Long Live the Queen is one of Caldwell's most acclaimed cigars, and it's one of my personal favorites. I sat down with Andy Wike to talk about what makes this blend so distinctive, from its notoriously delicate Cameroon wrapper to a band rooted in authentic Cameroonian representation.

[Chris Herath]: Hey everyone, I'm Chris Herath, I'm here with Andy Wike, and today we're talking about Caldwell's Long Live the Queen. This is a personal favorite of mine in the Caldwell collection, and it's one of Caldwell's more recent releases compared to the Caldwell core collection. It's been highly rated, and it's one of Caldwell's most acclaimed cigars. Beautiful band, too. Let's first jump into what makes this cigar unique, Andy.

[Andy Wike]: Yeah, so, Long Live the Queen was introduced around 2022. It's part of the Caldwell core collection, but it was one of the more recent additions there.

Robert Caldwell's Cameroon Project

[AW]: Rob was really interested in working with a Cameroon wrapper. He's always really liked Cameroon, but it just never really worked for the Caldwell profile. So he experimented with it for a while, and he really wanted to do something that captured the essence, history, and character of the Cameroon leaf.

And so he developed Long Live the Queen. I think it's an exceptional cigar, and it's very different from other cigars in the portfolio. There aren't a lot of chocolatey notes. It's a bit more vegetal, and there are hints of citrus and some other ripe fruits. Mostly it's very nutty and elegant and a little earthy, but very well-balanced. It's got a little bit of kick, but just very slightly. There is some Nicaraguan leaf in the filler, so you're getting a bit of that pepper, but not nearly as much as you would from, say, Long Live the King.

[CH]: Yeah, probably the thing most people talk about with this cigar is the Cameroon wrapper. I was fortunate enough to be with Rob and Ernesto Carrillo down in the Dominican. We visited Ernesto's factory, and they were just talking about cigars and blending. And Rob said that blenders often talk about Cameroon as like, "Oh, it's Cameroon," or "Oh, you're using Cameroon in that cigar?" It's not used a lot because it's very delicate to work with. It has to be done right. Even Ernesto, with all of his experience, was super excited about a Cameroon they were releasing right about the time we were there.

It's also a component I've personally gravitated toward. When I'm looking for a cigar to try, a lot of times I'll get on Smokingpipes.com and sort by component, and I'm often looking for Cameroon because I always find the way blenders use it interesting. I've always been drawn to the Don Carlos and Fuente portfolios because of the way they use it, but Caldwell takes it to another level, in my opinion. Every time I smoke this cigar, I get a different experience just because of its complexity.

It's in my Goldilocks zone. It's not too light, and it's not too strong. I can take it with me on a trip, and I always know it'll fit into a variety of scenarios.

Packaging as Art

[CH]: Let's be honest: as cigar consumers, one thing we're always drawn to is the banding and packaging. When we were lighting these up, I was like, "Man, that is just a beautiful band." The pops of gold and the queen on the cigar always stand out to me when I'm perusing my personal humidor. It's always calling my name. I love the branding, and that's something Caldwell does really well. They've positioned themselves as not just a cigar company, but one that wants to put the artwork forward.

[AW]: Yeah, I think the way Caldwell approaches cigar packaging, whether it's bands or boxes or packs, is that the packaging is part of the experience, right? It's almost like packaging is art. Rob is very interested in art, all the way back to Wynwood, where he would hold art festivals. He's very well-connected to some of the major artists doing modern artwork today, and he often leans on them for critiques or inspiration, or just, "Hey, we have this idea. How can we realize that in the form of a band?"

I think the Queen is such a great example of that, along with the rough, sketchpad vibe of the portrait of Hans on Eastern Standard and the crooked crown on Long Live the King.

[CH]: I love it.

[AW]: There's a storytelling element to all of Caldwell's packaging that really resonates with me. The Queen has a Cameroon wrapper, a Sumatran binder, and fillers from the DR and Nicaragua, and with this band in particular, Rob wanted to capture those African roots. He worked with a number of different artists on it. He had a friend whose lineage was from there.

I think he worked with this artist to really understand, if we were going to put a Cameroonian queen on a band, like, how could they realize that in a way that was authentic and genuine, while also modern, and treating cigar packaging as art?

I think what they came up with was really excellent. All of the ornamentation, the jewelry, the face paint, all of it was rooted in authentic representation. It's such a cool thing to smoke the cigar, experience that Cameroon leaf, and then look at the band and see that it tells a story.

[CH]: Yeah.

[AW]: It tells the story of who this queen is and what she stands for, and you experience that as you smoke through the cigar.

The Queen's Sword and the Queen's Crown

[CH]: And speaking of the queen, I'm smoking Caldwell's Long Live the Queen Queen's Sword. As somebody who loves Lanceros and wishes there were more of them on the market, it's one I always gravitate toward. One thing I think Caldwell does a great job of is not just making the conventional sizes the market says you should make. He's blending these cigars and making them in their best expressions.

[AW]: Yeah, exactly. When Robert goes to release a new cigar, it's never, "Okay, we need a Robusto, we need a Toro," all these pre-fit molds. It's, "This is the blend. This is what it's trying to accomplish. This is the flavor profile." And then he asks which vitolas can best express that DNA, with enough distinction that a connoisseur could smoke all of the sizes and understand how the DNA evolves.

[CH]: Yeah, absolutely. And almost every time I've been with Rob, if we have a bag of cigars to choose from, he's typically grabbing the Queen's Sword. So I figure if it's good enough for Rob, it's good enough for me.

[AW]: Yeah, it's a great representation. By surface area, you get a lot more of that Cameroon wrapper. I'm smoking the Queen's Crown. I prefer this size because, while I also really like the Cameroon wrapper, I think the Sumatra binder, the DR fillers, and the little bit of Nicaraguan filler bring a lot of balance. It's just a bit more complex to me than the Lancero. But they're both exceptional, and I reach for them both, really all the way up the line. This is just such a great cigar.

Built by the Venturas

[CH]: Yeah, and a huge shout-out to TWV, Tabacalera William Ventura, for making this Lancero. I know it's an extremely difficult vitola to roll, and most factories have only one, maybe two, people who can roll a Lancero. Draw issues are typically something you run into with smaller-ring-gauge cigars, but this one has always performed perfectly for me.

[AW]: And the construction's really good.

[CH]: Oh, I had an ash this long on a Lancero, which is unheard of. They want to fall off so easily.

[AW]: You mentioned earlier that Cameroon wrappers are delicate and hard to work with, and a lot of that has to do with visual appearance. It's rare to find a wrapper that's pretty enough, because as much as it's about flavor and experience, it's also about visuals, right? And every Queen I've picked up, it's just, man, this is a really well-constructed cigar. So yeah, definitely a shout-out to the Venturas and their team. They're such good people. I can't wait to get back down there and see them again.

[CH]: Absolutely. In my opinion, this is a premium cigar you don't want to rush. You want to sit back with it when you have time. I like to smoke it in a more controlled environment because I pick up a lot more of the complexity and nuance in the flavors, especially in the Lancero format. The Queen's Sword is one I typically want to take a few hours to enjoy. It's an amazing experience from Caldwell in an already amazing portfolio.

[AW]: It's very good. It's very good.

[CH]: This is Caldwell's Long Live the Queen. Be sure to check it out on Smokingpipes.com, and be sure to subscribe for more content from Smokingpipes.