Le Pâtissier No. 54

If there is one thing I seem to have heard a lot of lately, it’s myself or someone else saying, “I wish there were simply more of them.” It’s a comment that’s come up in regards to sneakers, spirits, event tickets and of course, cigars.

While being a limited edition is by no means an indication that a cigar will be good, there have been plenty where it has been the case, and once word gets out, they tend to get gobbled up and stashed in humidors, only to reappear on secondary markets with a premium, or by stumbling across an unclaimed box or happening to have a generous friend that shares one.

And while the vast majority of those limited editions are one-and-done releases, every so often the company decides to turn them into regular productions. Such is the case with Le Pâtissier, which debuted in 2021 as a 6 1/2 x 44 corona extra, but in 2022 became a regular production line. However, that original vitola would not return, instead a quartet of vitolas would make up the Le Pâtissier line:

• Le Pâtissier No. 50 (4 3/8 x 50) — $10.50 (Box of 20, $210)
• Le Pâtissier No. 54 (5 3/8 x 54) — $12 (Box of 20, $240)
• Le Pâtissier Canonazo (5 7/8 x 52) — $11.50 (Box of 20, $230)
• Le Pâtissier Senadores (6 1/8 x 48) — $11 (Box of 20, $220)

“We knew going into last year’s PCA show that we had something special in the Le Pâtissier blend,” said Jon Huber, co-founder of Crowned Heads, in a press release in June. “Having said that, dialing that blend down into a 44 ring gauge was a challenge as we could only use lower priming wrappers that would yield a thinner cover leaf. Immediately after the release, we went to work on repurposing the Le Pâtissier blend into a slightly larger ring gauge, and it took the flavor profile and performance to the next level. The result is a Broadleaf (CT) expression that is completely unique to any of our previous forays with that wrapper.”

Le Pâtissier, which is French for the baker—is inspired by another Crowned Heads line, Le Carême, which uses a different blend and is made at a different factory.

Like the original limited edition, the Le Pâtissier line is made at Tabacalera Pichardo in Estelí, Nicaragua.

• Cigar Reviewed: Le Pâtissier No. 54
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: Tabacalera Pichardo
• Wrapper: U.S.A. (Connecticut Broadleaf)
• Binder: Nicaragua (Jalapa)
• Filler: Costa Rica & Nicaragua (Ometepe and Pueblo Nuevo)
• Length: 5 3/8 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 54
• Vitola: Robusto Extra
• MSRP: $12 (Box of 20, $240)
• Release Date: August 2022
• Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

The Le Pâtissier No. 54 is a fairly beefy cigar, with one of those combinations of a thick ring gauge and just slightly shorter-than-a-toro length that make it look like a thick, stocky vitola. The wrapper is a gorgeous shade of brown, uniform in a hue that reminds me of several things including coffee beans, fresh tree bark and dry soil. There are some veins that criss-cross the body and have a bit of a crook in them, but beyond that there is little to complain about. The wrapper doesn’t exude oil, either for the eyes or on the fingers, instead offering a very fine texture that is far from gritty. It looks to be rolled very well as the seams are flat and clean, the head on each cigar is constructed well and there are no visual irregularities. Each cigar is rolled fairly firm and within each of the individual cigars. The foot has a fairly light aroma that has me thinking of some combination of a dry forest thanks to some wood and earth, with a sprinkling of an organic aspect, call it terroir or just the aroma of being in such a place. One cigar’s aroma is a bit damper, which I find more enjoyable as it is a bit softer and lusher on my senses. Regardless of whether the aroma is dry or damp, there’s not much in the way of pepper or sweetness here, though neither seems obviously missing. The cold draw makes a case to be the more interesting pre-light experience, as the air moves well and carries a flavor of a root beer candy that has an earthy finish. Again, there’s not much in the way of pepper here, and it’s not as sweet as the descriptor might suggest. I do find that it’s usually one or the other being clearly better than the other; when the aroma shines, the cold draw seems muted, and vice-versa.

The Le Pâtissier No. 54 gets off to a fairly familiar though occasionally less-than-ideal start, as there’s some funkiness around flavors of firewood and light earth. It shakes that off and wakes up after a few puffs, bringing in a mix of black and white pepper that tingles the senses quite well and is enjoyable. It’s not a completely mouth-drying flavor, but it is definitely on that end of the spectrum, something I am hoping will develop to include some sensations that don’t feel like they are sucking the saliva out of my mouth. The body does begin to soften a bit as I start to get a flavor that reminds me of a spiced cake donut, a mixture of chewiness and taste bud sensation. Things continue to improve as the flavors shed any off-putting aspects and organize themselves better, and by the one-inch mark, it’s medium-plus if not medium-full in terms of intensity, while layering on a retrohale or two kicks it up to near full. Once the first clump of ash falls off, the Le Pâtissier No. 54 gets itself into a pretty good place, soft in texture but very nose-tingling with pepper, while dry firewood and dry earth do account for most of the flavor. It also seems to be a pause in the building of the flavor, as it has reached a plateau for the moment. Flavor is medium-plus, body is medium-minus, and strength is mild. Construction and combustion are both very good.

The second third gets underway with me focused on the earthiness of the cigar, which seems to be developing more than the other components. I begin to get a bit of a well-baked soft pretzel as well, which adds just a bit of char but helps to fill out the body of the smoke. Right around the midway point, the flavor finally seems to have filled out, reaching a medium-plus to medium-full level that better matches what the flavor has had to offer. The change, however, comes as the flavor begins to dial itself down just a bit, and outside of some more pretzel dough and a newfound creaminess, as well as a trace of the ongoing pepper, I’m struggling to pick out specific components. There are times when I could make the case for peanuts and peanut shells. Like the rest of the cigar at this point, they seem muted and restrained at best, even though each puff continues to deliver a pretty decent stimulation of my taste buds as well as a lingering finish. The final puffs of this section begin to bring the flavor back around, as while it wasn’t bad by any means, it wasn’t offering anything that registered as particularly flavorful on my palate. With the uptick in flavor comes a bit more robust black pepper and tree bark that adds some character to what was a pretty mellow smoke not that long ago. After bumping up to medium-full at the start of the second third, the flavor settles to medium before a ramp-up at end of this section. Body fills out nicely to medium-plus, while strength has started to tick up towards medium. Construction remains very good, though combustion hits some rough spots as the cigar seems to need more frequent puffing in order to stay lit. If I put it down for more than about 30 seconds after the midway point, the odds go up increasingly that it will need a relight.

There is a bit more nuttiness in the profile as the final third begins and progresses, reminding me of a handful of mixed, warm nuts. Retrohales are still quite peppery but now seem just a bit cleaner and more restrained than earlier, which brings it into better alignment with what my taste buds pick up from the flavor. From there the cigar begins to reintroduce some of the earlier components, starting with a dry earth, then quickly moving to a bit of dry lumber, then more black pepper comes in to drive the profile for a few puffs. Given that the cigar gets its name from the world of baking and is based on the Le Carême blend, I’m a bit surprised that I haven’t picked up more sweetness from the profile. While I wasn’t expecting fruits or floral sensations, I figured there would be something that would lean towards sweet cream or the like, but it simply hasn’t emerged. If anything, the cigar turns a bit smoky just past the point where the band would be, and the black pepper gains some focus and begins to remind me of the very edge of a peppered steak, minus an outright meatiness.

Final Notes

• Given the recent news that Crowned Heads and ACE Prime—now Luciano Cigars—are ending their distribution agreement, there has been some speculation that Crowned Heads could pull its production out of Tabacalera Pichardo, which is now being called Luciano Cigar Factory.
• I have to think that I smoked the original Le Pâtissier at some point, though I don’t have any notes from it, so I can’t give an accurate comparison between that cigar and this one.
• I also haven’t had the opportunity to smoke the other vitolas in the regular production version for comparison.
• In the first cigar I smoked, the ash held on nicely in the first third and then got fairly fragile in the second third. I can’t recall seeing a change like this during a cigar; it seems that the durability of a cigar’s ash is pretty consistent from start to finish.
• One cigar hit me with a decent nicotine impact, while the other two didn’t leave me with any of that feeling. In cases like that, I tend to think that the one cigar was an exception and may have just been the result of my system at that moment.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Final smoking time was two hours and 10 minutes on average.
• Site sponsor Atlantic Cigar Co. carries the Le Pâtissier No. 54. Cigar Hustler does not list the No. 54 vitola, but does carry the other sizes in the line.