Agile Cigar Reviews are cigar assessments where we use a lightweight, shorter format. These will never take the place of our comprehensive reviews. They are only used on blends we have previously assessed. This might be a blend we are re-scoring or giving a score for the first time. It might be a blend we are looking at in a different size. Today we look at the Aladino Cameroon Elegante (Lancero) by JRE Tobacco Company. This is a cigar we previously assessed in the core line back in October 2020 in the Robusto size.

Wrapper: Honduran Grown Cameroon
Binder: Honduran (Authentic Corojo)
Filler: Honduran (Authentic Corojo)
Country of Origin: Honduras
Factory: Fabrica de Puros Aladino at Las Lomas Jamastran
Elegante: 38 x 7

2021 was the year of the Lancero for JRE Tobacco Company. This year, JRE Tobacco added two “Elegante” lancero sizes to the Aladino Cameroon and Aladino Vintage Reserve lines. These lancero sizes are the classic 38 x 7 vitola size, and joined the current Aladino (Corojo) Elegante and Aladino Maduro Elegante offerings. The Aladino Cameroon actually had a soft launch late in 2020 that had a limited exclusive window to Dallas-based retailer Blue Smoke of Dallas. Prior to the 2021 IPCPR Trade Show, JRE Tobacco started offering this to select retailers before it was officially launched at the Trade Show. The Aladino Cameroon is a cigar that did quite well on Cigar Coop as the Robusto size landed #4 of the 2020 Cigar of the Year Countdown. Today we take a closer look at the Aladino Cameroon Elegante.

Cameroon is certainly a wrapper that has gotten a lot of attention over the past couple of years. For this cigar, company patriarch Julio R. Eiroa took on the challenge of taking on growing tobacco using a Cameroon seed in the Jamastran Valley in Honduras at the JRE Tobacco farm. After curing and fermenting the tobacco, he was able to use it on a premium cigar offering – and the Aladino Cameroon was born. In addition to the Honduran Grown Cameroon wrapper, the remainder of the blend contains Authentic Corojo grown at the JRE Tobacco Farm. The Robusto size that lands on the 2020 Countdown is a traditional 50 x 5 size. Production is handled at Julio Eiroa’s Las Lomas factory located adjacent to the farm.

The Aladino Cameroon Elegante opened up with notes of baker’s spice, apple sweetness, cedar, earth, and black pepper. This is quickly joined by some caramel notes. Early on there is a great sweetness as the apple and caramel notes moved into the forefront. The baker’s spice and cedar remained secondary throughout the smoking experience. The apple and caramel sweetness receded into the background during the second third and gave way to the earth notes as the primary ones. There was an increase in the pepper notes during the second third which joined the earth notes in the forefront.

Overall the flavors were medium to full-bodied countered by medium strength. The intensity levels remained relatively constant during the smoking experience, and the body definitely had the edge throughout. The draw was a little more open than I prefer, but this resulted in no combustion issues. In fact, the burn itself required almost no touch-ups and earned our “Exceptional” rating – the highest rating offered to a burn.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

Whether you are a lancero fan or not, the Aladino Cameroon Elegante is going to satisfy. It’s much heavier on the sweetness than the Robusto and as a result, I found there was less in the way of complexity with the Elegante. At the same time, this cigar still is one that stands out flavor-wise. A minor note is that the Aladino Cameroon Elegante burned as good as any lancero that I have had. It’s an approachable cigar for any cigar enthusiast, and at $8.00 there is great value in this cigar. It’s a cigar that I would smoke again. This is also a cigar that garners box-worthy consideration. At 91 points, this exceeds the threshold for Cigar Coop Standard of Excellence.

Summary

Key Flavors: Natural Tobacco, Apple, Caramel, Earth, Black Pepper, Bakers Spice, Cedar
Burn: Exceptional
Draw: Very Good
Complexity: Medium Minus
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium to Full
Finish: Excellent