Avalon Honeyboy Lancero

Reviews16 Comments on Avalon Honeyboy Lancero

Avalon Honeyboy Lancero

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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16 thoughts on “Avalon Honeyboy Lancero

  1. I wonder why they call it a lonsdale… typically a lonsdale is 42 ring by 6.5″ … the size seems closer to a Lancero.

    Nice review but it seems overpriced based on your description… you can get a lot of great cigars for under $7-8.

  2. Jabba, you are absolutely correct. It IS a lancero, I just suffered a brain fart or something. Man, talk about embarrassing!

    There, all fixed!

    Yeah CJ, they are pretty tough to find. I’ve only come across one place that sells them online, and they’re all out of these!

  3. Thanks Joe(capnpfff,

    I think you can pick up a few loose singles from SeriousCigars.com. So far that’s the only shop online I’ve seen that has them. And they’re mostly out of stock!

  4. Brian, your reviews are solid, and it’s nice that you like to drop names and boast about your industry connections, but how about reviewing some smokes that us commoners are likely to have access to in our lifetimes? I mean, what’s the point of that other than your own amusement and to boot-lick whatever insider you talked the stick out of in the first place? No more obscure sticks from someone’s private collection, please. And if this Avalon guy is dumb enough to show up at a herf, pass out cigars he wants you to buy while smoking something no one can get, he’s too simple for my business anyway.

  5. Brian,

    Thanks for the review. I’m glad you liked the smoke. We are adding retailers around the country every week and they should be more available very soon. I’ll be at the Tobacco World Anniversary Party on Nov. 17th. Come by and say hello.

    Best regards,

    Tom

  6. Hi John,
    I’m sorry you didn’t care for the review. This cigar is available for sale currently (at SeriousCigars.com), it’s only a little hard to come by as Avalon is still a relatively new manufacturer. In fact, I think every cigar I’ve reviewed is available for purchase at fairly reasonable rates. In terms of industry connections, I’m still very much a minnow in a vast premium tobacco ocean. I just make an extra effort to meet the big fish when the pass through town.

    No problem Joe(capnpfff).

    Hi Tom,
    Glad you liked the review. I’ll see you at the Tobacco World Event, I’m looking forward to it!

  7. Personally I like the reviews, even the obscure brands. At least if it takes off, we’ll have some knowledge of it beforehand. My only complaint, if you could call it that, is it would be cool to see you do some vid reviews, or sit in on YQMA.

    Rock on!

  8. Thanks Tom,
    I like the obscure stuff too. My favorite cigar is generally “the one I haven’t tried yet”. (Of course I have my favorites that I keep coming back to, like the Serie V.) I like to think that I have a hand in introducing people to new smokes, and I love cheering for the underdog. And in the cigar world, the underdog is any new manufacturer out there trying to get noticed. Like Avalon Cigars, or El Primer Mundo (in my area).

    I hear you on the video stuff. I still have that San Cristobal sitting in my humidor that I’m saving for a video review follow up. It’s all about time to get set up. I’ll have enough of it eventually.

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