Lampert Family Reserve 2021

At the 2022 PCA Convention & Trade Show, Lampert Cigars released a new limited edition, the Lampert Family Reserve 2021. It is a cigar that had been in the works since the 2021 trade show, with Dr. Stefan Lambert working with Hendrik Kelner Jr. on the cigar.

The Lampert Family Reserve 2021 is a 5 x 52 robusto, with a blend that uses an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper atop a Dominican binder and filler.

It is also a limited edition, with 600 boxes of 10 cigars produced by the Kelner Boutique Factory in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic. Of those 600 boxes, 500 are destined for the U.S. market, while the others will head to Kind Cigars, the company’s distributor in Sweden.

All of the boxes use sustainably sourced okoume wood, noted Lambert, a notable detail as the wood is used in higher-end humidors, most notably, Davidoff humidors.

• Cigar Reviewed: Lampert Family Reserve 2021
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: Kelner Boutique Factory
• Wrapper: Ecuador (Connecticut)
• Binder: Dominican Republic
• Filler: Dominican Republic
• Length: 5 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 52
• Vitola: Robusto
• MSRP: $16 (Box of 10, $160)
• Release Date: July 2022
• Number of Cigars Released: 600 Boxes of 10 Cigars (6,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

The Lampert Family Reserve 2021 slides out of its cellophane to reveal a cigar that has a wrapper with a lightly tanned shade of brown, a small but decent vein structure, and a bit of texture by way of an oily, waxy sheen. The yellowish gold of the band is quite reflective, and its black and gold don’t seem to quite match up with the tan of the wrapper. The cigar is firm on the whole with just a bit of sponginess, nothing I’m going to challenge given what I assume to be a fairly thin wrapper. Aroma from the foot is light and bright, with a bit of graham cracker, dehydrated red apple, a bit of pepper and some cedar. One cigar also has an aroma of room temperature butter, which for some reason really elicits some memories of a distinct smell. Air moves well with a bit of resistance on the cold draw. It has a much mellower flavor than the foot offered with its aroma. The graham cracker is still there but it now tastes damp as opposed to having the crispiness of a dry cracker. There’s a bit of creaminess here, but now very little pepper.

The Lampert Family Reserve 2021 starts with a toasty, slightly peppery flavor, one that seems right on brand for a cigar with this look and blend. I could make the case that there is a bit more pepper than average, or maybe a bit more pepper than one might expect, but for me, it’s manageable while also awakening the senses. Plain crackers and a bit of creaminess join in as secondary flavors, though the white pepper seems to quickly be establishing itself as driving the profile, and it grabs some light earth as a companion not long after the journey begins. There’s a bit more vibrant white pepper to be found on retrohales, matching the flavor in the amplitude of sensation but giving it some additional definition. That earth begins to get just a bit richer as the first third comes to a close, and with it comes some black pepper, a subtle but noticeable shift. Flavor is medium-plus intensity, body is just barely medium, and strength is mild. Construction is fantastic and problem-free.

It’s not too long into the second third that the cigar gets quite a bit more vibrant; as just ahead of the midway point I take a retrohale and find my nostrils absolutely alive and tingling with pepper while the ambient smoke manages to tingle my eyes as well. While the flavor was quite different, it was similar to the reaction I’d get if I bit into a lemon, with my face scrunching up a bit. Toast and bread flavors are still a major component to the flavor, though things are beginning to change as the earth picks up some depth. A bit more black pepper joins the profile both on the tongue and through the nose as this section comes to a close. With that change, I’m now inclined to say the profile is medium-plus, while the body is medium and strength is still mild. Construction and combustion are both very good and have been problem free with plenty of smoke, an even burn line and a draw that is just a touch firm.

If the second third of the Lampert Family Reserve 2021 re-routed the flavor’s direction a bit, the final third slides into the left lane and accelerates the changes. The earthiness quickly gets deeper, richer and more complex, almost as if tasting the layers of terroir. The white pepper has been left behind, replaced by a rich black pepper both on the palate and through the nose. The dry toast flavors have also left the profile, resulting in a much smoother mouthfeel to the smoke, even if that seems in conflict with thoughts of a cigar now driven by an earth and black pepper combination. The cigar has one more lane change in store as it gets into its final inch-plus, as I get a bit of cookie dough, followed by dry wood, a return of the white pepper, and a dry, crisp earthiness. The overall change could be described as toasty, even though I wouldn’t necessarily pin that specific flavor on the cigar, at least not in the way it was in the first third.

Final Notes

• Lampert Cigars is based in Liechtenstein, seemingly the only cigar company I know of to be based in that country, which is located between Austria and Switzerland, and home to just over 38,000 people.
• Construction on all three cigars was fantastic.
• Charlie Minato visited the Lampert Cigars booth at the 2022 PCA Convention & Trade Show.
• One of the other interesting projects from Lampert Cigars is the Golden Retailer Program, which grew from 10 to 14 stores this year. Those retailers are able to purchase two exclusive cigars as a reward for being one of the company’s top retailers.
• This strategy seems to be gaining some traction among smaller brands as it serves as an alternative to discounting. I have had several such companies tell me that the expectation for discounting can be quite intense at times, and they don’t have the volume to accommodate it, so offering this incentive has become a more palatable option.
• This is the fourth Lampert cigar to be reviewed on halfwheel; I reviewed the Lampert Limitada Salomones, Brooks Whittington reviewed the Lampert 1675 Edición Rojo, and Charlie Minato reviewed the Lampert 1675 Edición AZUL.
• I did not get any appreciable strength from the Lampert Family Reserve 2021, outside of one cigar’s finish concluding with a punch of flavor that carries with it some nicotine strength.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Final smoking time was two hours on average.