Pan Caliente de HVC 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2026

I vaguely remember when Reinier Lorenzo, founder of HVC Cigars, told me about a new release called Pan Caliente.

It was a remarkably different time for his company, which hadn’t even celebrated its fifth anniversary. At the time, many of the company’s cigars were made in Honduras, including the original Pan Caliente, which was a 5 x 50 robusto with a 109-style cap.

Lorenzo, in his thick Cuban accent and deep voice, explained the origin of the name, the phrase, se vende como pan caliente, Spanish for “selling like hot cakes.” He wanted to sell them like hot cakes.

While the first release was limited, it was just the start of what has gone on to become a trio of regular production lines for the company:

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the line, which of course, means there’s a 10th anniversary limited edition cigar.

That cigar is called Pan Caliente de HVC 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2026, a 6 7/8 x 54 double toro. It’s an entirely new blend with an Ecuadorian habano 2000 wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and fillers from Nicaragua and Peru, including pelo de oro tobacco. The latter, Spanish for golden hair, is a strand of tobacco that is noted for its golden color and because it’s no longer grown in Cuba due to its propensity to develop mold.

• Cigar Reviewed: Pan Caliente de HVC 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2026
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: Fábrica de Tabacos HVC S.A. de Reinier Lorenzo
• Wrapper: Ecuador (Habano 2000)
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua & Peru (Pelo de Oro)
• Length: 6 7/8 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 54
• Shape: Round
• MSRP: $12.40 (Box of 25, $310)
• Release Date: August 2026
• Number of Cigars Released: 500 Boxes of 25 Cigars (12,500 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

I think the bands are doing a lot of work here, and without them, I suspect the cigar would look quite boring. The wrapper has a neutral brown color that is quite pale and lacks many other attributes. There’s no visible oil, relatively few veins and not much discoloration. While the scale doesn’t confirm my suspicions, I find the cigars feel a bit lighter than I’d expect them to be. In addition, the cigars feel somewhat dry and quite firm. The aromas from the wrapper are nearly full with a mixture of some mild cocoa, paste and, on the brighter-smelling second cigar, some cranberry. The feet have a full aroma with a sweeter mixture of milk coffee, generic wood and pecans. The first two Pan Calientes have a sweet cold draw with flavors similar to the smells: dark berries, coffee, black pepper and some dirty water. The third cigar has the dirty water flavor leading a mild raisin. Upon cutting the first cigar, I hear the cigar crack slightly below the cap. Fortunately, the other two cigars cut fine.

Immediately upon puffing the first Pan Caliente de HVC 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2026, the cracking is causing a problem. There are some small cracks above the main band, which have opened up the draw and mean there’s not much smoke in the mouth. The second and third cigars have a normal smoke volume. The second cigar has leather, earth and black pepper, not very distinct but somewhat sweet. The third cigar has rice cakes leading oak before some bitter stone flavors emerge, around medium-full. Unfortunately, the cracks on the first cigar are going to be a problem, though one that is mostly solved by placing my finger on the affected area. An inch in, the strongest flavors are generic woods and crackers, most distinct as a rice cake flavor in the third cigar, along with secondary notes of sweetness, bitterness, white pepper, and a metallic aspect. The finish gets a soggy undertone—with the woodiness especially affected—with toastiness, minerals and some dry, plain grain cereal joining the profile. Retrohales of the first cigar have a balanced mixture of nuttiness, creaminess and bread—a softer profile—while the other two are led by pencil lead over a flavor combination similar to what I’m getting in the mouth. During the finish of the first two cigars, a dry and lifeless pretzel flavor emerges with some burnt pepper and lime zest, while the third cigar has some plain bagel and more of a lemon citrus. Flavor is full, body is medium-full, and strength is mild-medium to medium-plus. The first cigar’s various cracks make it look worse than the other two cigars and it’s the only cigar that requires assistance from my lighter; the third cigar’s draw is too tight, worse than the draw on the first cigar.

As is happening too often these days, there’s a core flavor that isn’t detailed enough for me to identify what it is. It’s dry, slightly harsh and always present, but I have no idea what it tastes similar to. There’s a fairly consistent nuttiness, never as strong as the mystery flavor, different mild sweet flavors—more in the chocolate family than fruits—and, in the third cigar, more toastiness. The list of flavors during the finish is more or less the same as what I was picking up earlier, though the second cigar has a new grain flavor that tastes different than the cereal flavor from before. Thankfully, retrohales are smoother and more interesting. The first cigar has creaminess, raisins and some mild cinnamon; the second cigar still has pencil lead, joined by earth and white pepper; the third cigar has peanuts over some pepperoni, a touch of black tea and some creaminess. Each cigar continues to get a lot toastier during the finish, the only real difference is that the intensity level has increased compared to the first third. Flavor is medium-full, though full on the retrohale, body is medium-full, strength varies anywhere between medium and full. The first cigar has more cracking issues. Once the burn line catches up to the second crack, the draw opens up way too much and the touch-ups become more frequent. There’s also a third crack that develops near the secondary band. The second cigar also has some cracking, though not one that seems to be affecting things, and both the second and third cigars require a touch-up. The third cigar’s draw is too tight and I sort of wish there was a crack to maybe help with that, but alas, it doesn’t happen.

Unfortunately, the final third is not kind to any of the three Pan Caliente de HVC 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2026s I smoke. The first cigar’s cracks have rendered it bitter, harsh and mushy, with creaminess and woods being the only non-harsh flavors I can really detect. The other two have less harshness but not much in the way of distinct flavors. Whatever the mysterious core flavor is, it sits alone atop the palate. The aroma when retrohaling continues to be significantly better than the flavor in the mouth: nuttiness, pine and toastiness with secondary notes of creaminess, plain bagel and some bacon. That mystery core flavor is still present on every retrohale, but it’s far more palatable when joined by other flavors. Flavor is medium-full or full, body is medium to medium-full, and strength is medium-full to full. Touch-ups are needed on each cigar, more in the first one, and the draw on the cigar continues to be too tight.

Final Notes

• I think the cigars we purchased were dried out prior to their arrival at our office. We purchased the cigars in late August from a retailer that ships loose cigars with a Boveda pack, then they spent all of September in our humidor. By the time I started smoking the cigars last week, they still felt quite dry.

• • The first cigar cracked upon cutting and suffered two more separate incidents of the wrapper splitting, one of which you can see above.
  • The second cigar had some minor cracking in the second half.
  • The third cigar avoided any cracking, but at one point, I picked up the cigar and somehow managed to unravel some wrapper in the process.
• I felt mildly ill after the third cigar, the one with a tight draw. I’ve noticed the correlation between tight draws and eventually getting sick. I don’t know the science, but I don’t think this is a placebo effect. There wasn’t even a hint of feeling unwell from the other two cigars.
• More than most cigars, I regularly found myself looking at some very ugly ash.
• At a time when more and more cigars have prices closer to $20 than $10, it’s nice to see this large of a cigar with an MSRP of $12.40.
• Next year marks the 15th anniversary of HVC. I still remember my first time meeting Lorenzo. He was still in college and drove down to Texas with boxes of cigars in the back of his Toyota. Now he owns his own factory. It’s been cool to follow along.

• HVC used the same secondary band for the La Rosa 520 10th Anniversary cigars.
• This is the first HVC release to use Peruvian tobacco. I am generally a fan of Peruvian tobacco, though I can’t say I tasted any of the signature flavors I associate with Peruvian leaves.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.

• HVC lists the Pan Caliente de HVC 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2026 as a 6 7/8 x 54 double toro. Above are the dimensions I found for the three cigars I smoked for this review. I found them to feel lighter than I would have expected.
• Final smoking time was three hours and 15 minutes on average. Despite the differences in construction, the individual smoking times finished within 10 minutes of one another.
• Site sponsors Atlantic Cigar Co., JR Cigar and Small Batch Cigar carry the Pan Caliente de HVC 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2026.

Double Toro
Fábrica de Tabacos HVC S.A. de Reinier Lorenzo
HVC Cigars
HVC Pan Caliente (Series)
Nicaragua
Pan Caliente de HVC 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2026