La Flor Dominicana Texas Cigar Festival

In addition to the cigars that it puts in attendees’ bags, La Flor Dominicana showed up to the Texas Cigar Festival on April 20 with a small amount of limited cigars in tow, a cigar simply called the La Flor Dominicana Texas Cigar Festival.

There isn’t a ton of back story on this box-pressed Toro; Ron Lesseraux of Serious Cigars made a request to Litto Gomez of La Flor Dominicana to come up with something special for the event, and this is the result. Gomez had control over the blend and its size, and came up with a unique blend that was made in an extremely limited quantity with just 50 boxes of 10 cigars being made for the event. Some 30–35 boxes were sold during the festival, and as of this writing a few remain for sale.

This isn’t the first time that Lesseraux and Gomez collaborated on a limited edition cigar, as back in 2011, Serious Cigars received another exclusive from Litto Gomez: the Coronado by La Flor Lancero.

• Cigar Reviewed: La Flor Dominicana Texas Edition
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: Tabacalera La Flor S.A.
• Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
• Binder: Sumatra
• Filler: Dominican Republic & Nicaragua
• Size: 6 1/2 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 50
• Vitola: Box-pressed Toro Extra
• MSRP: $8.95 (Boxes of 10 $79.95)
• Date Released: April 20, 2013 
• Number of Cigars Released: 50 Boxes of 10 Cigars (500 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 2

The wrapper is dark, but not overly oily, and if anything it could be described as being a bit dry. There is a fair amount of texture to the wrapper, and while there are a good number of veins, they are very small. The cap has a small, flat pigtail, and a bit of the binder sticks out from the foot, reminding me a bit of the Intemperance line from RoMa Craft Tobac. There is a surprising amount of give on the cigar; it’s not squishy but it is certainly on the soft side. On the pre-light aroma there is a noticeable but not terribly strong aroma of sweet barnyard, with the sweetness standing out and evoking memories of fresh cherries. There’s a bit of pepper in the equation as well, and an essence to it that reminds me of tobacco barns with lots of dry wood and a touch of earth. The cold draw is easy: just north of easy on the first cigar smoked and too easy on the second, both showing those notes of cherry again and a bit of pie crust – a very enjoyable flavor on the palate. One of the other noticeable things on this cigar is the band – it’s the same one found on the LFD Mystery Cigar and is very simple, just bearing the LFD logo.

As soon as the cigar is torched, the wrapper builds up a bit of a puffy lip at the burn line – not quite that big dark cigar mustache that some over humidified sticks develop, but definitely a noticeable change in its appearance and color, which you can see pictured below. The first few puffs of the La Flor Dominicana Texas Cigar Festival are surprisingly spicy, with notes of chalk and white pepper dominating the flavor and none of the cherry sweetness that was in the pre-light aroma and cold draw. The ash is nearly all white, hanging on for just about an inch or so before falling off. The smoke is a very light grey and fairly thin, not really coating the palate but carrying an almost sharp note of pepper.

Heading into the second third of the La Flor Dominicana Texas Cigar Festival, the flavor has rounded a bit on the bottom end adding a new base of earth and coffee while keeping the pepper up-front in the nose and on the palate. It still feels fairly similar to the first half—and while enjoyable—isn’t the most complex cigar I’ve ever had. Just shy of the midpoint, the flavor is thin and peppery with little sweetness, instead building with notes of dry wood and light roasted coffee. Past the midway a change in flavor starts, bringing in a touch of milk chocolate, more earth and a bit of leather to add to the bottom end of the flavor equation.

The final third sees a noticeable increase in nicotine and overall strength, not unlike what happened when I smoked the LFD Mystery Cigar, though the beginnings are very, very different. The pepper has settled down just a bit and become part of a full, warm earthy flavor. It’s still a significant player though, making itself known on every puff. A touch up is needed to get the cigar burnt down to its eventual conclusion, with the heat starting to play a role in the flavor and adding a slight twinge of harshness to the flavors. The final third has by far the most complexity that the cigar has shown to this point, finishing strong if a bit hot for complete enjoyment.

Final Notes:

• The band was on my mind almost the entire time I smoked this cigar. I assume it’s not terribly feasible to make a run of bands for a project with just 500 cigars, but without it, the LFD Texas Cigar Festival seems to lose some if its limited edition appeal. It’s the same thought I had about the LFD Mystery Cigar. Something – anything – denoting a cigar’s name or story just seems appropriate.
• Apparently it’s not that hard though to make custom boxes for the event, as the LFD Texas Cigar Festival Edition had those.
• That being said, they aren’t very reusable. The nails that were used to close the box mean that there is no way it’s being used again, which is unfortunate, because the box is actually pretty cool.
  
• Let’s just say it was easy to figure out why the band faced the way it did on the second cigar I smoked:
  

• While I prefer complexity in cigars, there are times when a solid, consistent flavor profile does well. This is one of those times – the LFD Texas Cigar Festival doesn’t add and subtract flavors, but finds a course and sticks to it well.
• The rapid decrease in smoke production when each clump of ash falls off was a bit of a downfall, and it seemed a touch-up was the only thing that could get it going at full smoke production again. I’ve had other cigars do the exact opposite: decrease smoke production because of too much ash, only to open up wide again when the ash it knocked off.
• Speaking of ash, it comes off very easily, especially when it gets to about an inch long.
• The burn line was fairly wavy on both cigars, though it never raced up one side.
• I hate trying to verify the ring gauge on box pressed cigars, as my size chart only accounts for round cigars. Maybe I’ll have to get a ring gauge tape measure or some other sort of device.
• La Flor Dominicana isn’t known as a company that makes a lot of limited editions, but they do. Many of them, like this, fly under the radar. But there are a lot of particularly smaller La Flor releases that have been done over the year.
• Ten count box = thumbs up.
• Serious Cigars in Houston is the only retailer to get this cigar from. As of this writing, they had a small amount available, which can be purchased through their website or by calling 866.372.4427. They are very clear on their website that this is a “one shot deal.”
• Some cigars for this review were sent by Serious Cigars, others were purchased by halfwheel.
• Final smoking time is about two hours and 10 minutes.