La Flor Dominicana Petite La Volcada

One of the more enjoyable things that covering the cigar industry allows us to do is get a peek into the backstories and important things in the lives of the people who make cigars. Case in point, when Litto Gomez of La Flor Dominicana celebrated his Uruguayan heritage with the release of La Volcada in 2017. While Gomez was born in Spain, he was raised in Uruguay,

That cigar, a 7 x 48 Churchill vitola, got its name from a specific step in the tango, a dance that traces its roots to the 1880s and an area between Uruguay and Argentina known as the Rio de la Plata. It featured a wrapper from Mexico’s San Andrés region, an Ecuadorian corojo binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic.

In November 2018, La Flor Dominicana announced plans to release a second vitola for its La Volcada line, and much like the company did with La Nox, it would be a much smaller cigar than the original, specifically a 4 1/4 x 32 petite corona, or what might be referred to as a small panatela in the Cuban naming structure. It is also much smaller than the Petite La Nox, which measured 5 x 40.

• La Flor Dominicana La Volcada (7 x 48) — December 2017 — $12 (Box of 20, $240)
• La Flor Dominicana Petite La Volcada (4 1/2 x 32) — February 2020 — $4 (Tin of 6, $24)

While the cigar was announced in late 2018, it didn’t begin shipping until this February, roughly 14 months after the project was first announced.

  

Also different from the Petite La Nox is that the Petite La Volcada comes in tins of six cigars, as opposed to the five-packs in which the former were packaged. Each of those tins have an MSRP of $24, meaning individual cigars are priced at $4. Additionally, the tins are available in five-packs for a total of 30 cigars, priced at $120.

• Cigar Reviewed: La Flor Dominicana Petite La Volcada
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: Tabacalera La Flor S.A.
• Wrapper: Mexico (San Andrés)
• Binder: Ecuador (Corojo)
• Filler: Dominican Republic
• Length: 4 1/4 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 32
• Vitola: Small Panetela
• MSRP: $4 (Tins of 6, $24)
• Release Date: February 2020
• Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

Size aside, the first thing I notice about the La Flor Dominicana Petite La Volcada is how much tooth and texture is on the wrapper leaf. It is immediately visible, even through the cellophane, and once removed from that sleeve it offers a pronounced texture for the fingertips. The wrapper has a bit of a mottled color in spots, but the overall shade is a medium-dark brown. The cigar is rolled on the firm side, certainly in line with what I would expect from its bigger counterparts, and something I’m OK with having smoked some very soft similarly sized cigars from other manufacturers. It’s also rolled fairly well from a visual perspective, with just the occasional little bump and a tidy cap. I don’t get a ton of aroma off the foot other than a bit of terroir, generic tobacco and a black pepper that takes a moment to register in the nose. The cold varies from smooth to a bit tight and repeats the same earthy, terroir flavor as what the aroma offered. It’s a bit more vibrant but lacks the pepper of the aroma while showing a bit more sweetness.

The La Flor Dominicana Petite La Volcada starts off on a very familiar foot, earthy with just a bit of pepper and the profile seemingly deciding which way it can go as it offers both the heavier terroir notes but also a lighter woodier and loamy earth note that has me thinking about the Dominican fillers, while chalk makes an occasional appearance. There aren’t a lot of changes in this short cigar’s first third, which I’m perfectly fine with since it starts and stays very enjoyable at a medium-plus to medium-full level, while body and strength are closer to medium. Draw, burn and smoke production are all very good in the early going.

There is just a touch more sweetness in the profile at the start of the second third, subtle but emerging from a thicker start to a bit more of an orange honey for a few puffs. Pepper has really stepped to the forefront of the cigar at the halfway mark, and while the initial experience suggests black pepper, further puffs, a retrohale and just picking it up through the ambient smoke show it has much more brightness and complexity thanks to a bit of white pepper and even some chili pepper heat. The technical performance is still near perfect, something that is not always easy to achieve in such a small vitola. 

Around the start of the final third, the pepper has brightened up even more and takes the occasional step up the intensity meter, enough that it might become a bit much for all but the occasional retrohale. It’s hard to say it gets to be too much—at least for my liking—but it certainly toes the line at times. There is still some earth in the profile but it is lighter than before, and if anything the profile has moved more towards the Dominican and Ecuadorian tobacco than the Mexican San Andrés leaf. The draw remains fantastic until the end of the cigar, with an even burn line and more than sufficient smoke production.

Final Notes:

• You can see Litto Gomez dancing the tango in this video from the 2018 Procigar Festival.
• While the La Flor Dominicana Petite La Volcada doesn’t put off tons of smoke, it never lacks, putting up more than enough to be sufficient.
• Tony Gomez talked more about the original La Volcada at the 2017 IPCPR Convention & Trade Show.
• Litto Gomez has previously celebrated the tango by naming a vitola in the La Flor Dominicana 1994 line after it, a 4 1/2 x 48 petit robusto that was added in 2015 after the line debuted the year prior.
• I didn’t get much in the way of a nicotine buzz from this cigar, which as I have said numerous times before, I am perfectly fine with.
• La Volcada was the third standalone line from La Flor Dominicana that took inspiration from specific sources. La Nox, released in 2015, was inspired by the night and Vincent van Gogh, while 2016’s Andalusian Bull drew its inspiration from Spanish bullfighting.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Final smoking time was 45 minutes on average, though can be smoked a good bit faster of slower depending on one’s preference.
• Site sponsor JR Cigar carries the La Flor Dominicana Petite La Volcada.