Editor’s Note: About a La Flor Dominicana Factory Press Review

Yesterday we published a review of a La Flor Dominicana Factory Press. As pointed out by a reader, the cigar in the review did not appear the same as the most recent version of the La Flor Dominicana Factory Press, which was released last year.

The cigar we reviewed—pictured above—only had a singular band, whereas the Factory Press release that most recently came out, had a secondary band.

As it turns out, the cigar that we purchased from SmallBatchCigar.com was a 2016 version of the La Flor Dominicana Factory Press, also just called Factory Press. This cigar was released—along with a lot of other La Flors—ahead of Aug. 8, 2016, the day regulations from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) went into effect.

Our policy has been to not review these products until their formal releases. As such, this review will no longer be published on the site. I have my own issues with publishing a review than retracting it, but our policy of treating every cigar the same comes before my own objections.

While the review will remain unpublished, I will publish the bottom line portion of the review, which scored 85 points.

The La Flor Dominicana Factory Press 2016 is a tale of two very different profiles: while it is very smooth overall, the overt strength and aggressive black pepper on the finish that is present in the first half overwhelm just about every other note, including the sparse sweetness on the retrohale. However, the profile really opens up after the halfway point, with a very distinct honey sweetness on the retrohale that really cuts the effect of the strength noticeably and increases the complexity considerably. If the whole cigar had featured the same balance as the second half, this cigar would have scored higher, but even with that said it is still easily enjoyable enough to recommend, as long as you like full-strength cigars that take almost three hours to smoke.

Thank you to reader Bostoneo for pointing out the issue.

In the interest of full disclosure, no one from La Flor Dominicana reached out to inform us that there was an issue though Jon Carney did answer questions once we realized the mistake.