The La Loca Leeland Deluxe is part of the boutique portfolio from HoneyBee Cigars, a Florida-based cigar company founded by Brianna “Bri” Chiuchiolo. HoneyBee says the company was established in 2024, drawing inspiration from Chiuchiolo’s childhood exposure to the cigar business through her father’s cigar shop. The company’s stated approach centers on small-batch production and combining traditional cigar craftsmanship with a more contemporary brand identity.
The La Loca Leeland Deluxe is one of HoneyBee’s more distinctive offerings because of its wrapper. According to HoneyBee, the cigar uses an ultra-premium Cameroon wrapper, giving it an African tobacco component that is considerably less common today than Ecuadorian Habano, Connecticut, or Mexican San Andrés wrappers. HoneyBee describes the tobacco used in the cigar as coming from special seeds, with tobacco grown and aged in Nicaragua.
The company intentionally keeps some details of its production confidential. HoneyBee states that its cigars are developed with partners in Tampa and Nicaragua, but it does not disclose the exact factory or farms involved. The company says its cigars are produced in small batches from premium long-filler tobacco and that the leaves undergo curing and aging before production.
For today’s review, I am taking a look at the HoneyBee Cigars La Loca Leeland, presented in a box-pressed format and dressed in a Cameroon wrapper. Cameroon tobacco immediately caught my attention, as it isn’t a wrapper you see nearly as frequently as many of today’s Ecuadorian, Nicaraguan, or Mexican offerings. The company offers these in 5-count packs with an MSRP of $60.00 ($12.00/cigar)
With that said, let’s burn one and see what this HoneyBee has to offer.
Pre-Light Examination
The HoneyBee Cigars La Loca Leeland BP Toro presented itself with a heavily marbled, medium-brown to dark-tan wrapper that gave the cigar plenty of visual character.
The cigar is adorned with 2 bands. The primary band uses a black and silver motif that declares this as the La Loca Leeland and displays the company logo at the top. A secondary red and silver band declares this as Deluxe Edition.
The box press was nicely formed, and the cigar was finished with a decently applied cap and closed foot. Examining the barrel revealed no discernible soft spots through most of the cigar, although I did notice a little extra give beginning about an inch above the foot.
There wasn’t much aroma coming off the barrel itself. The closed foot, however, provided a considerably more interesting introduction, offering a pleasant ripe fruit aroma.
I used a straight cut to remove the cap and gave it a few cold-draw puffs. Interestingly, even with the closed foot intact, the draw was a tad open.
The cold draw introduced a growing spice sensation across the palate accompanied by a subtle hint of milk chocolate.
With the pre-light examination complete, it was time to fire up the La Loca Leeland and see where the journey would take me.
The Journey
Once fired up, the La Loca Leeland didn’t exactly ease its way into the journey. The opening was sharp and somewhat acidic, immediately grabbing my attention. As the cigar began to settle into the burn, fruit notes started working their way into the profile.
A light grey ash developed above a medium-thick and somewhat wavy char line. Meanwhile, the retrohale introduced a distinctive cinnamon note, adding an enjoyable spicy component to the otherwise edgy opening. Fortunately, the profile began to settle considerably as I approached the end of the first third.
The early acidic sharpness diminished, allowing a combination of natural sweetness and fruit to become more prominent. The cinnamon remained present and worked particularly well with the developing sweetness and fruit. This was easily a more enjoyable expression of the cigar than its opening.
There was, however, a construction characteristic beginning to concern me. As the burn progressed, the barrel became increasingly soft and squishy. I had noticed some softness near the foot during the pre-light examination, but it became considerably more apparent as the cigar burned. Moving toward the midway point, I also noticed the strength beginning to ratchet up.Th ash dropped in a decent chunk revealing a flat but centered burn cone.
Second Third
The established combination of sweetness, fruit, and spice carried into the second third before another flavor entered the mix. A subtle hazelnut note began developing. It wasn’t a dominant component, but it provided a pleasant nutty contrast to the sweeter aspects of the blend. Combined with the cinnamon experienced earlier in the journey, the hazelnut added some additional depth to a profile that had improved significantly since the sharp opening.
The strength continued to have more presence than it did early in the cigar but remained manageable. The increasingly soft feel of the barrel remained the primary construction concern.
Final Third
Moving into the final third, fruit notes once again became the primary flavor component. Rather than introducing another major transition, the cigar leaned back into the fruit character that had been present throughout much of the experience. The profile remained considerably more approachable than it had been during the initial acidic opening.
I continued smoking the La Loca Leeland down toward the nub, ending the experience at medium strength. The total smoking time was 1 hour and 25 minutes.
Final Analysis
The HoneyBee Cigars La Loca Leeland BP Toro opened up with a decidedly sharp, acidic quality that initially had me wondering where the cigar was heading. Thankfully, that character didn’t define the entire experience. By the end of the first third, the blend had settled nicely into a much more enjoyable combination of fruit, natural sweetness, and cinnamon. The addition of hazelnut during the second third was a nice touch and provided one of the more interesting transitions of the journey. Fruit eventually returned to center stage during the final third. Flavor-wise, the cigar therefore improved considerably after its somewhat aggressive beginning.
Construction was more of a mixed bag. The cigar began with a nicely formed box press and generally solid packing, but the barrel became noticeably soft and squishy as the burn progressed. The burn line was also somewhat wavy, although the cigar continued to deliver the experience through its 1-hour-and-25-minute smoking time.
Overall, the La Loca Leeland showed some interesting qualities, particularly once the early sharpness subsided. The combination of fruit, cinnamon, sweetness, and hazelnut demonstrated what the blend has to offer, while the progressive softening of the barrel keeps it from scoring higher. For smokers interested in boutique blends and particularly those who enjoy the distinctive character a Cameroon wrapper can bring to a cigar, the La Loca Leeland is worth exploring.
Strength: Medium
Smoking Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Stogie Press Rating: 90 Points
Recommendation: Try a five-pack
