categories from draw, burn, flavor, smoke production, etc. You can and should pick up some of these smokes to try. They can be ordered from Franklin's shop in PA or from Don at the Underground for around $7.99 per stick. This is an area where this cigar stands out as well. At about eight bucks a stick this is a true value and I do believe that this cigar will be a regular in my humidor for the foreseeable future. Hope you guys enjoyed the review...now go buy some!
No comments:
Post a Comment