In early 2009, Litto Gomez of La Flor Dominicana decided to release a monster of a cigar called the La Flor Dominicana Salomon, a huge 7 x 64 perfecto with a Nicaraguan sun grown wrapper and filler from the Dominican Republic.
The cigar was released to rave reviews and high ratings, and follow it up, this year Gomez has extended the line by releasing the Salomon with an Ecuadorian habano maduro wrapper. It’s still everything Salomon but with a dark, intimidating maduro wrapper that people have come to love in many of Gomez’s cigars.
Here is a comparison photo of the two LFD Salomon releases, Maduro on the left, Natural on the right:
- Cigar Reviewed: La Flor Dominicana Salomon Maduro
- Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
- Factory: Tabacalera La Flor S.A.
- Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
- Binder: Dominican Republic
- Filler: Dominican Republic
- Size: 7 inches
- Ring Gauge: 64
- Vitola: Salomon
- MSRP: $23.00 (Boxes of 10, $230.00)
- Date Released: 2010
- Number of Cigars Smoked for Review: 1
This cigar is massive, if you have seen the natural version you know what I am talking about. Somehow, the maduro version seems to be even larger looking. The wrapper is noticeably darker and just overall beefy looking. It has a splotchy maduro wrapper with minimal veins and a seamless appearance. It smells of leather, chocolate and coffee. Cold draw is chocolate, wood and cinnamon. A very hearty start to say the least.
Starting off in the first third the cigar takes awhile to get going I am forced to puff rapidly to get it lit. After about five minutes the cigar gets going and I am able to detect some flavors. It’s a very strong opening right away I am getting a ton of leather, coffee, a touch of roasted nuts and some black cherry through the nose. It isn’t a very spicy smoke right now but I am getting a nice pepper kick on the tongue with a long finish.
The second third is dominated by a in your face coffee flavor, specifically just roasted coffee beans. There is also a sweet leather undertone floating in and out as I puff as well as that nice black cherry note through the nose. The nut flavor has disappeared but the pepper has ramped up a ton. I can feel it wash all over my tongue and trickle down my throat through the finish.
Finishing up in the final third the cigar is still going strong. Loads of coffee, leather, black cherry and the pepper is still in full force. There is now a wonderful chocolate sweetness underneath it all that is balancing out everything. The finish is long and cool and the flavors are crisp and clean. The strength of this cigar is really hitting me at the end. I am getting all kinds of sweaty and shaky. This is definitely a stick you want to smoke on a full stomach.
Final Notes:
- There is one point that I must bring up that I didn’t specifically mention in the review section. The performance of this cigar was a bit disappointing. I was forced to puff multiple times every draw to get some decent smoke out of it. I was able to detect great flavors but the smoke output was a huge disappointment. The burn was also a bit shaky. I had to retouch it about 10 times throughout the smoke. I am just grateful it didn’t seem to affect the flavors.
- The size of these salomon vitolas are always an issue when I am about to light up. I often say to myself “is this going to keep me entertained for two and a half hours?” The answer here would be yes, however, the constant touching up and smoke problems make it a hesitant yes. However, this could be isolated to this one smoke. I guess we will see in the redux review.
- The flavor profile was excellent. Granted, it was a very predictable La Flor Dominicana profile, but great. I found a sweetness and nuttiness in the maduro that I didn’t experience in the natural version. It was a bit more rounded out as well. In the overall picture they had a lot of the same qualities and flavors. They are a perfect sibling combination if you ask me.
- Final smoking time was two hours and 21 minutes.
I enjoyed this cigar. I am always going to be a bit biased when it comes to anything Litto Gomez makes because I have been a fan of his for years. This cigar had a solid profile with large, meaty flavors and a finish that went on for days. It switched up just enough each third to keep things interesting. The only negative was the performance, but I am hoping this was just a fluke, and although I have heard this is a common problem with the natural version as well, I haven’t experienced it. I will definitely be grabbing a few of these to age and see how they progress, as La Flor Dominicana sticks always seem to do better with some age anyway.