La Flor Dominicana Texas Cigar Festival (2015)

With the sixth year of the event and the third release of the special edition, Serious Cigars of Houston, Texas held its annual Texas Cigar Festival and with it, the release of the limited edition La Flor Dominicana Texas Cigar Festival 2015.

Over the years, the event has grown to be quite popular, and in 2013 Ron Lesseraux of Series Cigars asked Litto Gomez of La Flor Dominicana for a special cigar for the event. Coming up with a special blend and size, Gomez produced 50 boxes of 10 box pressed toro extras.

 

In 2014 and again this year, the cigar returned with the same blend and size, though it uses different vintages of the tobaccos.

• La Flor Dominicana Texas Cigar Festival 2013 (6 1/2 x 50) — 50 Boxes of 10 Cigars
• La Flor Dominicana Texas Cigar Festival 2014 (6 1/2 x 50) — 75 Boxes of 10 Cigars
• La Flor Dominicana Texas Cigar Festival 2015 (6 1/2 x 50) — 70 Boxes of 10 Cigars

 

• Cigar Reviewed: La Flor Dominicana Texas Cigar Festival 2015
• 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: Toro Extra
• MSRP: $8.95 (Boxes of 10, $79.95)
• Date Released: April 25, 2015
• Number of Cigars Released: 70 Boxes of 10 Cigars (700 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 2

The La Flor Dominicana cigar features a deep, dark brown wrapper that is extremely soft and oily to the touch. It’s quite firm with just enough give and has a wonderfully seamless application of the wrapper. There isn’t much aroma off the wrapper, just a minor wet barnyard note. The cold draw however is much more intriguing, starting off with a kind of root beer aroma, then shifting to a chocolate, vanilla, rich fruits and black pepper profile.

Starting into the first third spices, pepper, chocolate and dried fruits make up a rich and hearty profile. The draw is more open, but still within acceptable limits and smoke production is quite plentiful. While the burn isn’t perfect, it is even for the most part. Dense ash holds on firmly until around an inch mark and only rolls off with my intervention. Pepper and spices continue at the forefront, with the rich chocolate and dried fruit notes following it up less powerfully, but not quite what I would call in the background either.

Moving into the second third there isn’t much change to the profile, with the only real note of change being the La Flor Dominicana Texas Cigar Festival is noticeably growing in strength. The burn continues to be a little uneven, finally calling for a touch up. Despite the burn going off course, the black pepper and spice continues on unabated, with the chocolate and dried fruit moving a little more towards the background now. Without hardly any change in the profile I wouldn’t call this cigar exciting so far, but it is consistent with the flavors that are there, which is a good thing.

While I thought the LFD had plateaued in strength, I was sorely wrong as the final third continues to see it increase landing in the full range. Black pepper continues, having moved to dominate the profile even more, though the spices, rich fruits and chocolate are still prominent enough that I don’t have to work hard to find them. The burn has deteriorated more in the final third, requiring a couple of touch ups here and there. Thankfully the burn problems don’t seem to affect the profile any, meaning they’re just an annoyance to deal with instead of seeing the entire profile unravel. The cigar ends without getting harsh, which is another nice thing to see despite the burn problems.

Final Notes

• While I noted in the beginning that the blend hasn’t changed but the vintage of tobacco has, it’s quite apparent when you put all three samples together and look at the wrapper colors.
• The box the cigars come in is nailed shut tightly, giving the cigars the box press shape. Unfortunately that means once opened, the box is somewhat useless.
• Both cigars had some burn issues, though one required a few more touch ups than the other. The profiles of both cigars were basically identical however, again reiterating the fact to me that the profile wasn’t adversely affected by the burn issues.
• With Serious Cigar’s box discount, the 10 count box is a very easy to manage price, bringing each cigar down to an $8 price point – which size-wise and being a limited edition is quite a nice price tag in my opinion. In addition, boxes placed at the event included a free-five pack.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Serious Cigar advertises on halfwheel.
• Final smoking time averaged a little over two hours.
• Serious Cigars in Houston is the only place to find the La Flor Dominicana Texas Cigar Festival 2015; they are available via the store’s website or by calling 866.372.4427. Don’t forget to tell them halfwheel sent you.