Epic Corojo Lancero: Great cigars are better when shared with friends

At the beginning of July, I went live on Instagram with my good friend Karen Hunter and Mike Choi, owner of Boutique Smokes, to smoke the Epic Corojo Lancero. The choice of cigar had been put to a vote in my Instagram stories. The choice was between this cigar and the El Viejo Continente Maduro Lancero. The Epic cigar won by one vote, so on the Monday evening we gave the viewers what they asked for.

The first thing you notice about this cigar is the beautifully oily and sweet smelling wrapper. This comes from the Cuban Corojo seed from which the tobacco for the wrapper is grown. Aromas of cashew but, sweet tobacco and cedar drifted from the cigar and once I had straight-cut the little pig tail cap off, I got a mouthful of toffee infused with bay leaf on the cold draw.

What struck me the most about this cigar was just how creamy it was. The smoke itself had the quality of whipped double cream and this didn’t change from first lighting right down to the nub. The toffee and cashew nut flavours were present in my first draws on the Epic Corojo Lancero. Conversation flowed from the intricacies of blending a cigar, through to women in cigar lounges and what cigars we would buy were we to win the lottery.

Many reviewers talk about the first, second and final thirds when it comes to flavour profiling a cigar. I find that a lancero is a lot more nuanced than that. Whilst I was still in the first third of the cigar, the nuttiness subsided and leather and oak came more to the front. There was still a lovely, gentle sweetness in the overall taste because of the corojo wrapper, but I wouldn’t say that it was intense.

Segueing into the middle section of the Epic Corojo Lancero, I started to notice hints of coffee. Not a strong espresso, but more like a mild Americano with a good dose of milk in it. It was at this point, subtle hints of black pepper started to creep into the mix. Nothing harsh or fiery, but that little scrunch of pepper you put on your food when you serve it. Right the way up to this point, I had been retrohaling on a regular basis and leather had been a constant flavour throughout.

Construction wise, the burn was absolutely perfect. It wasn’t until right at the end after the live had finished and I was tidying up that I had to touch up the burn on the Epic Corojo Lancero as I had left it just a little too long between draws. By the end of my time with the cigar I had a lovely set of very firm ash balls sat neatly in my ashtray.

During the final third of the cigar, I was treated to freshly mown hay and rich cocoa flavours with a final tickle of cedar as I laid the soldier to rest in my ashtray. This really was a great cigar that could be smoked by anyone at any time. This Epic cigar is a lovely example of just how good a lancero can be.

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Epic Corojo Lancero Cigar Details