It looks like I’m beginning to get a bit of a reputation. (I’m not sure if it’s a good one or not, but a bad one can be more fun than a good one.) Because when Tom Ramsey of Avalon Cigars was planning on passing through Atlanta to sign up a handful of new customers he contacted me to set up a herf. If I could put one together in short order, Tom would bring the cigars. And of course I rose to the challenge.

True to his word, Tom brought a couple of boxes of cigars to give out to attendees. One box of unreleased and experimental blends and one a mixed selection of the robustos and toros from the Masters line. But the thing I noticed was that Tom wasn’t smoking any of the cigars in the boxes. He was smoking a Honeyboy Lanceros from his private stock. I was intrigued, and by the end of the evening, I talked him out of one for this review. I promised him if he gave me one, I’d give it a proper review, so it’s time for me to make good on my end of the deal.

Cigar Stats:
Size: 7 x 38
Wrapper: Cameroon
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua
Smoking Time: 1 3/4 hours
Beverage: Water
Price: ~$9.50

OK, it’s a bit blurry, but you get the idea…

The Pre-Smoke
I don’t think I need to mention the contrast between this cigar and the Perdomo Inmenso. But what is striking about the cigar isn’t just it’s length, it’s the shiny copper band. If you can’t tell from the pictures, the image on the band is that of legendary delta blues musician David “Honeyboy” Edwards. In fact all the cigars in the Masters line are named for influential blues musicians, who actually earn royalties from the cigar sales. Buy a cigar, and support a blues musician. Pretty cool idea if you ask me.

Water freckles

The wrapper was a little veiny, and did have a few small water spots near the foot, but was otherwise a good looking cigar. I took a quick sniff of the wrapper and then another. The wrapper had a very faint sweet scent of barnyard. Out of curiosity I took another whiff at the foot and I was surprised. Pungent, funky seafood came through loud and clear. As the saying goes, the worse it smells, the better it smokes. And it stank.

The Burn
This cigar burned like a champ, nice and even the entire length, though the ash did flower and flake a little bit at the beginning of the smoke, but became more solid later on. The draw was likewise perfect, which is impressive from such a challenging cigar shape. Overall, there’s not much to say, as the cigar performed well in this department.

Kinda looks like a gray palm tree trunk, doesn’t it?

The Flavor
The cigar opened up with a good combination of leather and spice, but smoothened out during the first third. The leather flavor remained, but was joined by a combination of almondy sweetness and roasted nuts.

In the second third the sweetness continued and tasted a bit more like raisins. The second third was spicier than the first, but also creamier. I did get a combination of nutty flavors, and I could swear I tasted a bit of pecan in there somewhere.

In the final third I started to get more woody flavors and the sweetness had mostly disappeared. Leather and spice where still present and spiciness became more pronounced.

The Price
The price tag on this cigar pushes the budget limit for some cigar smokers, but it’s not so high that I see it as a huge deterrent. However, these cigars are a bit hard to track down right now, so the price I found online maybe adjusted upward to factor in scarcity. Also the price noted above is the price I found for a single, a box purchase will bring that price down.

The Verdict
I can see why Tom was smoking the lancero size. I smoked an unreleased blend of the Honeyboy in a short figurado size at the herf and found the lancero to have fuller, more condensed flavors. The cigar at the herf was a very smooth smoke, and never got as spicy as the lancero. This is good illustration on how the shape of a smoke can have a significant impact on the smoking experience.

Overall, this is a pretty good cigar. I can definitely see myself smoking more of the lanceros in the future. Actually, the other Honeyboy wasn’t half bad either. Another reason to give the Honeyboy a shot is the unique pecan wood-aging process. While these cigars aren’t “infused”, they spend lengthy period of time aging with pecan wood chips before they’re available for smoking. The end result is that this wood contributes a smoother, less acidic quality to the cigar flavor than normal aging in cedar.

Liked It: Yes
Buy It Again: Yes
Recommend It: Yes

The Tower of Burn
Here for you viewing pleasure is my signature Tower of Burn.

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