This 7x40 lancero is the top of the Cusano line. In an interview recently, Mike Chiusano said he chose the lancero shape because if he could beat the Cubans at one of their benchmarks, then he knew he really had something.
The cigar is $12 and it's attracive, with a medium brown Ecuadorian wrapper but without the pigtail cap you'd expect from, say, a Cohiba Landero.
Pre-light aroma was somewhat sharp and cedary, and in fact, that's about what I got when I lit it up: a big blast of very strong cedar flavors with some hints of leather. It very, very closely resembled The Griffin's Fuerte -- not really a compliment. The overall effect was simply that of a mild Dominican blend amped up with an Ecuador wrapper in place of the usual CT-shade, and higher primings of the filler leaves with maybe a leaf of Nicaraguan tobacco in there somewhere.
Draw was very good but the cigar would only hold an ash for about a half-inch before letting go.
Overall, the Cuvee Grand didn't resemble a Cuban blend in any way, nor did it "out-Cuban the Cubans" as Chiusano hopes. Instead, it's just a very strong, very cedary cigar without a lot of complexity and, at $12, not much to recommend it.
