Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the Sencillo Black Lancero is between medium and dark brown and has some thick, raised veins throughout. The seams are raised in some areas and the cap has an OK finish with a tightly wound pigtail. There are two bands, with the primary being white, black and silver and denoting the brand, while the secondary is black and silver, denotes it is an EL, the country of origin and the year. The aroma from the wrapper is dark earth and cocoa powder, while the foot brings cedar and stone fruit sweetness. The pre-light draw brings a floral note with light cedar and a mild spiciness on my lips.
Seth: The Sencillo Black Lancero has a strong aroma and I am picking up spices, tobacco, rich barnyard notes and some faint paint notes. Coarse in texture, the cigar has medium sized veins throughout. Finished with a light maduro wrapper, it has this milk chocolate coloring.
John: The Sencillo Black Lancero comes in cellophane and does not have a UPC sticker. There is a curly head cap, which unfortunately I knocked off as I was pulling the cigar out of the cellophane. There are two bands, with a Sencillo primary band in silver and white, along with red lettering on black. A secondary band sits underneath it with Edicion Limitada Nicaragua 2022 in silver on black. Aromas from the wrapper were well fermented tobacco and plums, raisin, with a general tobacco sweetness underneath. Underneath of it, was a rich earth and wood combination. From the foot, I was smelling sweet tobacco, earth and hay.
Jiunn: The Sencillo Black Lancero has a rustic Colorado red wrapper shade. Veins are well pressed, seams tight, bunch and roll even and the man bun looks nicely bunned. Aromas from the wrapper tell cedar and construction paper. Aromas from the foot give sharp white pepper spice and cedar. Cold draws reveal hay, nuts and cedar.

Team Cigar Review: Sencillo Black Lancero

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with toasted oak, dark earth and heavy baking spice. At a half inch in, the baking spice lightens up a bit as a light cocoa powder becomes present. The retrohale is toasted oak with light amounts of dark earth and baking spice. At an inch and a half, the earth becomes a bit drier. As the third comes to a close, the toasted oak is up front with dry earth now a bit behind, baking spice a bit further behind and light cocoa powder in the background. The strength was slightly above medium.
Seth: The cigar started out with damp earth, tobacco and wood notes. Some barnyard qualities and spice. Medium in strength and body. Tough draw.
John: The first third comes out of the gate with creamy earth, and finishes with earth and baking spices into the post draw. Creamy tobacco sweetness is primarily driving the profile as it settles in. Mild black pepper develops in the retrohale, and a chocolate balances it out a few retrohales later. As the first third continues, earth moves up to medium strength and drives the center of the profile.
Jiunn: The first third has a bolder and rustic flavor profile. Dried red pepper spice that has a slight Sichuan mala effect. There’s also a good amount of gritty dirt earthiness. These earth and spice notes are rounded by natural mixed nuts. Retrohaling gives deeper pepper as well as minerality. The finish is all about that dirt earthiness. Strength is medium-full and body is medium.

Team Cigar Review: Sencillo Black Lancero

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the overall profile is now fairly dry. At a half inch in, the earth lightens up a bit. The retrohale is toasted cedar, dry earth and light baking spice. At an inch and three quarters, the toast level increases a bit. As the third comes to a close, the toasted cedar is up front, with earth in the middle and baking spice and cocoa powder in the background. The strength remained at slightly above medium.
Seth: It is hard to get flavors with having to re-light the cigar as much as I have. Damp earth, tobacco and wood notes. Medium in strength and body.
John: Sweet earth gets things going in the second third, with wood to finish. Dry wood moves into the center of the profile as it settles in. Earth, wood and a pepper finish is the profile by the halfway point. A lingering earth starts to make up the post draw. Sweet tobacco moves into the middle of the flavor profile in the bottom half.
Jiunn: The second third’s flavor profile is still intact. There may be a tad bit more pepper influence, but it’s still heavily rustic, earthy, spicy and just the right amount of softness to round it out. Strength and body is still medium-full and medium, respectively.

Team Cigar Review: Sencillo Black Lancero

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the cocoa powder has departed. At a half inch in, a vegetal bitterness joins the profile. The retrohale is now just toasted oak and earth. At an inch and a quarter, the earth becomes even with the toasted oak up front. As the cigar wraps up, the toasted cedar and dry earth are even up front with some baking spice and vegetal bitterness in the background. The strength remained at slightly above medium.
Seth: Can’t smoke anything. Constantly going out.
John: Sweet earth and wood combine to start the last third. Earth is the primary flavor driver once the last third has settled in. After the re-light, I’m picking out baking spices in the middle of the profile at medium strength.
Jiunn: The final third creates too much tannic tannins in the red pepper spice and minerals. The softness is entirely gone and is needed. Strength and body finishes the same medium-full and medium.

Team Cigar Review: Sencillo Black Lancero

Burn

Aaron: The burn was a mess, as the cigar went out five times, requiring re-lights.
Seth: Bad burn throughout. Constantly had to re-light the cigar.
John: The burn was nothing short of a disaster. The cigar spontaneously went out 30 minutes in, requiring the first re-light. The burn stalled again in the first, requiring a second re-light. A third re-light required at the beginning of the second, and near the middle of the second for a fourth. The cigar went out in the last third requiring a fifth re-light, and eventually went out with roughly an inch and a half remaining where I set it down to close the review.
Jiunn: Great burn performance. Even burn, ample smoke production and cool burning temperature.

Team Cigar Review: Sencillo Black Lancero

Draw

Aaron: The draw was a bit tighter than I prefer, but didn’t seem to cause any issues with the smoking experience.
Seth: Terrible draw.
John: The draw was at most one notch towards the resistant spectrum, putting it well in the ideal range for a perfect draw.
Jiunn: Great draw performance as well, giving the ideal air flow.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with toasted oak, dark earth and heavy baking spice. Some light cocoa powder joined in fairly quickly. The second third saw the profile become fairly dry. The final third saw the cocoa powder depart and a vegetal bitterness join in. The burn was a problem as the cigar went out five times. The Sencillo Black Lancero started well with a bold and flavorful profile, but became average in the second third as it lost its potency, probably due to the re-lights. This experience was a bit of a bummer as the construction may have let it down. I’m curious to see if the others had a better burn experience and can report on a better overall flavor experience. The price is low enough that if the others had better luck, I may come back to it.
Seth: I am not even bothering. I had to re-light this cigar at least ten times.
John: The first third of the Sencillo Black Lancero was quite promising and had me eager for the profile to continue to develop in the second third. I found the second third fairly unbalanced, and the last third quite linear. Overall, the flavor delivery came across as slightly above average. The draw was perfect but the burn struggled the entire review with five re-lights required during the process. Based on the flavor profile, I wouldn’t be inclined to smoke this again, but given the burn disaster, it’s very possible that the re-lights affected the flavors. Based on that alone, I’d be willing to try this again. Total smoking time was 2 hours and 22 minutes.
Jiunn: Overall, the Sencillo Black Lancero was a good cigar. Bolder and rustic delivery of mala dried red pepper spice, earthy dirt grit, and softened nicely by naturally sweet and creamy mixed nuts. This isn’t the type of flavor profile that I necessarily enjoy, but the delivery of the bolder flavors mixed with softer flavors was well done. And a great burning and drawing lancero to boot.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.08

Cost/Point

$2.02

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

2.40

Cost/Point

$4.27

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

5.50

Cost/Point

$1.86

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

6.47

Cost/Point

$1.59

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Team Cigar Review: Sencillo Black Lancero