At last year’s Tobacconists’ Association of America (TAA) meeting and conference, Joya de Nicaragua answered the calls of its fans and released a lancero version of the company’s CyB line, specifically for retailers of the TAA.

To be honest, few cigars troubled me as much last year as the CyB Lancero Fino. I probably smoked close to a dozen last year and still struggled with their consistency. I mentioned it in my review, which was a precursor to the entire box itself.

We’ve had the CyB Lanceros for nearly a month. The first few I smoked were hash, really harsh. I chalked it up to the cigars being young and figured some additional time would help. It did, sort of. Of the last few I’ve smoked, two have been very good—it’s what the above notes describe—but the last one I smoked was not. The score below takes into account the bad with the good. I’m interested to smoke more, and to redux this in six months, because it’s still somewhat unclear to me whether these are just young or inconsistent. For those wondering, I think this is a push against the Lonsdale Club, perhaps a little bit better, but I’d probably take the Corona Real on flavor alone. I think this is a good cigar, at times a great one, but it’s definitely far from perfect.

 

  • Cigar Reviewed: Joya de Nicaragua CyB Lancero Fino
  • Country of Origin: Nicaragua
  • Factory: Fabrica de Tabacos Joya de Nicaragua S.A.
  • Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
  • Binder: Dominican Republic Piloto Cubanao (La Canela)
  • Filler: Nicaragua (Ometepe and Esteli) & Peru (Tarapoto)
  • Size: 7 Inches
  • Ring Gauge: 38
  • Vitola: Lancero
  • MSRP: $10.25 (Boxes of 21, $215.25)
  • Date Released: June 2013
  • Number of Cigars Released: Regular Release
  • Number of Cigars Smoked For Redux: 2

Over time, the secondary bands have grown on me a lot. The wrappers continue to be a great deep brown with a smooth texture and relatively hidden veins. There’s dry chocolate notes and cedar from the wrapper, but the real story is the foot: sweet spices, cinnamon, ginger, lemon and nuts. The cold draw isn’t as plentiful, but still has enough flavors—lemon, cedar, powdered cocoa and barbecue.

The CyB Lancero Fino begins with some notes of oak, black and red pepper and a familiar lemon. The finish is different from most cigars: no detectable new flavors, bur rather a deepening of the ones already present. At its core, the cigar is very much woody along with a newfound cocoa that I never picked up a year or so ago. There’s still great notes of fruit, cinnamon and creaminess, particularly in the first two thirds. As the cigar enters the final third, the CyB provides earthier notes that begin to overwhelm the chocolate, a great fight to the finish.

Joya de Nicaragua CyB Lancero Fino

Strength-wise, I think the cigar is actually a bit more aggressive than it was a year ago. Still around medium, but much more upfront about it. Construction is relatively similar to my other experiences, around an inch of ash if you are careful and decent smoke production. It’s an easy smoke with a little bit more attention required to prevent the cigar from going out in the second half, but definitely not one that requires an excessive amount of maintenance.

Disclosure: Joya de Nicaragua is a site sponsor.

91 Overall Score

This is a much better cigar than it was when it shipped. I still thing it’s a restrained cigar as far as Joya de Nicaragua, but in a year, it has come out of its shell quite a bit. I’d probably smoke this over the Corona Real at this point, but I’d rather smoke Joya de Nicaragua’s modern bread and butter—the stronger Antaños or better yet, the Cuatro Cinco, which I find to be smoking wonderfully right now.

Original Score (May 2013)
88
Redux Score (April 2014)
91
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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.