La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero Oscuro Torpedo

(Editor’s Note: There has been some confusion about the name of the cigar, and whether it is actually a “Double Ligero” blend, since it does not have the “Double Ligero” band on it…Well, we emailed Litto Gomez directly to ask that question, and he says that despite the band, these ARE the “Double Ligero” blend. — brooks.)

Today we will be taking a look at a very limited release from La Flor Dominicana made exclusively for Twins Smoke Shop in New Hampshire, the LA Flor Dominicana Double Ligero Torpedo with an Oscuro wrapper.

For those of you not familiar with Twins Smoke Shop, you need to be! The Owner Kurt Kendall of 7-20-4 Cigars fame is indeed one of the most passionate cigar enthusiasts you will ever meet. Not only does he run a great shop but has created a wonderful brand of cigars unique to the state of New Hampshire. If you haven’t checked out 7-20-4 Cigars I suggest you do, the Dogwalker is the bomb! Here is some history info I gathered from their site:

Twins Smoke Shop was established in June of 1997. We started with 75 to 100 boxes of cigars and today we have grown to have thousands of cigars! Twins Smoke Shop opened at the tail end of the ‘cigar boom’ when cigars were close to impossible to get. To get a box of Fuente, Macanudo or La Gloria Cubano was a major accomplishment. To get an account with one of the major manufacturers was even harder. Kurt had to rely on his twin brother Kevin to supply him with cigars to get the store open. Smaller manufacturers like Cusano, Indian Tabac (now Rocky Patel) and Drew Estates were a few of the companies who helped us get started. With hard work and determination, we have built strong relationships with these and many more cigar manufacturers to become what we are today at Twins Smoke Shop!

Among the most popular brands in Kurt’s store is La Flor Dominicana. They have a huge selection and have clearly been a huge retailer for them so it comes as no surprise that due to sales and brand loyalty Litto Gomez created a special cigar for their store in 2007. With only 75 boxes of 25 cigars made this special Double Ligero Torpedo is unique in that it is the first and only Torpedo in the Double Ligero line and offers a completely different wrapper switching up the Ecuadorian Sun Grown wrapper for a Dark as night Ligero Oscuro wrapper. You can imagine my surprise when four years later I see these still on the shelf in extremely limited quantities. I asked Kurt Kendall about them and he said he had put aside a few boxes so he could pull them out and sell singles years later when people had forgotten about them. I was so stoked I bought the last of the box on the shelf, a mere five cigars.

Here is what the boxes look like:

 

_______________________________________________________________________

 

Lets get to it shall we?

• Cigar Reviewed: La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero Oscuro Torpedo (Twins Smoke Shop Exclusive)
  
• Country of Origin: Domincan Republic
  
• Factory: Tabacalera La Flor S.A.
• Wrapper: Dominican Republic
• Binder: Dominican Republic
• Filler: Dominican Republic
• Size: 6 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 52
  
• Vitola: Torpedo
• MSRP: $9.50 (Boxes of 25, $237.50)
• Date Released: 2007
• Number of Cigars Released: 75 Boxes of 25 Cigars (1,875 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked for Review: 3

The first thing you notice about the cigar is the very dark chocolate wrapper; it has that typical Oscuro look where you can see the discoloration at the veins. The cigar is very smooth with an oily, buttery feel. The cigar is packed well with a seamless wrap and little bit of tooth in some spots. The aroma coming off this cigar is absolutely intoxicating, it reeks of dark chocolate, spices, leather and cedar. It has such a spicy, meaty smell. It reminds me of the smell of the spice packed you use when making tacos from the box at home. The pre-light draw is equally as nice with a lot of spice, leather and chocolate. Very impressive pre-light indeed.

 

_______________________________________________________________________

 

Starting off in the First Third the cigar is much more subdued and mellow than I anticipated. There is hardly any spice or pepper. As far as flavors go all I am getting is a woody profile with some leather and chocolate. The finish is long but dry and muted. The spice picks up a little as the first third progresses but not a whole lot.

Coming into the Second Third the cigar doesn’t change a whole lot, I am hardly getting any transition, just a basic oaky, wood profile with a little bit of leather, coffee and chocolate. However the flavors are all very muted and flat, there is not much complexity or balance and so far I am very bored. The cigar is medium bodied with a decent burn and a good draw but very little smoke production.

Finishing up in the Final Third I am just completely bored; It’s certainly not the worst cigar ever. It has some decent flavors but they are all mashed together with very little balance or complexity. This is nothing at all like a ligero or double ligero I have had in the past. The cigar gets quite hot towards the end but I nub it in the interest of photographic consistency…

 

_______________________________________________________________________

 

Final Notes:

• I am not sure if the wrapper simply doesn’t work well with this blend or perhaps it’s the vitola or maybe the cigar is just somehow in a sick period and will come out of it. I find it hard to believe its past its prime considering it’s only four years old but I guess it’s possible.
• The flavors were definitely there, however they were very muted and boring and the cigar lacked the spice and pepper I am familiar with in regards to LFD cigars. It reminds me of the Litto Gomez Diez LG Chisel we reviewed a while back, the regular version blew me away but the Oscuro wrapped version just didn’t perform as well.
• Final Smoking time was 1 hour 15 minutes.

 

_______________________________________________________________________

 

The Bottom Line: This came as a complete surprise to me because I am such a LFD whore. I was expecting this thing to knock my socks off (and perhaps give me a happy ending), but that was the furthest thing from my mind. This was a disappointment,  but in my honest opinion, La Flor Dominicana is still one of the greatest companies out there; they produce among the best cigars in the world. This one just fell way short of most of their other great sticks.

 

 

Final Score: 75