TX Duo Review- Warped Moon Garden Lancero 2018

[Çnote]

Ghosts @Capn_Jackson, ghosts.

Rustic ginger oat cakes, oak smoke, red pepper laced golden treacle. Big palate coating spice. A little monolithic in that I'm suddenly past the band, but deep in apricot cherry fruitcake. No lancero fiddliness, easy burn, tight ash. Getting into the nub, that Cointreau Noir rich orange zest come thru with buckwheat shortbread.

Tour de force? Grab them if you see them I guess.

[Capn_Jackson]

Warped Moon Garden.

This lovely Lancero has a wrapper of medium peanut butter brown. Slightly bumpy, a little bit of tooth, and those mottled oily patches that I love so much. Back porch is humid today, a little breeze moving through, clouds hanging around just chillin’. Good enough to sit still with a lancero and give it the attention it begs for.

Straight cut today. Cold draw’s got an herbal quality I’ve come to love in some of these Warped releases, slightly medicinal in a good way. A bit of clove, some cinnamon. Light-up is immediately incredible. Dark, savory herbs up front, then a slightly bittersweet fruit note that doesn’t quite resolve into anything specific. Blood orange, maybe. Toasted rye shows up quick, with a dark honey sweetness underneath. Delectable AF.

Once it settles in, the first third leans heavily into that savory herbal core. Anise comes in, not sharp, just woven through everything, and then a whole lot of nuttiness. Brazil nut, specifically, kind of dense, a slightly oily richness. Starts to take on a dessert-like quality. Some powdered sugar softness, shortbread creeping in around the edges. Brazil nut snowballs. If you’ve never had one, give your aunt a talking-to this Christmas!

Even before getting through the first third, it’s already bordering on decadent. Berry notes show up, along with sweet liqueur, wrapped in caramel and a light creaminess. Cedar, a little spice too, but without any noticeable heat. Still running through all of it is this thick, syrupy herbal note. Hard to pin down unless you’ve ever had Malört, an almost corn-syrup thickness, but without the Malört bite. Ricola herbal sweetness. I tend to chase that note in cigars, and this one’s delivering.

Second third keeps a lot of that intact. Still nut-driven, still caramel working alongside. The anise steps forward a bit more but never takes over. Somewhere around the midpoint, things start to shift. Leather takes shape, not heavy, just easing its way in. Savory spices pick up too, cumin, maybe something in that range. The nuts take on a more toasted character. There’s even a hint of vanilla bean that softens the whole envelope.

Heading into the last act, more decisively savory. Almost umami. There’s a burnt brown sugar edge though, along with the cumin, maybe a touch of coriander or even orange peel giving it some brightness. Catching traces of something eggy, ladyfingers maybe.

Down to the nub, dense and satisfying. More leather now, but plenty of those savory spices still hanging on, and the same richness that’s been there since the first third. Overall, this one just sings. It’s layered without trying too hard, moves enough to stay interesting, and that herbal/syrupy note that I personally frickin’ love. In a lancero, no less! Curious what @Çnote thinks of it. Feels like something he’d appreciate, but I’ll wait to see.

I give this one a 94, fantastic stick!

[Çnote]

11 hours ago, Capn_Jackson said:

anise

Same cigar. Delightful if not quite a 94. I'm rating it low so I don't try to find more, an impossible task to have any value in.

[Capn_Jackson]

Maybe my best cigar of 2026.

[Çnote]

9 hours ago, Capn_Jackson said:

Maybe my best cigar of 2026.

It is very good. I liked the Viaje 10th more, and i have more of those, so this isn't as good. It's a value driven world, and you're biased the other way!

[Ford2112]

Sounds promising.

[Capn_Jackson]

3 hours ago, Ford2112 said:

Sounds promising.

I loved it. Only 6500 made, though, and that was about 7-8 years ago. If you see any up for grabs, I’d jump on ‘em.