The Miro Special Edition Lancero is a line extension to the Miro brand distributed by Kuuts, LLC. Earlier this year, Kuuts announced plans to distribute cigar lines made by Compania Hondurena de Tabacos in the  United States market.  Miro represents one of three lines to be distributed by Kuuts (the others being Placeres Reserva and Tabaclera Zapata).  With the case of the Miro Special Edition Lancero, this is a limited production cigar that will only be offered in the United States market. Recently I have had an opportunity to sample a pre-release of the Miro Special Edition Lancero.  While normally I am not convinced that every blend works in the lancero format, I was very impressed with this cigar.

John Gonzalez, Vice President of Kuuts explained how the Special Edition Lancero project came about:  “The Miro Lancero will keep the same basic characteristics of the original blend with more emphasis on flavor for the true traditionalists that enjoy this vitola.  What started out as a private smoke for our Operations Manager Gabriel Alvarez, turned out to be a future project. After traveling throughout the US, the obvious demand for a quality Lancero still exists. I thought it was time to release it as a Special Edition with the possibility of a full release in the future.”

Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the Miro Special Edition Lancero and see what this cigar brings to the table.  Since what we smoked was a pre-release of this cigar, we will default to our “pre-review” format and discuss our thoughts and perspectives.  Once this is released, we will re-visit again and provide a rating and score.  As a disclaimer, this write-up is based on a single smoking experience of the Special Edition Lancero.

Blend Profile 
The Miro Special Edition Lancero is made at the company’s Compania Hondurena de Tabacos factory in Danli, Honduras.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan, Honduran
Vitolas Available

The Special Edition Lancero becomes the fifth vitola to be released in the line.  For this vitola, there will be 500 boxes of ten released for a total of 5,000 cigars.

Special Edition Lancero: 7 1/4 x 38 (*)
Robusto: 5 1/4 x 50
Toro: 6 x 52
Torpedo: 6 1/8 x 52
Toro Gordo: 6 x 60

(*) Size not disclosed – unofficial measurement

Appearance

The Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper to the Miro Special Edition Lancero has a woody looking color with some darker marbling on it.  The wrapper seams are well hidden, but there are some visible veins.  On the cap is a traditional lancero pig-tail.

The cigar features a brown band with gold and white trim.  On the center of the band is the text “MIRÓ” in large gold font.   Above the “MIRÓ”text are the words “CIGARS MADE THE TRADITIONAL WAY WITH A BLEND OF 100% NATURAL TOBACCOS” in a small rust colored color.  Below the “MIRÓ” text are the words “”COMPLETELY HANDMADE LONG FILLER” – also in a small rust colored font.  There are also three medallions toward the bottom of the band – also in a rust-colored font.

Preparation for the Cigar Experience

At the start of the Miro Special Edition Lancero, I opted use a straight cut as opposed to pulling off the pig-tail.  Once the cap was clipped, I moved on to the pre-light draw.  The dry draw notes provided a combination of wood, cedar, and some floral sweetness.  Overall I considered the pre-light draw to the Miro Special Edition Lancero to be satisfactory.  At this point, I was ready to light up this lancero and see what the overall smoking experience would bring to the table.

Flavor Profile

The start to the Miro Special Edition Lancero had what I consider a short and quick blast of pepper.  As the pepper subsided, it gave way to some notes of wood.  The pepper would recede into the background early and was joined by some natural tobacco notes – which have the Miro Special Edition Lancero some nice sweetness.  The retro-hale produced a nice herbal spice that complemented the flavors on the tongue perfectly.

Toward the end first third, the natural tobacco notes moved into the forefront displacing the wood notes.  Some notes of coffee also emerged in the background.  Meanwhile the pepper notes became more of an herbal spice.  The combination of natural tobacco up-front with background notes of coffee and herbal spice seemed most unusual, yet somehow worked real well with the Special Edition Lancero.

In the second third, the coffee notes increased and joined the natural tobacco notes as primary flavors.  By the start of the second half, the spice notes now increased.  By the last third, the spice notes took over as the main flavor, while natural tobacco and coffee notes were now secondary.   The close to the smoking experience of the Miro Special Edition Lancero was somewhat spicy, but not harsh.  The resulting nub was cool in temperature, but slightly soft to the touch.

Burn and Draw

The Miro Special Edition Lancero is a well constructed cigar and this is reflected in the attributes of burn and draw.  The burn line remained razor sharp for the majority of the smoking experience requiring minimal touch-ups.  The resulting ash was tight and not prone to any flaking.  The ash had a light gray color with some dark spots.  The burn rate and burn temperature were ideal.

The draw Miro Special Edition Lancero was excellent as well.  It wasn’t too tight and it wasn’t too loose.  This made the Special Edition Lancero and enjoyable cigar to puff on from start to finish.

Strength and Body

From a strength perspective, the Miro Special Edition Lancero starts out in the medium range. The strength does build slowly and by the second half of the smoking experience, it moves to medium to full strength.  At no time did the Special Edition Lancero become overpowering.  As for the body, it follows a similar pattern.  The Special Edition Lancero starts out in the medium-bodied range and progresses to medium to full in the second half.  Overall the strength and body balance each other near perfectly from start to finish – with neither attribute overshadowing the other.

Final Thoughts

I have found the Miro line to be an excellent line of cigars and the Miro Special Edition Lancero reinforces this.  I felt this particular cigar brought a very interesting flavor profile, delivered complexity, and was well-balanced when it came to strength versus body.  Many times I think when it comes to lanceros, they can be overhyped.  In the case of the Miro Special Edition Lancero, this absolutely a lancero I would get excited about.   I would not hesitate recommending this cigar to a novice cigar enthusiast who wants to graduate to something in the medium / medium to full range in terms of strength and body.  Experienced cigar enthusiasts will appreciate the flavor and complexity this cigar delivers. As for myself,  while a lancero is not my first choice of a vitola, this one stands apart – and its certainly a cigar I would buy and smoke again.

Summary

Burn: Excellent
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: High
Strength: Medium (1st Half), Medium to Full (2nd Half)
Body: Medium (1st Half), Medium to Full (2nd Half)
Finish: Good

Source: The cigar for this assessment were provided by Kuuts LLC.  The samples received were initiated by Kuuts LLC order to provide feedback.  Cigar Coop is appreciative for the sample, but in no way does this influence this write-up.