I was fortunate to have tried out a couple of Bellaterra's cigars. One, known as the "Black and Tan" in lancero (their newly released robusto is currently being used for their "Big Ash Challenge") is the one I selected for this review. The other one is the "Double Deuce" in robusto that I decided to try out while on the boat one day, but wasn't selected to be reviewed properly (and now wish I had).
I headed out to the back deck with the "Black and Tan" and a bit of Myers's dark rum. The lancero had a two-toned, double maduro wrapper (with a Connecticut wrapper which covered most of the cigar), was well constructed with only small visible veins and a little spring when pressed between my thumb and fingers. Smelling the foot revealed a pleasant odor of sweet tobacco with just the slightest hint of hay and barnyard. Toasting the foot was a breeze, and the burn remained constant and pretty even throughout the entire cigar. Additionally, a good amount of smoke emanated from the stick for the duration of the evening.
Into the 1st third, I was greeted with creamy, coffee filled notes. Halfway through the 1st third, however, I noticed leather coming into play with the coffee fading away. Finishing up the 1st, leather stayed prominent with the occasional hint of coffee.
Heading into the 2nd third, leather lead the charge, but the creamy, coffee notes came back to the forefront with a brief introduction of cocoa as well. After a few minutes, these notes went back into hiding, and leather and hay came back to the forefront.
Ending the 2nd third, and entering the last third this ping pong match continued, each time the coffee notes becoming weaker, and the leather notes getting stronger.
There's no denying that the "Black and Tan" is a well made cigar. It had a great burn, plenty of smoke, great draw, etc. The flavor started off pretty well, but became stagnant after a while where at the end, it felt like I was playing a tennis match- shots back and forth repeatedly with little change. It's quite possible that the new robusto size will offer a totally different experience than what I had with the lancero, and am looking forward to trying it out. However, with my experience with this particular cigar, I rate the "Black and Tan" lancero as an 85.
Now, if you would, remember back to my earlier statement about another Bellaterra cigar, the "Double Deuce" robusto. As I stated earlier, I was on a boat and just simply enjoying the cigar, and didn't review it. My phone had already died, so I couldn't document the cigar like I would have liked (no photos or notes), but I do remember how much I enjoyed the cigar. What stuck out in my mind was that the flavor was a bit more complex with no "ping pong" match. The quality of the cigar was just like that of the other Bellaterra cigar. If I were to review the "Double Deuce", I am sure it would have rated it around a 90, maybe higher. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this cigar. I'm sure I'll have to try this one out again to give it a more detailed analysis.
