The Particulars

The Review

This review for the Lampert Oro Toro Grande (Don Patrón 56) - Gran Toro (6.5 x 56) is based on the journal entry dated 2026-07-10

Appearance & Construction (0-3):  Average (2)

The golden boy here is a big’un. It could be all the gold metallic in the labels, but even the wrapper seems to have a light golden hue to it. It’s definitely on the yellower side of the tobacco color spectrum. Coming with extra age, it does have a softer texture to it (hey, we all need a little Viagra as we get older!), a light but mostly dry sheen, and some mild mottling. But the few visible veins are thin, and the seams are tight. I know, you were expecting me to say it was super veiny, but what can we do?  What was frustrating, however, was that the cap wouldn’t come off with the punch because of excess glue, so I had to come back with the cutter.  Mazel tov, it’s now a bris!  The bands are the same black-and-gold style bands as other cigars in the Oro line. They’re nice, but when you start to see them on multiple cigars, you get a little frustrated that you have to rely on some combination of a secondary band, wrapper appearance, or the vitola to try and identify the cigar. Some of these black-label cigars can get a little confusing to keep straight as they’re in your humidor.  Hell, the DP56 isn’t even the longest Lampert up in there, that honor goes to the 9.25″ Platino A. 🫣

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

The draw has nice resistance, but the burn starts with an immediate tunneling effect at the edge of the cigar due to the way the filler was folded, so a canyon of burned tobacco extends down the shaft roughly half an inch in.  It gave me, ripped out Prince Albert vibes (cringe!). Fortunately, that edge holds while the rest of the cigar catches up on the burn, quickly evening out. If not for the gouge in the ash, you wouldn’t have even known that happened by the second inch, because the burn line was crisp and flat with only hints of a wave to it. The ash itself is a light-to-medium gray with a multitude of oil crystals blending in. Striations are evenly spaced with tight cracks. The ash holds well into the second third, making it almost to the midway point before falling, and the burn line stays flat. And this is a slow-burning cigar, too, taking nearly two hours to burn through.  This big boy has the stamina to last!

Flavor Profile (0-5):  Good (3)

Heavy cedar to start with a moderate honey sweetness and a thick, creamy finish. Then I wait for more…  I know it’s just the tip, but I’m not getting much sensation out of the first inch (same thing your mom said too!).  There’s tons of cedar, a moderate honey sweetness, and cream. I start to look like Kermit the Frog dangling his legs on a bench, just waiting for more flavor. Faint hints of coffee and baking spice—mostly cinnamon—finally appear. Now I’m Mr. Bean looking at my watch as I enter the second inch. I don’t retrohale much because my sinuses are really sensitive, and I can usually pick up what most people talk about on the retrohale without directly blowing smoke through my nasal passages. With most cigars, retrohaling just blows out the sensation in my nasal cavity, but this is pretty mild, so I figure what the hell. White pepper is slightly more evident, but my nasal cavities are also burning. Yes, I’m a complete baby when it comes to the forced retro. 🐣👶🏻😂 

It’s like the DP56 was sensing my frustration and decided to get its shit together for the second third. It’s not developing into a complex blend, but the flavor intensity is ramping up. This is one of those cigars where you consider cutting the first inch off next time just to get right to the good stuff (mazel tov again!). But anyway, there’s still tons of cedar to start; it’s like somebody crammed a 6.5″ long piece of wood in your mouth for you to suck on. BTW, if anybody does that on their OnlyFans, I need royalties for writing credits. There’s a hay-like grassiness that appears, but just different. The big change is the white pepper building to a proper, mellow medium with good cinnamon levels and mild baking spice. There’s a light saltiness to it as well (Lil Jon says skeet skeet!) covering the spice spectrum.  Speaking of spice and skeet, it’s kind of like when I was a teenage boy, and even though I had my favorite, Geri—always Geri 🥰—I still would’ve totally said yes to any and all of the Spice Girls.  Don’t be picky, they’re all here and just enjoy all flavors of spice.  Coffee and earth are still barely registering, but the big thing is that the honey has shifted to more of a lemon zest with a buttery, sweet creaminess. And this thing is so incredibly creamy. You know, I’m just going to take the high road and not make a creaming joke, even though it would be easy after OnlyFans and Spice Girls references. Feel free to do it yourself.  Oh wait, you already do that watching OnlyFans and fantasizing about the Spice Girls. That explains why it’s so creamy. 😂

Getting into the final third, there have been some notes that just barely register at times: coffee, earth, and an almond nuttiness, to be precise. Sometimes you get a mild hit, other times you don’t. The white pepper does pick up qualities of black pepper from time to time in the final third, though. Baking spice increases slightly, though it’s still mostly cinnamon. The hay-like notes are building stronger to more of a medium strength as well.  So don’t get me wrong, the flavors here are pleasant, but there’s not a lot of flavor intensity, or even nuance.  So much like endless dick jokes, it gets monotonous.

Overall Experience (0-5):  Great (4)

This cigar is exactly like a teenage boy, and as anybody who has been one or parented one, you know exactly how this will go. I’m talking about 6.5″ of singular woody focus that’s only a little spicy and just covers everything with a big, creamy finish. But dick jokes aside, this is a nice blend if you like things on the lighter and creamier side. This is ideal as a morning cigar with coffee, on a hot day, or out on the golf course. But it’s a little boring for me and I found myself missing the smaller Continental 52 which brought so much more flavor. It might not have the length or the girth, but it really knows what to do with those 5 inches! 🫣🤣

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.