At the 2015 IPCPR Trade Show in New Orleans, D’Crossier Cigars formally introduced its new D’Crossier Selection 512 Lancero. This cigar is a new limited production offering by D’Crossier Cigars. The cigar introduces not only a new blend into the portfolio, but also becomes the first lancero by D’Crossier Cigars. Owner Santana Diaz made a decision to produce a lancero as a tribute to his father.  With the D’Crossier Selection 512 Lancero now available, I’ve recently had an opportunity to smoke this cigar. Overall, this cigar easily ranks as one of the best lanceros released in 2015.

When the D’Crossier Selection 512 Lancero was announced, D’Crossier Cigars provided some context for how this cigar became an inspiration for his father.

“As a child in Cuba, Santana-Diaz fondly remembers watching his father while he studied for his economics degree. He sat on his favorite green couch with a large text book in front of him and a cigar burning nearby. His father’s cigar of choice was the lancero. That image remained with Santana-Diaz for more than 35 years. Inspiring him to release this homage to his father, whom Santana-Diaz credits with instilling both patience and his pursuit of perfection; traits that he proudly practices with his cigars.”

The “Selection 512” has been a branding that also appeared on D’Crossier’s Flor de D’Crossier line that was released earlier this year. Selection 512 pays homage to the location in Costa Rica where D’Crossier cigars were first made back in 2008.

Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the D’Crossier Selection 512 Lancero and see what this cigar brings to the table.

Blend Profile

The binder to the D’Crossier Selection 512 Lancero is not disclosed. According to Diaz, he plans on not disclosing that information.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano 2000
Binder: Not Disclosed
Filler: Nicaraguan
Country of Origin: Costa Rica

Vitolas Available

The D’Crossier Selection 512 Lancero comes a traditional lancero size measuring 7 1/2 x 38. The cigars are packaged in 20 count boxes.

Appearance

The Ecuadorian Habano 2000 wrapper of the D’Crossier Selection 512 Lancero has a light caramel color to it. Depending on how light hits the cigar, it will give off a reddish tint. The wrapper itself is very smooth. There is a light oily sheen on the cigar. There are also visible wrapper seams and most of the veins that are visible are quite thin. The cigar is finished with a very small pig-tail.

The band is a slight variation to what is seen on the D’Crossier line. The upper portion features a mostly gold, red, and black color scheme. It contains a “DC” in gold – representing the D’Crossier logo. The logo rests on a red background. Above the logo is text “D’CROSSIER” in small gold font arranged in a curved style.  Below the logo is the text “SINCE 2008” – also in small gold font arranged in a curved style. Surrounding the logo is a gold crown, a Roman style wreath, and some other gold adornments. On both the left and right side of the logo is a black and white shield that says “HAND MADE” in small gold font in landscape mode. The bottom part of the band has a pearl background background with the text “SELECTION 512” in gold cursive font. The D’Crossier shield logo with the text “SANTANA Y FERRER” (referring to Diaz and his partner) appears on the left and right side of the pearl section. There are also gold adornments on this section of the band.

The packaging to the D’Crossier Selection 512 Lancero features a cedar box with a pearl finish. D’Crossier has built a reputation for its exquisite cedar box packaging.

 

 

One thing that was introduced with the Flor de D’Crossier Selection 512 and now continues with the D’Crossier Selection 512 Lancero is the use of cellophane with a punched hole. Prior to these releases, Diaz packaged his cigars without cellophane. The punched hole not only protects the cigars, but it allows the cigar to breathe and absorb some of the cedar from the box.

 

Preparation for the Cigar Experience

As I normally do with a cigar with a pig-tail cap, I opted for a straight cut as opposed to just pulling the pig-tail off of the Selection 512 Lancero. Once the cap was clipped, I moved on to the pre-light draw phase. The dry draw provided a mix of cream, cedar, and a slight cherry sweetness. Overall I considered the pre-light draw of the D’Crossier Selection 512 Lancero to be satisfactory. At this point I was ready to light up the this cigar and see what the smoking phase would have in store.

Flavor Profile

The start to the D’Crossier Selection 512 Lancero delivered a mix of cream, berry sweetness, natural tobacco, cedar, and pepper notes. It didn’t take long for the cream and berry notes to move into the forefront. The natural tobacco, cedar and pepper notes became background notes. The retro-hale had notes of cedar along with a slight raisin sweetness to it.

Throughout the first half of the D’Crossier Selection 512 Lancero, I found the cream notes to be a constant. The berry sweetness and natural tobacco notes floated in and out of the forefront. Meanwhile the cedar and pepper notes continued to be in the background.

By the second half, I found the cream to remain constant. The berry notes now joined the cedar and pepper notes in the background. The natural tobacco notes continued to float in and out as primary notes.

Toward the last third, I found the cedar notes took over as the primary note. The natural tobacco and cream were now in the background. There was also still some black pepper in the background. This is the way the cigar experience came to a close. The resulting nub was cool in temperature, but slightly soft to the touch.

Burn and Draw

The construction of the D’Crossier Selection 512 Lancero was excellent and this was reflected very nicely on the burn and draw. The burn of the Selection 512 Lancero took a straight path from start to finish. There was some slight curvature on the burn line itself, but this was easily remedied with a few quick touch-ups. The resulting ash was tight and firm. The ash had a silver / gray color with some dark charcoal gray streaks mixed in. The burn temperature was ideal. I did find this cigar to burn a little fast, but it had no adverse effects other than reduce the smoking time (which averaged to about 55 minutes).

The draw had a slight amount of resistance, but this is something I like. The resistance was not too much, so this made for an ideal smoking experience.

Strength and Body

The D’Crossier Selection 512 Lancero is what I term a classic “medium – medium” cigar – namely this is a cigar that has medium strength and medium body from start to finish. There wasn’t much an increase in intensity of either attribute along the way. The medium profile of this cigar meshed very nicely with the flavors this cigar produced. The strength and body also balanced each other very nicely from start to finish.

Final Thoughts

I’ve said it many times – lancero fans are some of the most passionate of cigar enthusiasts  – at the same time they are also the smallest group. In many cases, there often is a lot of excitement around a lancero release. Some of theese lancero releases are impressive, some of them have been disappointments. With the Selection 512 Lancero, Diaz and the team at D’Crossier knock this one out of the park. This is one of the best lanceros released this year. The flavors weren’t revolutionary, but were just really good. As I mentioned, I found the medium profile of this cigar to sync well with the flavors. This is a cigar I could recommend to a novice or experienced cigar enthusiast. I would also recommend this cigar to any lancero enthusiast. As for myself, this is easily a cigar I would smoke again – and its certainly worthy of a box purchase.

Summary

Burn: Excellent
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium
Finish: Excellent
Assessment: 4.0 – Box Worthy
Score: 93

References

News: D’Crossier Selection 512 Lancero
Price: $13.00
Source: Cigars Sent from Manufacturer (*)
Stogie Geeks Podcast: n/a
Stogie Feed: n/aural tobacco come in and out…slightly pepper note in background

* Pure Aroma Cigars, makers of D’Crossier Cigars is a sponsor of Cigar Coop / Stogie Geeks.