The Particulars

The Review

This review for the Lampert Platino - A (9.25 x 48) is based on the journal entry dated 2026-08-01

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

Long, dark, and thin, sporting a high hat whilst dressed in black with metallic silver accents—it’s a bit like the embodiment of a classic Victorian-era man of mystery. Other than sporting a very dark Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, nothing is known about the blend except that it’s rolled at the Tabacos de Costa Rica factory, which is responsible for some of Lampert’s other best-loved cigars.
The cigar does have a slightly rustic feel to it, as that dark chocolate-brown, super oily wrapper sports a number of veins masking small lumps and ridges from the binder layer. There’s a little bit of edge lift, but the seams are good with a clean triple cap. Going back to the sheen, this cigar genuinely leaves an oily feel on your fingers as you hold it. Density and firmness feel on-point, and it sports a black and silver version of the styled bands used on the Black Card Oro Toro Grande. It’s an eye-catching cigar, no doubt, and it’ll leave you feeling classy as fuck.

Draw (0-3) & Burn (0-4):  Average (2) / Good (3)

The draw is on the tighter side of acceptable—like sucking a thick milkshake through a straw—but it is 9.25 inches of cigar you’re desperately trying to pull air through. There’s no draw tool long enough if I needed it, and I wouldn’t recommend burning through a plug if it was on the far side of the cigar. I’m just going to see if the heat and some soft finger-rolling open the cigar up a bit more. Fortunately, the draw gets right where it needs to be by the second inch, so we don’t need to worry about any hypothetical draw tool scenarios.

The burn starts beautifully: well-controlled and relatively flat. The ash is a very light gray with tightly spaced, deep striations that look exactly like a stack of gray mini pancakes. Do prepare to ash early and often, however, as I made sure to gently roll the ash off after just the first inch before it landed in my lap. Which makes me wonder: when rolling a cigar of this size, do they actually have leaves long enough to reach both ends of the cigar in the bunch? Or do they stagger and overlap? What exact method does the bonchero use to roll cigars of this length compared to a Robusto of the exact same ring gauge?

But you can smoke this cigar slow, or you can smoke it fast. Some folks say it takes them several hours; Big Rob over at LACC can house one in 45 minutes. I’m finding I’m on track for about 90 to 100 minutes at the midpoint with a beautifully flat burn line.

Flavor Profile (0-5):  Excellent (5)

Flavors are interesting right off the bat and quickly pick up. A raisin sweetness and a hit of musty barnyard hit first, joined by some toasted cedar woodiness. Damp earth, cinnamon, nutmeg, red pepper, and other exotic spices quickly follow and start to lead the profile. I’m getting bits of tea, curry-like Eastern spices, and other light, floral aromatic qualities at the end of the first inch. It is the full spice rack for sure to start, sitting over a slightly musty, earthy, and cedar base with a sweetness that bounces between syrupy raisin and lighter dates. Dark chocolate and light coffee come in next. If this cigar was a Cherry Poppin’ Daddy, it would be a Zoot Suit Riot. But also, fuck ska. That music is absolutely dreadful. Except for the joke that ska is the music that plays in a 13-year-old’s head when they get extra mozzarella sticks, it serves no purpose. Sorry, I started Kohn-ing there. 😅

Also, Jesus Christ, a single third of this cigar is 3 inches in length. I would need quadrants or quintiles if the blend was transitioning more aggressively. Luckily, it found a beautiful sweet spot in the first third and that’s holding firm heading into the second. The only thing that can’t make up its mind is the sweetness. Sometimes it’s raisin, sometimes dates, sometimes fig, maybe prunes? Fuck if I—or the cigar—really know. Medium cedar, light breadiness, medium earth, and light must; it’s both light and dark, and the spice rack is still in full effect. Red pepper massaging my tongue, curry, nutmeg, paprika, cinnamon, coriander, cumin—it’s all the red, earthy spices alongside both tea leaves and dark roast coffee. The mysterious man with the topper deals in spice and appears to be an international man of intrigue.

It’s so easy to get hung up on the dominant spice mix that I’ve been ignoring some of the other, more subtle flavors that occasionally show up. Sometimes there’s a light, salty minerality and hints of leather. Occasional toasted almonds and cedar sometimes turn to oak. There’s a moderately creamy finish to it all. It is so smooth without a hint of harshness or bitterness—just mouth tingle and a fury of spice. And earth. Earth, earth, earth with bits of barnyard. It’s dark, it’s bright, it’s sweet, it’s mellow, it’s just fantastic. It’s a little crazy that you have 9 inches of cigar without any major transitions, but the blend is perfectly on point the entire time with only minor fluctuations. I’d be wasting your time to just keep repeating myself.

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

The flavor profile is a lot to process, but if you love sweet and flavorful spice—not just burning heat—you’re going to absolutely love this blend. For a cigar that is listed as mild-to-medium in strength, which is probably a good thing considering the sheer size of it, there’s no shortage of flavor intensity here. It’s not going to kick you in the chest, but the sweet and spicy complexity of it all is just fantastic. If you’re a slower smoker, give yourself ample time to take it all in and just enjoy.

If you’re a Lampert Black Card member, don’t be afraid of the size and definitely don’t skip this one. At the time of this review, they’re still available and it’s $150 for a bundle of 10. It is absolutely nut-busting bonkers that an “A” this good is only $15. If you’re not part of the Black Card, I’m going to point you to my friends at LA Cigar Collective because they currently have a Black Card Sampler you can buy that includes 2 each of the Platino A, the Oro Toro Grande, and the super-banger Continental 52. It’s not quite at Black Card pricing, but it is still well worth the price of admission. These A’s would easily retail for $25 to $30 and still be totally worth it.

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.