La Aurora Fernando León Legacy Lancero

Every February, the Dominican Republic’s most prominent cigar trade group, Procigar, hosts a cigar festival by the same name. During the festival, attendees visit farms and factories, go to themed dinners, and of course, smoke cigars. The event is capped off by a gala dinner where each of Procigar’s members donate items—typically humidors—to auction off for charities.

La Aurora used the 2022 festival’s auction to preview an upcoming release, the La Aurora Fernando León Legacy Lancero. The cigar celebrates what would be the 100th birthday of Fernando León Asensio, the third son of Eduardo León Jimenes and the father of Guillermo León, the company’s current owner. Fernando León led the family’s tobacco operations for nearly 50 years before he passed away in 2009.

Shortly before his passing, the company embarked on a project to try to grow corojo leaves in Bonao, Dominican Republic. The La Aurora Fernando León Legacy Lancero uses a corojo-seed wrapper from that project, which the company says was first harvested in 2008. Underneath that is a binder from the Dominican Republic and fillers from Brazil and the Dominican Republic.

The humidor that La Aurora auctioned off not only included 180 cigars—it came with other Fernando León cigars—but also honored León in its exterior. The exterior featured a white-fronted quail-dove, one of his favorite birds, celebrating one of his other passions, protecting the habitats of birds.

While the humidor sold for $14,000, the La Aurora Fernando León Legacy Lancero can be had for $20 in the U.S. It is limited to just 1,000 boxes of 10 cigars.

• Cigar Reviewed: La Aurora Fernando León Legacy Lancero
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: La Aurora Cigar Factory
• Wrapper: Dominican Republic (Corojo)
• Binder: Dominican Republic
• Filler: Brazil & Dominican Republic
• Length: 6 7/8 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 40
• Vitola: Lancero
• MSRP: $20 (Box of 10, $200)
• Release Date: July 2022
• Number of Cigars Released: 1,000 Boxes of 10 Cigars (10,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

Given that most of the length of the cigar is covered by a cedar sleeve, the first thing I notice is the relatively unique cap. It has a much more pronounced pigtail, and the cap itself is fairly flat, neither of which are features I can recall seeing on many La Aurora products before. Once the cedar is removed, the rest of the medium brown wrapper is revealed. There’s some light mottling, very few veins, and a pretty consistent color, though some lighter discoloration can be found in a few places. The wrapper has a medium-plus aroma that includes cedar and the smell of sweet ketchup. The foot smells like plaster and mayonnaise, and there’s a bit of a twang-like sweetness underneath. Everything is very intertwined, and it too is medium-plus. The cold draw has lots of twang, some sweet lemon, nuttiness and oak. It’s medium-full and the resistance is good on each cigar.

The La Aurora Fernando León Legacy Lancero starts one of two ways. On two cigars it’s dominated by nuttiness, while the third cigar shows no nuttiness and instead is left with a mineral-laden earthiness and some black pepper. Pretty quickly, the nuttiness emerges as the main flavor in the one cigar where it was present at the start. There’s a fair amount of spiciness—not pepper—along with isolated amounts of black pepper and some sweetness coming from a flavor reminiscent of apple juice. As the first third closes, redwoods and a horseradish flavor, albeit without the pepper kick, picks up along with sawdust. The finish has a thin meaty flavor, earth, black pepper, touches of both white pepper and toastiness, along with a waffle cone sweetness that lingers. Retrohales add creaminess—closer to a white sauce than actual cream—along with garlic powder and some horseradish flavor, though once again without the pepper burn. The finish has lots of black pepper in the throat as well as earthiness in my nostrils, but it’s pretty similar to the initial retrohale. Flavor is full, body is medium and strength is medium-plus. Construction is phenomenal in the first third.

If I were to have any questions about what the leading flavor of the cigar would be, the second third answers them. The nuttiness picks up—both the nutty mixture and some more discernible cashew sensations—and they are dominating over creaminess, brown mustard, cinnamon and reduced pepper. The profile is a lot chewier than before. The finish keeps the nuttiness, now leading toastiness and remnants of the horseradish flavor. Retrohales include nuttiness, the first signs of red pepper, leather, burning thyme and a mild pink salt. The finish includes white pepper, leather, creaminess toasted bread, grass and black pepper. Each time I retrohale, the inside of my cheeks pucker thanks to some white pepper that hits them directly. Flavor is full, body is medium-plus to medium-full, and strength is medium. One cigar needs a touch-up in the second third to help with an uneven burn and another needs the touch-up to increase the smoke production.

The nutty mixture continues to build to the point where it might be out of balance. I don’t find it too sharp or saturated, but it’s drowning out the rest of the flavors during the final third. A toasty characteristic changes the nuttiness a bit and also seems to allow some creaminess to emerge. When I get to the point where there’s about an inch of cigar left, the sawdust comes back and builds, adding a different texture to the nuttiness. The finish sees the sawdust and nuttiness combine over milder flavors of horseradish, mineral flavors and creaminess. Retrohales have sawdust, grapefruit, leather, white pepper and creaminess, but the largest flavor seems to be the remnants of nuttiness, even if I don’t find much of it while actively retrohaling. The finish is pretty similar, though the horseradish stands out a bit more. Flavor finishes closer to medium-full than full, body is medium-plus and strength is medium. One cigar needs a couple of touch-ups to help with smoke production, but construction is pretty good all things considered.

Final Notes

• La Aurora recently announced that it would be launching its own American distribution, ending a more than 30-year relationship it has had with Miami Cigar & Co. That new company will launch in early 2023.
• While it doesn’t craft cigars in the classic 7 1/2 x 38 Cuban lancero size, I’ve long considered La Aurora to be one of the best factories when it comes to making lanceros. Few factories—My Father would be the other one—have made as many different lanceros that I’ve enjoyed as the La Aurora factory.
• The secondary bands on multiple cigars had minor deformities. One was a printing error, another was slightly torn.
• There’s a confusing number of Fernando León lines. By my count there are at least five:
  • La Aurora Fernando León Founder Choice (Previously known as the León Jimenes Don Fernando No.4)
  • Fernando León Family Reserve
  • Fernando León 100th Anniversary
  • Fernando León Limited Edition
  • Fernando León Legacy
• That said, I doubt you’ll find a shop in the U.S. that carries more than three. The Don Fernando may or may not be out of production and the 100th Anniversary seems to be a Dominican exclusive.
• I am not sure there’s a company that relies as much on its legacy and anniversaries as La Aurora. Whether it’s 100 Años or 107, 1962 or 1987, or the aforementioned Fernando León families—so many La Aurora cigars use the past as part of their names.
• Miami Cigar & Co., La Aurora’s current U.S. distributor, advertises on halfwheel.
• Cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Final smoking time is right around two hours per cigar.