The Particulars

The Review

This review for the Lampert Limitada 2025 - Toro (Box Press) (6 x 54) is based on the journal entry dated 2026-08-31

Appearance & Construction (0-3):  Good (3)

This Ecuadorian HVA leaf is certainly as dark as advertised. It’s a rich, milk chocolate brown that honestly looks like it could be a legitimate chocolate bar. It has a rich, glossy sheen, some light tooth that survived the press, and great color variations with lighter brown colors at the seams and dark mottling between them. The seams are tight, the triple cap is clean, and the box press is just slightly more rectangular than square with crisp edges. The main Limitada band is simple and clean, perfectly paired with a coordinating 2025 band at the foot.

Draw (0-3) & Burn (0-4):  Good (3) / Good (3)

The draw is spot-on and the burn starts beautifully. The burn has a crisp char line that is dead-even and flat except for one slightly lagging side. I have a feeling I’ll need to check that later as it looks to be self-correcting and catching up. The ash is a medium gray with medium-spaced striations that slightly flare but don’t flake. At the end of the first third, my typical box-press burn issues start to show, as one side of the cigar is burning crisply and beautifully, while the other is dragging with a widening char line. The ash holds just past the first third, and I gracefully roll it off into the ashtray to take the opportunity to correct it. Sure enough, one section of the filler tobacco where it’s lagging is not burning properly. This is my biggest gripe with box-pressed cigars: they run the risk of being tight in sections and not burning properly. It’s nothing a proper correction can’t fix, just a nitpick. What I can’t fix is when they get squishy in the second half because of the box press. Sigh, they just always seem to come with trade-offs.

Flavor Profile (0-5):  Excellent (5)

It’s an interesting combination to start. A toasted pumpernickel breadiness, heavy earth, and a raisin-to-toffee-like sweetness immediately hit the palate. There’s a delightful mix of espresso and dark chocolate that leads into a chewy, creamy finish. That raisin note is quickly getting more plum-like, but almost like a Japanese plum wine because it’s sweet, slightly syrupy, crisp, and a little acidic with lots of aromatic fruit notes. The sweetness is definitely on point here, as is the complexity. The toasted breadiness, mocha, and earth combination, layered with good exotic spice notes, creates a delightful base. You really can’t ask for a better start than this.

Into the second third, there are no major shifts, just the same dark and sweet profile carrying great complexity. That toasted pumpernickel breadiness goes back and forth between charred oak and toasted cedar, but dark spice and toffee-to-molasses notes bring it right back to that dark, grainy breadiness. The plum wine flavor is just absolutely delightful. At the midway point, though, the mocha pulls back shortly while anise and exotic spice notes really start to pick up alongside bits of red pepper. There are the normal baking spice components of earthy nutmeg and cinnamon, but there are other exotic spices in here that I can’t quite identify. It’s impressive how well-balanced this blend is as it keeps ramping up the flavor intensity and overall complexity.

The final third pulls back on the plum sweetness and spice just enough to return to the profile of the first third, with the addition of that slight anise note it picked up about halfway through. The mix of plum and licorice is sweet, with just a little bit of natural bitterness that cuts right through that dark, earthy base that is still pivoting between toasted pumpernickel and roasted cedar. The espresso and dark chocolate mix is back, giving it that rich mocha flavor again. In the very last inch, the red pepper picks up along with the cinnamon and other exotic spices in the mix. The overall strength feels to be closer to medium, but the flavor intensity remains robust and complex the entire time.

Overall Experience (0-5):  Excellent (5)

Having missed out on these during the initial release in 2025, I totally get why there was such hype for them returning along with the new 2026 blend. This cigar is dark, exotic, sweet, spicy, and flavorful with a shit-ton of complexity. Complex, dark, and spicy—if this was somebody you were dating, you’d want to marry them. The Limitada 2025 is straight 🔥.

Overall Score and Individual Journal Entries

While the review is based off one instance of journaling this cigar; there’s a number of reasons you can have different experiences smoking the same cigar multiple times. A blend can evolve with age (for better or worse), palates evolves, preferences change, and sometimes you just get a bad example!  This section captures the ratings from each journal entry and the related journal photo.  Below you’ll find an aggregate score based on every time the cigar has been journaled. Unless it was a gift or on-off smoke, this section will be updated every time I journal this cigar!

The Flavor Wheel

With every cigar I journal, I capture simple ratings of the basic flavor categories that I experience.  These are more generalized than what you would see in a review, but a distinct profile can still be built out.  When multiple instances of the same cigar have been journaled, the scores are averaged out in an attempt to build a reliable flavor profile based on my palate.

The values entered for the strength of each flavor range from 0 to 3.

• 0:   No flavor detected
• 1:   Mild flavor
• 2:   Medium flavor
• 3:   Strong flavor

Note: desktop / large screens will see a flavor wheel while mobile / small screens will see a bar chart.

With every cigar I journal, I capture simple ratings of the basic flavor categories that I experience.  These are more generalized than what you would see in a review, but a distinct profile can still be built out.  When multiple instances of the same cigar have been journaled, the scores are averaged out in an attempt to build a reliable flavor profile based on my palate.

The values entered for the strength of each flavor range from 0 to 3.

• 0:   No flavor detected
• 1:   Mild flavor
• 2:   Medium flavor
• 3:   Strong flavor

Note: desktop / large screens will see a flavor wheel while mobile / small screens will see a bar chart.