Cigar Preview: La Flor Dominicana 1994

Vitola: Conga
Size: robusto, 5″ x 52 ring gauge
Price $7.50 MSRP
Obtained From Maxamar’s as a IPCPR sample

Background

It is that time of year again when the new cigars released at the annual IPCPR show start showing up at your local retailer.  I was lucky to get a few show samples from the owner of my regular cigar shop.  Today I will be looking at one that I was very excited about.  This cigar is to celebrate the 20 years Litto & Inez have been in the cigar business.  They started the company Los Libertadores in 1994 started producing a Dominican cigar.  The brand La Flor Dominicana wasn’t started until 1996 when the original investors parted ways.  The cigar is comprised of a binder and fillers from La Canela farm with a Mexican San Andres wrapper.  They come in five sizes, with one of those being a special size released in a beer stein.  They are packed in boxes of 20.  This was my first time smoking this cigar.

Prelight

The wrapper on this sample was a nice rust brown in color with some oils and veins.  The wrapper was fairly smooth with only a small amount of tooth.  This is not what I expect from a San Andres wrapper.  The band was very classic looking with the gold foil showing a nice contrast to the maroon background and the purplish flower.  I also note they spelled out the entire company’s name “La Flor Dominicana” rather than the “LFD” of late, on the band.  When I gave it a squeeze it was fairly firm with no soft spots.  When I put my nose to the wrapper I got the aroma of barnyard while I got the aroma of raisins from the foot.  After clipping it and taking a cold draw on it I got hints of cocoa and leather with an ok draw.

Flavor

The cigar starts off with flavors of leather, wood and coffee.  The spice didn’t start right away but after a few puffs.  There was a slight amount of bitterness that I started to get, but I think that was due to the draw being too tight.  The spice did start to mellow out by the end of the first third.  The cigar started off in the medium range in strength.  As I moved into the second third the spice on the tongue and retrohale did start to come back.  The flavors I noted in this third were leather, earth and coffee and some bits of cinnamon.  The cigar moved into the medium full range.  When I got the final third the flavors didn’t really change but the spice did ramp up a lot.  It was definitely full bodied by the end and I did started get a slight nicotine hit from it.

Construction

The draw on this cigar was too tight from the beginning.  It caused a bit of bitterness and I did have to puff on it a lot to keep it going.  The draw opened up when I got to the final third though.  The burn line was straight and the ash was very white.

Value

To be able to pick up a commemorative cigar from LFD for under $10 makes me happy.

Conclusions

Overall I did enjoy this cigar, or at least what this cigar could be if I didn’t have the draw problems.  I think the overly tight draw really hampered the flavors.  I could see what the cigar would be when I got to the final third and it opened up.  Since this was a show sample I will excuse some of these problems.  I will definitely be giving it another try when it gets to my regular shop.  If you area fan of LFD you should give it a try too.