Staff Review: LNF La Whatever
Introduction:
With today’s review, we will be taking a look at the LNF La Whatever. As a collaboration between two of the industry’s favorite personalities in Robert Caldwell and Matt Booth, La Whatever delivers with wit, creativity, and most importantly, good tobacco.
Feel free to skim the quick hits for an overview or jump into any section below to find the full details of LNF La Whatever. Let’s do it!
The Quick Hits:
- The second blend of the La Whatever series from Booth and Caldwell
- Main tasting notes of cedar, red pepper, and sweet cream
- Recommended for: fans of Crowned Heads Mil Dias, J.F.R. Lunatic Habano, Cavalier Geneve White Series
- Priced between $14.00-$15.00 a cigar, La Whatever falls towards the higher price range of LNF releases
The Build:
To start things off, let me be clear that the combination of a cigar co-blended by Robert Caldwell and Matt Booth that is produced at Tabacalera William Ventura, sets up La Whatever for immediate success. The blend itself features a silky-smooth Ecuador Habano wrapper, an Ecuador Sumatra binder, and a blend of Dominican Criollo, Nicaraguan habano, and Honduran Corojo filler tobaccos. The kicker here is that, at the time of writing this, the cigars were aged for about a year and a half before they were released for purchase, leading to a complete and balanced flavor profile.
The Look:
There are few brands that do clever packaging concepts better than LNF has done over the years - everything from Land O’ Snakes and Super Stroke have been nothing short of hilarious while being simultaneously genius.
La Whatever fits this mold of ingenuity with its spoof of an old-timey take of a renaissance painting featuring none other than Matt Booth and Robert Caldwell. The whole aesthetic of La Whatever is really a play (some might say a mockery) on classic, traditional cigar bands and box designs which isn’t surprising considering the masterminds behind this release.
Just the name itself, “La Whatever”, should be telling enough about how the pair perceives some aspects of the cigar industry. The last thing I will say here is that even though the concept behind the release may seem like a gag of sorts, the cigar itself is nothing short of a homerun.
The Experience:
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with La Whatever – I feel like LNF blends, for the most part, are relatively unpredictable even when I know the components and make up of the blend. I think this is in part to the oftentimes, significant amount of aging on the blends, but at the end of the day, my feelings of unpredictability with LNF blends are neither a good thing nor a bad thing – they are what they are.
But let’s get into the nitty gritty of La Whatever – from the start of the cigar through the end, I was surprised at the balance I found with it. No flavors seemed to be overly dominant, and the strength of the blend consistently complemented the flavor profile of La Whatever.
The first third started with a good amount cedar and sweet cream up front that was followed by a spicy red pepper finish with nutty notes of pistachios and almonds sprinkled throughout. The strength at this point is medium to full-bodied which stayed pretty consistent throughout the rest of the cigar.
Moving into the second third, the cedar and red pepper stayed present whereas the sweet cream transitioned into more of a vanilla cake note that was as sweet as it was mouthwatering. At this point, I was actually pretty surprised at how refined the flavor profile was - none of the flavors were sharp, or abrasive, and every note seemed to harmonize perfectly.
The final third was characterized by the familiar red pepper, cedar, a now more generic sweetness note, and the nuttiness from the first third that now made its way back into the fold. All things considered, the flavor profile of La Whatever wasn’t one that I would consider dynamic, but this is far from a knock on the blend. Now I know that everyone has preferences, but I personally prefer a blend that has a relatively consistent and flavorful profile as opposed to one that is constantly changing.
The Value:
La Whatever is not the most affordable LNF blend, but it’s also far from the most expensive. Although a price point of $14.00-$15.00 a cigar may not be in the budget for your everyday blend, La Whatever is more than worth picking up a box for special occasions, especially considering that they are boxes of 10 which makes the price of a box much more manageable. All in all, the price of La Whatever is pretty fair when you consider the quality of blend, the age of the tobacco, and its nearly flawless construction.
Final Thoughts:
I admittedly get very excited about anything that Robert Caldwell and Matt Booth release to the market, so the idea of another collaboration between the two is always something that gets my blood pumping. I had some pretty high expectations for La Whatever and I am pleased to say that it did not disappoint – the combination of a tasty blend that was as flavorful as any LNF release that I can remember, outstanding construction and a tastefully hilarious design has all the makings of a memorable cigar.
If you are a fan of Room101 or Caldwell, or are a fan of medium to full-bodied, aged, flavor bombs of blends, then I feel more than comfortable recommending LNF La Whatever to you. Let me know what you think of it once you smoke it!
