Cigar Review: J. Grotto Silk Lancero

J. Grotto, a Rhode Island-based cigar brand, makes two lanceros. Two years ago I wrote about the J. Grotto Reserve Lancero. Today I examine the newer J. Grotto Silk Lancero. (The company has four lines, oldest to newest: J. Grotto, J. Grotto Reserve, J. Grotto Silk, and J. Grotto Anniversary Maduro.)

Paul Joyal, the man behind J. Grotto and Ocean State Cigars, says he came up with the name Silk after seeing the wrapper, and its hard not to see why. The Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper, reportedly aged three years, is smooth, almost vein-free, and medium brown with a lot of sheen.

Beneath the wrapper are double binders—Indonesian and Criollo ’98 tobaccos—that surround filler sourced from Trojes in Honduras and Jalapa in Nicaragua. I smoked four of the Lanceros (7.5 x 40), which come in boxes of 10 and have a suggested retail price of $7.99.

Off the bat, the J. Grotto Silk Lancero features a mild- to medium-bodied combination of cream and cedar, along with hints of wood and pepper spice. As it develops, the flavors intensify, but the basic formula (cedar and cream with a slight spice) remains dominant.

I waited a while to smoke these because they seemed very soft to the touch when hey first arrived. Ultimately, that didn’t change much after a few months, but it didn’t impact the construction, which was flawless with a razor-straight burn—an impressive achievement given the notably finicky lancero size.

I’ve never seen the J. Grotto Silk Lancero, or even any J. Grotto cigars for sale at a cigar shop I’ve visited, and I suspect that’s true for many readers of this review, too. That’s a shame. The J. Grotto Silk Lancero is an impressive, well-constructed smoke that sells for a reasonable price. Those characteristics earn it a rating of four stogies out of five.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys