Flor de las Antillas MAM-13

Last month, the latest in what has been a long line of Flor de las Antillas appeared in stores, the MAM-13. It is the first regional edition for the popular line from My Father Cigars Inc., this time targeted at five stores in the southeastern U.S.

My Father made 500 boxes of the 6 x 48 Toro with each of the retailers receiving 100 boxes of 20 cigars. The five retailers are:

• Cigars & More (Birmingham, Ala.)
• Burn’s Tobacconist (Chattanooga, Tenn.)
• Emerson’s Cigars (Virginia)
• Havana Connections (Virginia)
• Tinderbox of the Carolinas (North Carolina/South Carolina)

This is the ninth release of Flor de las Antillas, the Nicaraguan puro that debuted from My Father last year. The cigar gained significant notierity in January when it was named Cigar Aficionado’s cigar of the year. Since then, the company has released five limited editions.

The boxes of the MAM-13 are like the rest of the Flor de las Antillas line and look like this:

• Cigar Reviewed: Flor de las Antillas MAM-13
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: My Father Cigars S.A.
• Wrapper: Nicaraguan Sun Grown
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Size: 6 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 48
• Vitola: Toro
• MSRP: $7.25 (Box of 20, $145.00)
• Date Released: October 1, 2013
• Number of Cigars Released: 500 Boxes of 20 Cigars (10,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked for Review: 3

The MAM-13 is unmistakably Flor de las Antillas. The vein-heavy wrapper is soft to the touch, on the darker side of the cocoa colors I’ve seen across the line. Aroma-wise, there’s a pungent barnyard with a bit of sweetness. From the foot, there’s a generic sweetness, cocoa, sweet berries and some spice. The cold draw tastes akin to some older vintages of Don Pepin Garcia Serie JJs: a huge cocoa note with some roasted nuts underneath.

Unfortunately, the Flor de las Antillas does not begin with the same big cocoa note. It’s a sweet woodiness with a mixture of saltiness and nuts before cedar joins on the finish. There’s a real sense of layers with a flavor that reminds me of the Flor de las Antillas Robusto and then a bigger woody note on top. As the first third moves on, things change. The classic cocoa note emerges with hints of red pepper on the nose. While I like a firm draw, the MAM-13 is going to be a bit tight for a few people, smoke production is typical and the burn is quite fast, although slowing as the second third nears.

I still cannot keep the ash beyond an inch and now it’s becoming less even. The MAM-13 loses the big cocoa note, turning the cigar into much more of a woodier profile. It loses sweetness as the cigar progresses, gaining oak and herbal notes before one retrohale delivers an attack of Worcestershire sauce that completely engulfs me. On two samples, the burn requires a bit of touching-up, while all three see strength and body both increase to medium-plus. Draw is still tight with no real change.

The Flor de las Antillas continues to slow down as far as smoking speed is concerned. Even slowing down, the cigar gets a bit warmer, but the flavors remain fully enact. The oak and nuttiness increase dramatically with some cocoa returning on the finish, although completely different from the first third. Burn issues continue to plague two cigars, although the MAM-13 never goes out.

Final Notes:

• This is not the first non-box-pressed cigar for the line. The Short Churchill made for Holt’s is most certainly round.
• Speaking of which, some time in the first half of the year, we stumbled across a Flor de las Antillas that is six inches long and a lot thinner than the Toro (52 ring gauge.) To be quite honest, it looks like a box-pressed version of the MAM-13. The only problem? There’s zero record of this cigar ever being made. Here it is with the MAM-13:
  
• One of the samples I smoked had a foot that was cut an incredibly sharp angle.
• All five retailers that received the MAM-13 are members of the Tobacconists Association of America (TAA). Four of the five sit on the board.
• The cigar was apparently known as the “M.A.M.-13,” but the boxes came without the periods.
• This is the most developed Flor de las Antillas I’ve had to date. It’s not as strong as the Lancero, but it’s noticeably stronger than the Robusto and Toro vitolas.
• Given the pace My Father was on starting in May, it’s been a bit quiet on the Flor de las Antillas new size front lately. Not that that is a bad thing at all.
• Cigars for this review were sent by Emerson’s Cigars. You can purchase the MAM-13 from them here.
• Final smoking time is on average one hour and 35 minutes.