TX Duo Review - Crowned Heads Four Kicks Lancero EL 2018

[Çnote]

Smoking cigars is about restraint. Lanceros show you what you are.

I think I pointed @Capn_Jackson at these.

Oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips. Manure. Creampies. Great opening.

I have to slow down. I lose an inch to overheating a couple of times. Demiglace cookies. It's kinda wild. I tried to retrohale but it's not happening today. Subtle transitions into sweet earth and round spices, extremely pleasant.

It's delicious but finicky, the nub refuses to keep lit. 84 but just performance, and mostly my smoking too fast and driving. It's a brutal system.

I'm not sold on Lanceros.  There's a lot to like, but they just become too technical. But that's just my lack of restraint talking.

[Hoosh]

Love these reviews! Don’t give up on the Lanceros - they’re like meatloaf on a restaurant’s menu. If they are brave enough to put their version out there, it’s probably worth trying!

[Capn_Jackson]

So I’m in my hotel room one night during a conference in San Antonio this past February, drinking bourbon and watching Kingdom of Heaven on my iPad. I know… party animal, right? Great film, by the way. The theatrical release was chopped up so badly by the studio, but Ridley Scott’s Director’s Cut of “Kingdom of Heaven,” one of the best things ever put to film. Around midnight, @Çnote texts me “Old CR Lancero for a song and change,” with a link to where a guy is selling these. I bite, and send the guy a message. I gave one to Cody for Duo, and had forgotten about them until he put his review up. Limited release of 1,500 boxes, so I’m intrigued.

The maduro wrap is a very mottled dark brown, nice little pigtail on the end. Cold draw here has milk chocolate with some hazelnut, and medium-roast coffee. Light-up is very NC CH coconut cream, raisin, and cereal grain notes. Same as I get on every Four Kicks I’ve smoked.

Going on, salted cashew hovers over a bed of spice and coffee. Little bit of sweet popcorn, splashes of caramel. Not as rich as it was at light-up. Mostly coffee comes to dominate pretty quickly. Eventually, a milky stout comes into play around the edges, livens things up a bit. Then, some plum brandy in the center. The finish dies pretty quickly after each puff, though, mostly a mixed bag of nuts and a little umami.

Heading into the second third, there’s a distinct change to bbq’d meats and peach-bourbon glaze. Grape skin, turning quickly to raisin. Nice change, and much more rich than the opening. The finish, too, has a lot more depth than before, carrying quite a long way with undeniable raisin sweetness and dark cocoa powder. Finish is somewhat dusty, again like cocoa powder, and strength hovers just under medium. Great middle act, but it’s missing some sweet red fruits that would take it over the edge, for me. Burn also gets a little wavy around this point, annoyingly requiring a few touch-ups. Attention-starved burn line.

Last third starts with a very nice crème bruleee and some cashew milk. Raisin gets stronger, or maybe it’s prune at this point. Cocoa powder over everything, and coffee laced around the edges. Even a little pumpernickel toast. It soon turns to strictly coffee and cocoa, pretty basic but not entirely unenjoyable. The portion past the band simply will not stay lit.

A few months after that conference in San Antonio, I found out one afternoon that Kingdom of Heaven, the Director’s Cut, was in Cinemark theaters for the 25th anniversary, one night only. That very night. I barely had enough time to tell my wife about it, how big a deal it was to me, and that blessed woman said I’d better get my shoes on and go. Enjoyed it thoroughly! 

As for the cigar, not my favorite thing, but a good representation of the Four Kicks blend that I like to grab every now and then. Very jumbled and disjointed, like the Kingdom of Heaven that the studio made Ridley put out in theaters. Figured the age would round this out, but it hasn’t yet. Maybe another year or two.

86-88.

[Capn_Jackson]

On 10/8/2025 at 6:46 PM, Çnote said:

84 but just performance, and mostly my smoking too fast and driving. It's a brutal system.

Not just you. The burn on mine was terrible in the second half. If not for that, probably would’ve gotten a lot more out of it. I dry-boxed, but maybe not enough.

[Çnote]

7 hours ago, Capn_Jackson said:

The finish dies pretty quickly after each puff

This is what I assumed my hot-box while driving let to. Alas, at least they were a sharp deal. Everything is going to get a hard dry box moving forward.