La Flor Dominicana Capitulo II (Prerelease)

In 2013, La Flor Dominicana released Chapter One, the first cigar blended by Tony Gomez, son of company co-founders Ines and Litto Gomez. The cigar utilized La Flor Dominicana’s signature cap, the Chisel, which is shaped somewhat like a flat head screwdriver and contained tobaccos from Brazil, the Dominican Republic and U.S. It also sold quite well, creating demand for an obvious follow-up.

At the 2014 IPCPR convention and trade show, La Flor Dominicana introduced the Capitulo II, Spanish for chapter two and pronounced capitulo dos.

Like Chapter One, Capitulo II features is a 6 1/2 x 58 Chisel and is sold in 10-count boxes, but the blend changes dramatically, using a Nicaraguan Colorado wrapper in place of the broadleaf of Chapter One, an Ecuadorian habano binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic.

The name Capitulo II was used instead of Chapter Two to avoid a conflict with the Casa Miranda Chapter Two, which was released in 2013.

Earlier this week, Capitulo II left the Dominican Republic for the U.S. It should begin shipping shortly.

• Cigar Reviewed: La Flor Dominicana Capitulo II
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: Tabacalera La Flor S.A.
• Wrapper: Nicaraguan Colorado
• Binder: Ecuadorian Habano
• Filler: Dominican Republic
• Size: 6 1/2 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 58
• Vitola: Gordo
• MSRP: $10.70 (Boxes of 10, $107.00)
• Release Date: September 2014
• Number of Cigars Released: n/a
• Number of Cigars Smoked for Review: 3

The La Flor Dominicana Capitulo II strikes a interesting pose with a dark slightly reddish brown wrapper that is smooth to the touch and features quite a bit of oil. There is a noticeable box-press and the Chisel cap gives and interesting look as always. Aroma from the wrapper is a combination of dank earth, leather and spice, while the cold draw brings a strong raisin sweetness along with cedar, earth and pepper.

The first third of the Capitulo II starts with some fairly distinct flavors of gritty earth, leather, almonds, anise and toast. There is a fairly distinct spicy barbecue note that is quite pervasive on the retrohale, along with a black pepper kick that makes me wince for the first few puffs, although it calms down a bit after that. but the sweetness from the cold draw is nowhere to be found as of yet. Smoke production from the foot is massive, billowy and white, while the draw is excellent after pinching the Chisel cap, but the burn is a bit wavy so far. The overall strength ends the first third south of the medium mark, but is rising fast.

There’s little change throughout the second third for the dominant flavor, a combination of earth, leather and nuts. The barbecue note is still present on the retrohale, along with a much reduced black pepper, but both the spiciness and sweetness from the first third is long gone by the halfway point. Smoke production is still well above average, the draw is still excellent and the burn has evened up nicely, but is still far from razor sharp. The strength has increased as expected, reaching a solid medium by the end of the second third, although it’s now increasing at a far slower pace than I expected.

The final third of the La Flor Dominicana Capitulo II features very few changes from the first two thirds, although a nice dark cocoa note starts to invade the profile near the very end of the smoke and the barbecue note continues to recede. The dominant flavors remain a combination of earth and leather, along with lesser notes of nuts, hay, barnyard and toast. There is slightly more sweetness in the profile, but still not near enough to make a determination on what it resembles. The burn, draw and smoke production remain at the same levels. The overall strength hangs up just north of the medium mark, and I am able to smoke the nub down to a little more than an inch left without it getting hot.

Final Notes

• I have always loved the Chisel cap, not only because it is something very different from the vast majority of cigars I smoke, but also for the multiple number of ways you can open it.
• One of my favorite ways to smoke a Chisel cap is one of the easiest: all you have to do is pinch the two ends together slightly, and the tobacco that covers the end will pop right off. Having said that, you can also cut the flat end like you would a normal cap, or even punch a hole straight the flat cap itself.  For what it is worth, I pinched each of the three samples I smoked.
• This is not the first time La Flor Dominicana has had naming issues. In 2012 the company changed its Light cigar to Suave, a name used by Nat Sherman, Emilio and now many others. Earlier this year, the company was sued regarding the name of Mysterio and Mysterioso.
• The ash is quite flaky on this release, and kept falling off in very small chunks the entire time I was smoking.
• I like how the color scheme for each release so far has been consistent between the band and the interior of the box.
• Make no mistake, this is a very dense cigar, and each one of the samples I smoked took just over two hours to finish.
• The cigars smoked for this review were given to halfwheel by La Flor Dominicana at the 2014 IPCPR convention and trade show.

Brooks Whittington

I have been smoking cigars for over eight years. A documentary wedding photographer by trade, I spent seven years as a photojournalist for the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star Telegram. I started the cigar blog SmokingStogie in 2008 after realizing that there was a need for a cigar blog with better photographs and more in-depth information about each release. SmokingStogie quickly became one of the more influential cigar blogs on the internet, known for reviewing preproduction, prerelease, rare, extremely hard-to-find and expensive cigars. I am a co-founder of halfwheel and now serve as an editor for halfwheel.