Cigar Review: Villiger La Flor De Ynclan Lancero Especial

Cigar: Villiger La Flor De Ynclan Lancero Especial
Size: 6 3/4 x 43 (Lancero)
Wrapper: Ecuadorian
Binder: Indonesian
Filler: Dominican, Nicaraguan
MSRP: $11.00 per cigar
Samples provided by the Creativas Group and Villiger Cigars.

Right around this time last year, I was given the opportunity to try a new release from Villiger Cigars. The La Flor De Ynclan was a long-developed brand, taking 10 years of development before the company was finally pleased enough with the cigar to where they felt it could go to market. And pleased they were; the robusto vitola garnered itself as the No. 10 cigar from Cigar Aficionado Magazine, among other accolades. This year at IPCPR, Villiger announced that they were releasing a special edition Lancero vitola of the cigar. I was obviously more than happy to see how this new vitola stands up to last year’s review.

No construction issues found on the cigar chosen for review. With this vitola, I was welcomed with pre-light aromas of wood and earth while the cold draw provided light leathery notes on the palette. The draw was well balanced using a scissors style cutter I have been favoring lately. With this year’s variation of the La Flor Dr Ynclan, I found the cigar to be closer to medium-to-full bodied in the beginning with notes of pepper and wood on the front side of the palette with spice and nutty tones on the aftertaste. It took 27 minutes before I felt the pepper began subsiding from the palette, after which the woody notes moved to the forefront of the flavor profile. And there they reigned supreme over the palette until the end of the cigar. The other flavors mentioned stayed more or less around the palette but the entire time, the woody notes stayed at the top. The final 20 minutes of the cigar proved to be a strong wood finish while nearly approaching into full bodied territory. The total smoking on the Villiger La Flor De Ynclan Lancero Especial was 1:13.

All in all, the cigar was a good citizen and gave me zero problems during its smoking and like the Torpedo vitola, I was overall very pleased with the cigar.

By-The-Numbers
Pre-light: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10

To recap the Villiger La Flor De Ynclan Lancero Especial

• The Lancero in my opinion seems to have a little bit more zip to it than the Torpedo I smoked last year. I loved the balance of flavor and strength. Well done.
• Newer smokers could enjoy this without getting blown away by strength and flavor.
• This vitola is a dollar cheaper than the Torpedo, and with the perceived extra strength noted above, becomes my preferred vitola from this line.
• Should you see this in your local shops or see these advertised online, do not sleep on these.

A huge thank you to the Creativas Group and Villiger Cigars for the samples and thank you very much for reading. I look forward to the next time I can share my thoughts with you.