Maria Lucia Limited Edition PCA 2025

In August 2022, Luciano Meirelles, founder of Luciano Cigars, released a new regular production line in honor of his mother, Maria Lucia Meirelles, who passed away when he was just 12 years old. Called Maria Lucia, the line uses a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, two Ecuadorian binders—one a habano 92, the other a Sumatra-seed—and fillers from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Peru. While it was initially a limited edition offered in one size, in June 2023, the company made Maria Lucia a regular production line, adding three vitolas as well to bring the total number to four.

For 2025, the company, now part of Constella Group, created a limited edition version that it offered to retailers that attended the 2025 PCA Convention & Trade Show, which took place in mid-April.

The Maria Lucia Limited Edition PCA 2025 is a 6 x 52 sublime that uses a Mexican San Andrés ligero wrapper, dual binders of Connecticut broadleaf and Ecuadorian Sumatra-seed, and a filler blend that includes Brazilian mata fina along with tobacco from Nicaragua, Peru and South Africa. As its name conveys, it is a limited production, with just 1,000 boxes of 10 cigars produced, a total run of 10,000 cigars. They are made at the Luciano Cigars’ factory in Estelí.

“This release represents everything we stand for: meaning, memory, and mastery,” said Meirelles. “Maria Lucia is one of our best sellers, and this parejo is a personal offering to our industry’s finest retailers, and a symbol of the values that built our company.”

Like the regular production line, the Maria Lucia Limited Edition PCA 2025 uses packaging that has one of the more interesting backstories for any artwork. Its roots go back several years and was created by Deborah Meirelles, Luciano’s daughter, who drew an image of a woman she saw in a vision. She did not know who the woman was, but when she showed her drawing to her father, he immediately recognized the woman as his mother.

“When I saw the drawing next to old photographs of my mother, I saw the similarity immediately,” said Meirelles, adding that was most surprising was that none of his children had ever met their grandmother or even seen a photograph of her. “It was almost supernatural the way things happened. It’s hard to believe it was only a coincidence…and now years later, when I decided to finally create this cigar, naturally, in a full-circle kind of way, we thought there would be no better idea than to use my daughter’s drawing for the box.”

After debuting at E&E Cigars in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. in early May, the cigars were shipped to other stores on Sept. 11.

• Cigar Reviewed: Maria Lucia Limited Edition PCA 2025
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: Luciano Tabacos S.A.
• Wrapper: Mexico (San Andrés Ligero)
• Binder: Ecuador (Sumatra-seed) & U.S.A. (Connecticut Broadleaf)
• Filler: Brazil (Mata Fina), Nicaragua, Peru & South Africa
• Length: 6 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 52
• Shape: Round
• MSRP: $20 (Box of 10, $200)
• Release Date: May 2025
• Number of Cigars Released: 1,000 Boxes of 10 Cigars (10,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

The Maria Lucia Limited Edition PCA 2025 sports a dry, matte wrapper with a pretty good amount of fine-grit texture and a fairly dark brown wrapper. For the most part, the cigars look good, with one cigar having a pretty rough-looking cap that is darker than the rest of the cigar and not cut with a crisp edge on one side of it. That same cigar also has a slightly jagged seam line hidden on its back side. All three cigars have a pretty typical network of veins; visible but neither distracting nor obtrusive. The third cigar has a pair of what appear to be small water spots, standing out due to the contrast with the dark wrapper leaf. All three cigars are fairly firm, with a slight give, though the third cigar clearly stands out as the firmest of the bunch. The aroma in the nose is pretty mellow, light and a bit sweet in the sense of floral or fruit in the first cigar, more like chocolate in the second cigar, and a bit more floral in the third cigar. The cold draw is smooth, with cigars both a touch loose and a touch firm, while the flavor is a bit nutty—specifically like the pieces that sit at the end of a jar of mixed nuts. I also get some dehydrated fruit sweetness as a subtle accent, though in varying amounts.

The first puffs are a mix of minor flavors, specifically a little creaminess, a little earthiness, a little bit of the crunchy edges of well-baked brownies, all finished off by a little black pepper, though the pepper might be better described as a little more than a little. It’s an enjoyable profile with what I’d call a lot of edges, not that it’s sharp, but that there’s a lot of texture to the smoke, and the puffs hit my taste buds with a sensation I’d equate to rolling dice, tumbling across my taste buds as opposed to coating it, and hitting the spots with a bit of weight. Sometimes it’s the sharper sensation of the edge of a die, other times the blunter weight of a flat side, and never in a predictable manner. Some dry tree bark makes appearances at times, most of all in the third cigar where it helps drive the profile through the first inch of the cigar. Thus far, retrohales have been mellow and creamy with minor accents of black pepper. Some more creaminess comes along before this section concludes with a thinner, drier smoke that evokes the scent of dry leaves and thick paper, with a hint of creaminess and a mild, peppery finish. That said, the cigar gets a bit more fragrant, both in the resting smoke and in retrohales, and it reminds me of a classic ladies’ perfume until some hearty black pepper pushes it out of the way on the exhale. Flavor is medium-plus, body is medium and strength is mild. Construction is very good, highlighted by solid clumps of ash, while the draw, smoke production and burn line are all good.

For having a fairly vibrant first third, the start of the Maria Lucia Limited Edition PCA 2025’s second third is comparably mellow. The earthiness has really lightened up, the creamy aspect is now airy, the pepper is mellower, and the cigar moves to a profile that seems like it might be getting more nuanced. After a few puffs, creaminess returns, a change that not only affects the flavor but really thickens up the smoke, almost to a chewy thickness. I don’t find there to be much else happening in this section, as it feels like it’s largely gliding through this section, using the flavors from the first third to carry this section without adding anything new or really developing the flavors. It’s still good and easy to enjoy, but I just don’t find much being added into this section. Flavor is medium, body is medium-minus and strength is still mild. Construction and combustion are both solid, I have no real notes about any issues.

A really enjoyable creaminess bridges the second and final thirds, with this section developing it into a lush flavor that begins to get countered by white pepper that has some sharpness in my nostrils. Not long into the final third, I get a mouth-drying sensation, an interesting counterbalance to the creaminess, and a flavor that hovers between dry, thin wood, dry cereal, and toast. I’m intrigued to see the flavor come back to life, at least when it comes to adding and adjusting flavors after what looks like an increasingly pedestrian second and third. The secondary notes kind of swirl around my tongue and deliver different memories: sometimes it’s woody, other times it’s peanut shells, other times I get graham cracker. The flavors that aren’t completely different, but different enough to be distinct, which the Maria Lucia Limited Edition PCA 2025 does a good job conveying. Once the burn line is fully into the final third, there’s an uptick in the flavor intensity, with a soil flavor leading the way, sort of punching through and clearing the way for a building black pepper and a finish with some red chili pepper heat on my tongue. This change comes with some irritation in my eyes, which can get more intense than I would like. With about two inches left, the flavor suddenly gets dry—almost powdery—a change that sucks the moisture out of my tongue. That said, the third cigar gives me the sweet flavor of a warm Krispy Kreme original donut, with the glaze almost dripping off of it. Flavor is back to medium-plus, body is up to medium-plus and strength is still mild, barely touching medium at its most potent points. Construction is very good and I don’t experience any issues. If anything, the only thing out of the ordinary is that the ash starts flowering a bit, spreading what had been an otherwise tight clump of ash.

Final Notes

• I don’t know what caused it, but the eye irritation from the first cigar’s final third was intense. I practically had to wash my eyes out to subdue the sensation.
• Two of the cigars suffered a bit of wrapper damage when I removed the bands. The first cigar’s was very minor, and didn’t affect the experience. The third’s was more pronounced, and while it didn’t seem to immediately affect the flavor, it didn’t help the look of the cigar, both on its own and when the burn line passed through it and the burn line got slightly off-center.
• The Krispy Kreme donut that appeared at the end of the third cigar was incredible and easily
• None of the three cigars hit me with nicotine strength, and as noted above, even at its strongest moments, it’s pretty mellow.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.

• The company lists these as a 6 x 52 sublime. The numbers above are the measurements we found for the three cigars used for this review.
• Final smoking time was two hours and 10 minutes on average. The first two cigars smoked a good bit faster than the third, which seemed slowed by having the firmest draw of the three, even though I wouldn’t call it impeded.

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.