Jonas Santana and I had the unique opportunity to chat on location at the Blackbird Cigar Factory in the Dominican Republic about the latest from the brand — their very first exclusive from their factory to a shop — the Smokingpipes exclusive Flamingo Lancero, coming soon in limited quantities.

[Shane Ireland]: Hey everybody, I'm here on location at the Blackbird Cigar Factory con mi hermano, Jonas Santana. Good to see you, man. I'm happy to visit, but I'm not just here for a social call. We're here to check up on a very important project and that's what we're smoking at the moment. This is, in more than one way, a first for Blackbird.

[Jonas Santana]: This is the first exclusive from the factory to a shop.

Blackbird Flamingo, A Smokingpipes Exclusive

[SI]: This is the Smokingpipes exclusive Flamingo Lancero. It's also the first Lancero you've made in a while.

[JS]: Yes, it's the first Lancero I've ever done in seven or eight years.

[SI]: Why is that? Why haven't you done it before?

[JS]: I didn't have many requests. But when I got the request, I was really up for the challenge because it's tough to make. It's probably my second favorite size, or maybe even my first depending on how I'm feeling. If I find a blend that really goes well with the Lancero, I'll go with Lancero right away. I always say to people, no matter the size that you like, always try it in different sizes because the same blend will perform differently in every single size. If you are really a connoisseur and you want to learn more about tobacco, Lancero is the way to go.

[SI]: Yeah. But manufacturing them is also not easy.

[JS]: Not easy at all. It's so tough to keep this draw and even burn that we're getting right now. You need specific rollers to do that. For context, not everybody that I have at the factory can really make this cigar in a manner to smoke this smooth.

[SI]: So how many pairs out of those who are currently in the factory can produce a cigar like this?

[JS]: Maybe two. And they cannot do more than 150 cigars a day. They've gotta do it slowly. It cost me more than Robusto or Toro cigars to make this cigar because of the time it takes.

[SI]: My understanding is that one of the reasons this is challenging is not only because you need a bigger size of wrapper to cover this much cigar, so there is a lot of waste, but also the distribution of the tobacco in the bunch is not so easy when you have such a thin ring gauge. Is that right?

[JS]: That is absolutely correct. It's very meticulous. The people working on them, most of the time, are those who have a lot of heart in the company. It's those who really respect the craft and are very close to the master blender.

Flamingo Components & Strength

[SI]: So let's talk about the blend a little bit. It's a really special blend. My personal favorite wrapper. It's a Habano wrapper, a Pennsylvania binder, which again, for a Lancero, I think is not so common, and fillers from Pennsylvania, Nicaragua, and some Cuban seed Criollo 98. There's a lot of very complex and rich tobaccos.

[JS]: It's a lot of different types of tobacco for one Lancero. If we do the math for a Lancero, there has to be between three and a half leaves, plus binder and wrapper leaves. When people talk about how much the taste of a wrapper can impact a cigar, that also really depends on the size of the tobacco and how many leaves are in the components.

[SI]: The strength level here is a little bit past medium-plus. I still think this is an easy-to-enjoy cigar as rich as it is, and I feel like it's still very elegant. But fans of medium plus strength and flavor and also a lot of complexity are going to go crazy for this.

[JS]: It's a medium plus, but the pepper is not overwhelming, so I believe it's for any palate. It doesn't matter if you like mild or full-bodied cigars. It's very elegant. I can feel some woody notes and the cream is right around three or four out of 10, so not too much.

Burning Properties & Drink Pairings

[JS]: It has an even burn, which is amazing. Positioning the leaves to burn all the way through consistently is very hard in the Lancero size. And the ash is slightly white, because of the soil where the Habano leaf was grown. Do you know why that happens?

[SI]: Why is that?

[JS]: From Calcium that is in the soil.

[SI]: Really? Okay, so higher levels of calcium make the ash white. There's more minerality in the flavor as well. So far, this is smoking great. There's a perfect draw. It's exactly the amount of richness that I like. You feel a little bit of sweetness, but mostly it's woody, a little nutty, and has a little bit of spice. These are coming along very nicely, but they have a way to go. We're going to age these even longer.

[JS]: With what drink would you pair this?

[SI]: Ooh. Well right now, I don't know if it's because of the heat here in the DR, but I would say probably a rum, not overly sweet. Also, I think a lighter scotch would be pretty nice too.

[JS]: Ginger tea will do well with this. I need to give the non-alcoholic drinkers an option. It can be coffee. But I would probably do a ginger tea, something a little lighter.

A Stimulating Smoking Experience

[SI]: Considering how rich this is, too, the finish is very clean.

[JS]: Yeah, that's important to us to get the smooth taste with no aftertaste that could ruin your smoke. We want you to be able to reach for more cigars after and enjoy them smoke after smoke. We want you to enjoy every single experience. When we thought about making this blend, we thought this could be a great 45-minute smoke, but we like that people don't get tired of it and because of the blend and the finish, you can easily smoke three or four cigars in a day and not get overwhelmed.

[SI]: I recommend three, four, five, 10, whatever you want. This is a highly limited production. Exceptional quality, exceptional tobaccos, and a first for the Blackbird factory. Thank you for allowing Smokingpipes to present this to our customers.

[JS]: I gotta tell you all, we only made 250 boxes for this year. If you don't get it when they're available, you're really missing out.

[SI]: Blackbird Flamingo Smokingpipes exclusive, coming soon.