La Flor Dominicana Special Football Edition 2023

The last time I reviewed a La Flor Dominicana Special Football Edition cigar, my beloved Philadelphia Eagles had won their first Super Bowl.

On the morning of Jan. 29, 2023—before the NFL conference championship games—I assigned myself this review. The gap in time wasn’t me trying to tempt destiny; I had reviewed three years in a row of cigars from this series, so I purposely had Brooks Whittington and Patrick Lagreid review the next four. It was now five years since I had reviewed one; coincidentally, it was five years since the Eagles had played in a Super Bowl.

While it looked very promising for a half, the Super Bowl did not end as well for me as I had hoped. If you were a neutral observer, I imagine this was one of the better Super Bowls in some time. The commercials didn’t seem as entertaining as they once were, but if you didn’t enjoy the game and halftime show, your expectations are quite high.

Given that it’s unlikely you came here for my thoughts on the Super Bowl, it seems best to talk about the cigar. For the ninth consecutive year in a row, La Flor Dominicana created a cigar that is decorated with contrasting shades of tobacco added on top of the wrapper to create the image of a football. Each year, the cigar, which is named “La Flor Dominicana Special Football Edition” plus the year it was released—is shipped to stores in February. It’s a limited edition release, offered only to stores in the state that hosting is the Super Bowl.

While the releases share those common traits—they’ve also been packaged more or less the same—the cigars themselves have had less in common. They’ve varied in shape and color over the years. Each blend has been described as using an Ecuadorian habano wrapper over a Dominican binder and Dominican filler. Interestingly, this is just the second time that the release has used darker tobacco for the contrasting football.

 

Super Bowl LVII was played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., the home of the Arizona Cardinals, meaning the release was limited to stores in Arizona.

• Cigar Reviewed: La Flor Dominicana Special Football Edition 2023
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: Tabacalera La Flor S.A.
• Wrapper: Ecuador (Habano)
• Binder: Dominican Republic
• Filler: Dominican Republic
• Length: 5 5/8 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 54
• Vitola: Perfecto
• MSRP: $20 (Box of 10, $200)
• Release Date: January 2023
• Number of Cigars Released: 1,000 Boxes of 10 Cigars (10,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

With the exception of the 2016 and 2023 versions, every Special Football Edition release has been at least 58 ring gauge and most have been at least 60 ring gauge, so it’s nice to see a smaller cigar for a change. Comparing this to the 2016 version, which has the same dimensions, it’s interesting to see how much better the rollers have gotten at applying the detail elements. While there are few cigars that would rival the unique appearance of the La Flor Dominicana Special Football Edition 2023, the main wrapper isn’t exactly the prettiest. It’s a lighter shade of brown that comes off quite dull with plenty of obvious veins. The aroma from the wrapper has a sweet cedar and cake batter mixture, around medium-plus, though there’s ammonia that cuts through. The foot’s aroma is milder, but sweeter with cedar and the smell of a shot of espresso. Two cigars have a cold draw that has some cornflakes flavors mixing with cedar, sweet vanilla and something that reminds me of the smell of paper. The other cigar has a much more pronounced paper flavor along with orange juice, sharp pepper and a weird creaminess.

While the cold draws might have been very different between the three cigars, they start pretty similar. Earthiness and nuttiness are the strongest flavors, followed by popcorn, white pepper, pear sweetness and a touch of leather. It’s somewhere between medium-plus or medium-full, depending on the cigar. The first third is led by a very dry nuttiness over earthiness, roasted flavors, black pepper and something that reminds me of stale bottled water. At times the earthiness can taste a bit damp, while cedar and creaminess are intermittent secondary flavors. The finish sees the flavor get more intense, with earthiness leading the bottled water flavor and something that reminds me of an element of furikake, a Japanese condiment that is sprinkled on top of rice. There are different types of furikake and so I’m not sure what exactly the flavor is, though it’s not the nori flavor. Retrohales are still dry but not as dry as the main flavor. Earthiness leads the bottled water flavor, roasted flavors, black pepper, leather and some of the furikake-like flavor. After retrohaling, there’s a mayonnaise-like creaminess, peanuts and a mild grittiness. While the other parts of the smoking experience present the flavors in a pretty isolated manner, the rertrohale’s finish is much more intertwined. Flavor is medium-full, body is medium and strength is hovering just below medium. Construction on all three cigars is excellent to the point where it’s difficult to pick out what’s the best part, though the ash formation is the easiest thing to point to.

As with the first third, the second third can get a tad harsh at times. It’s never overly harsh and it doesn’t seem to be a result of the cigar getting hot or a quicker puff rate, but some puffs have a bit of an edge. Unlike the first third, the flavors are now pretty intertwined. Earthiness and peanuts lead toastiness, burnt coffee, leather and mild amounts of herbal flavors and pepper. As the final third approaches, a lot more terroir flavors are present, though they’re nowhere to be found while the smoke is in my mouth until after the halfway point. That said, during the finish, the cigar’s terroir and mineral flavors are the stars of the show. Underneath that is a sharper straw flavor, generic earthiness, mild amounts of creaminess and saltines and even milder sugar sweetness. Some puffs produce a woody aftertaste, but it’s not consistent. Retrohales have meatiness over some of the terroir flavors along with crisp apple-like fruitiness, sharp earthiness, lemon and black pepper. During the finish, a sharper earthiness combines with cedar while black pepper sits on the top of my tongue. Flavor ends the second third full, body is medium and strength is medium. Construction continues to be good, but it’s not flawless. Two cigars need touch-ups, one to help an uneven burn and one to deal with the aftereffects of a very unique burn situation, more on that in the Final Notes section.

While it seemed like the final third of the La Flor Dominicana Special Football Edition 2023 was going to be all about mineral and terroir flavors, they stall out. A more generic earth flavor emerges as the strongest flavor, now leading a vibrant leather flavor, pine, meatiness, saltiness and some of that bottled water flavor. The black pepper isn’t as strong as it has been at some points earlier in the cigar, though it’s a consistent mild-medium flavor that is present on each puff. The finish sees the bottled water flavor lead for a few seconds before woodiness and allspice berries come into play there’s some meatiness and floral flavors in the distance, though they seem to help bind the profile together. Retrohales produce white pepper, a lemon-lime flavor, straw, vanilla and some meatiness. I’m not sure there’s a single retrohale that has all of these flavors, but if I retrohale three times, I can find each of those sensations at least once. The finish has straw and rice flavors edging out earthiness, nuttiness and meatiness. Flavor is medium-full, body is medium-plus and strength is medium-plus. One cigar continues to have issues where one side of the cigar isn’t staying lit, but the rest of the construction attributes are all great.

Final Notes

• While this still might have been the Ecuadorian habano wrapper over Dominican tobacco combination, I have a difficult time believing that this is the same blend as the other years that I’ve smoked. It was substantially milder in both body and strength.
• La Flor Dominicana used this same size for the La Flor Dominicana Special Football Edition 2016, which had the darkest wrapper of the bunch.
• As I mentioned in that review, the shape reminds me of the Mysterio/TCFKA “M” size, but this one is both shorter and thinner.
• Retrohales during the final third were my favorite part of the cigar. The flavors were very dynamic and some were particularly vibrant as compared to the rest of the experience.

• One of the cigars had the football not burn at the same rate, or at least until about halfway through the football. It was a very cool visual. Unfortunately, the end result was a big mess. The football eventually started combusting but not in a consistent way and created pieces of wrapper that fell off when I lifted the cigar off the ashtray.
• Cigars for this reviewer were purchased by halfwheel.
• Final smoking time was one hour and 40 minutes on average.

Update, the original version of this review indicated that there were 1,000 boxes of 20 cigars; it is 1,000 boxes of 10 cigars.