The Wise Man Corojo Lancero

In mid-August, Foundation Cigar Co. began shipping a new vitola for its The Wise Man Corojo and The Wise Man Maduro lines, a 7 x 40 lancero.

“These vitolas represent a deep connection to my roots as a blender and to my grandfather, who always appreciated the elegance of the Lancero format,” said Nicholas Melillo, founder and master blender of Foundation Cigar Co., via a press release. “We’ve taken two of our most complex blends—Corojo and Maduro—and refined them into something truly special. Now it’s time to share that experience with cigar lovers across the country.”

The Wise Man Corojo Lancero is a Nicaraguan puro that uses a corojo 99 wrapper, while the fillers come from Estelí and Jalapa, which the company says gives the profile spice, cedar and a refined natural sweetness. By contrast, The Wise Man Maduro Lancero uses a Connecticut broadleaf maduro wrapper, a Mexican San Andrés binder, and Nicaraguan fillers. The company says that its profile is marked by cocoa, espresso and earth.

Each cigar has an MSRP of $14.50, while a box of 20 cigars is priced at $290. Both the Corojo and Maduro versions are regular production sizes that are made by My Father Cigars S.A. in Estelí, Nicaragua. The lancero is the fifth vitola for both lines:

• The Wise Man Corojo / Maduro Corona (5 x 48)
• The Wise Man Corojo / Maduro Robusto (5 1/2 x 50)
• The Wise Man Corojo / Maduro Toro (6 x 52)
• The Wise Man Corojo / Maduro Double Corona (7 x 54)
• The Wise Man Corojo / Maduro Lancero (7 x 40)

This is not the first time that there has been a lancero in The Wise Man lines. In September 2018, the company released The Wise Man Maduro Lancero, a limited edition in a 7 1/2 x 40 vitola, with the cigars made by Tabacos Valle de Jalapa S.A., AGANORSA’s factory in Estelí. However, Foundation Cigar Co. later moved production of The Wise Man lines to My Father Cigars, shipping the first batches of those cigars to stores in April 2024.

The Wise Man was Foundation’s first line, debuting in 2015, though it was originally called El Güegüense, getting its name from a Nicaraguan folk dance that presents a colorful, costumed satirical story. In 2005, UNESCO designated El Güegüense a “Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.”

• Cigar Reviewed: The Wise Man Corojo Lancero
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: My Father Cigars S.A.
• Wrapper: Nicaragua (Corojo 99)
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Length: 7 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 40
• Shape: Round
• MSRP: $14.50 (Box of 20, $290)
• Release Date: August 2025
• Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

All three of The Wise Man Corojo Lanceros look good at first glance, though there is a lot of visual texture to the wrapper leaf, as a vein sits just to the right of center on the first and third cigars, with more scattered around the leaf. The first wrapper looks like a 2D topographical map of a mostly flat area that still has some elevation changes as a result of its coloration. The first cigar is rolled firmly, while the other two are firm but with some give. The seams are all flat, which is impressive given the veins and seemingly inherently bumpy leaf. The aroma of the foot is dry and familiar, smelling like dried leaves, cereal grain and a freshly opened bale of dry tobacco. The cold draw is smooth but not particularly flavorful, sort of a more generic and less defined version of what the aroma offered.

The Wise Man Corojo Lancero gets off to a fuller start than the pre-light experiences would have suggested; it has some black pepper, dense wood and a concentrated core flavor that combines the flavor of dry tobacco leaves and cereal grain. The slightest bit of creaminess helps to smooth over the largely dry profile, and while it can only do so much, its efforts are appreciated. Through the nose, there’s a decent tingle of black pepper, but it is very manageable. I also get a little bit of simple sweetness in the first inch, almost as if tasting a drop of simple syrup or generic honey, but at some points, it’s more of a flavoring than the actual taste. After starting around medium, maybe even a bit thinner than that, the body of the smoke thickens a touch, which helps round out the flavor. In the third cigar, the flavor and aroma of a warm graham cracker with some honey stand out, a very enjoyable flavor and my favorite in the first third. Flavor is right around medium, the body of the smoke starts thin but fills out to medium-plus, and strength is mild thus far. Construction is very good, though the durability of the ash is frustrating, as it falls off in smaller chunks than I was anticipating, even for a lancero.

To this point, there were a couple of subtle whispers of chalk in the profile, fleeting enough that I didn’t really mind them, but I get a bit more at the start of the second third of the second cigar, enough to include it here. It really varies from cigar to cigar, and I’m not a fan of it when it’s most present. Beyond that, the flavor turns to what I’d call a more familiar corojo profile, with a bit more earthiness, more contributions from the black pepper, and then a bit of dry woodiness around the edges, with just a touch of creaminess lingering in the background. As this section progresses, the wood makes some shifts and begins to really open up and drive the finish before handing the experience off to a slightly charred black pepper. Flavor is steadier in the second third, sitting at medium-plus until the very end when the pepper pushes it to medium-full. The body of the smoke is a steady medium-plus, while strength is mild and not a part of the experience. On the whole, construction is very good; the draw is smooth, the smoke production is good, the burn line is even, and I don’t have any combustion issues. Right around the midpoint, the first cigar develops a nasty split in the wrapper, with about an inch of the wrapper separated from the binder. I manage to adhere it back down, but it’s not pretty. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem to adversely affect anything other than the look of the cigar.

The final third starts by getting a bit more lively, a change driven largely by the pepper but also by a thin, crisp wood note. The pepper is really the focus, though, as it begins working on the tip of my tongue. Some creaminess returns as well, largely an accent but every so often getting to the front of the profile. Much of the earthiness that came in during the second third has backed out gradually, leaving traces of what it once offered. The pepper continues to sharpen up, and as the end of the cigar approaches, heat becomes a bit of a factor, particularly in the third cigar, where the flavor really gets sharp. Flavor finishes medium-full, body is medium-plus and strength is medium-minus. The ash continues to be very unstable, dropping off in quarter-inch chunks throughout the cigar, easily my only complaint about the construction, as everything else has been nearly flawless. That said, it does feel like the combustion rate slows in the first cigar, mainly in the sense that puffs don’t seem to advance the burn line. The flipside of that is that it feels a bit faster in the final third.

Final Notes

• The wrapper felt a bit fragile when I was checking out the cigars’ densities, but I didn’t expect the first cigar’s wrapper to split the way it did. Thankfully, it didn’t derail the cigar, and some of the adhesive I keep on hand fixed it.
• If you’re curious, it’s gum arabic, a powder that you combine with hot water to create an adhesive liquid. It’s quite easy to make, and all you need beyond the ingredients is an empty bottle in which to store it, such as an empty nail polish bottle.
• It’s been a while since I’ve smoked the other sizes in the line, so I’m not really in a position to compare the lancero to them.
• I didn’t get much, if any, strength from The Wise Man Corojo Lancero. None of the three cigars really hit me with any appreciable strength.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.

• The company lists these as a 7 x 40 lancero. The numbers above are the measurements we found for the three cigars used for this review. While they are slightly thicker than the typical 38 ring gauge, you could have fooled me, as they didn’t feel oversized.
• Final smoking time was right around two hours, though the spread was from an hour and 25 minutes to two hours and 15 minutes.
• Site sponsors Atlantic Cigar Co., Cigars Direct, Corona Cigar Co. and Fox Cigar carry The Wise Man Corojo Lancero.

Patrick Lagreid

I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and the G-League’s Valley Suns. I was previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League, and Goodyear Ballpark, spring training home of the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Guardians. I also work in a number of roles for Major League Baseball, plus I’m a voiceover artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.