La Flor Dominicana Foxtoberfest

There are few cigar manufacturers that have created as many limited editions as La Flor Dominicana and no one has done it quieter. Last month, LFD continued this trend with a special cigar for Fox Cigar Bar’s Foxtoberfest Cigar & Beer Festival.

The event, which took place on October 19, saw attendance from a variety of manufacturers and special cigars from three.

• Swag Foxtoberfest (6 x 52) — 200 Packs of 5 Cigars (1,000 Total Cigars) — $7.99 (Packs of 5, $34.99)
• La Flor Dominicana Foxtoberfest (6 1/2 x 54) — 150 Boxes of 10 Cigars (1,500 Total Cigars) — $8.00 (Boxes of 10, $80.00)
• Ortega The Fox (6 1/2 x 38) — 200 Soft Packs of 5 Cigars (1,000 Total Cigars) — $7.99 (Soft Packs of 5, $34.99)

La Flor Dominicana created a 6 1/2 x 54 soft-pressed cigar with a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, Cameroon binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. Pricing was set at $8 per cigar with the LFD Foxtoberfest limited to 150 boxes of 10 cigars.

As has become the norm lately, the Foxtoberfest logo was placed on the boxes, which looks like this:

Unfortunately, the boxes are amongst the most rudimentary and least functional on the market. Four nails are used to close the box, but even with careful opening, it’s essentially not reusable.

• Cigar Reviewed: La Flor Dominicana Foxtoberfest
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: Tabacalera La Flor S.A.
• Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
• Binder: Cameroon
• Filler: Dominican Republic & Nicaragua
• Size: 6 1/2 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 54
• Vitola: Toro Gordo
• MSRP: $8.00 (Boxes of 10, $80.00)
• Date Released: October 19, 2013
• Number of Cigars Released: 150 Boxes of 10 Cigars (1,500 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked for Review: 3

I’m normally all for pigtails, but the Foxtoberfest looks a bit awkward to me because of the pigtail. The cigar features a softer box-press, although it’s still entirely obvious and honestly not that different from the average box-press on the market. The Broadleaf wrapper is in typical LFD fashion, dark. For a big cigar, it seems a bit light, but as far as I can tell, there’s plenty of tobacco within the cigar itself. The Foxtoberfest delivers a cold draw of candied fruits, barbecue and some pepper.

The LFD Foxtoberfest begins with sweet cedar, barbecue, a bit of cocoa and after three puffs, an extremely sharp white pepper on the tip of my tongue. As the cigar progresses, the core changes to a much different tune with the sweet cedar combining with a salty sunflower seed note and touches of fruit. It’s somewhat gritty, particularly on the finish, but the leather and woodiness make it enjoyable. Strength is just south of full, never aggressive, but always there. Smoke production is inconsistent ranging from below average to phenomenal while the rest of the construction leaves little to be desired, my only other complaint would be nitpicking the somewhat flaky ash.

Regardless of what I tried, midway through the cigar picked up burn rate. While the harshness continues to be present, it does not seem to be affected by how quick I puff. The core continues to have the salty sunflower notes, while the fruit has moved mainly to the retrohale joined by notes of cocoa. By now, you should accept that this is not the typical profile that Litto Gomez is known for and that would include the complete exclusion of pepper after a small dose upfront. On two of the Foxtoberfests, I’m forced to perform a slight touch-up at some point during the second third, never major and never more than once.

As the La Flor Dominicana makes it into the final third, the flavors begin to become less impressive. The saltiness is absent, leaving an interesting earthier sunflower note that is much more challenging to discern. Gone as well is the fruitiness and the cocoa, meaning the harshness now becomes much more obvious. Construction remains great until the end with the burn never straying after the correction in the second third.
Final Notes:

• This is nothing new, but good luck trying to keep any of the LFD limited editions straight. There’s zero indication what this, beyond a La Flor Dominicana product, and that has become par for the LFD limited editions of late.
• I do agree that it would be nice to see La Flor make smaller limited editions. Here’s a list of the new limited editions from LFDs this year:
  • La Flor Dominicana Texas Cigar Fest (6 1/2 x 50)
  • La Flor Dominicana Chapter One (6 1/2 x 58)
  • La Flor Dominicana Factory Press Limitado (6 1/4 x 60)
  • La Flor Dominicana Double Press (6 x 52)
  • La Flor Dominicana Triple Threat (6 1/2 x 52)
  • La Flor Dominicana Foxtoberfest (6 1/2 x 54)
  • La Flor Dominicana Mickey Blake’s Edicion Exclusiva (6 1/4 x 60)
  • Litto Gomez Small Batch No. 5 (6 3/4 x 52)
• The lone exception to that list, the La Flor Dominicana Mystery (6 1/2 x 44). Still, the fact that everything is within in an inch of length is hard to believe given we are talking about nine releases.
• Speaking of the Mystery, the pigtail is virtually identical to the Foxtoberfest, it just doesn’t look as awkward.
• Bryan Glynn went on a rant regarding these style of boxes. Are they annoying? Yes. Are they the worst thing that happened to the cigar industry this past week? No. Yeah, they are a pain to open and not really reusable, but then again, I’m not sure why the reusability of every box is a big deal. Furthermore, the cigars can still be stored within a cabinet humidor, you just cannot stack anything on top of it.
• Strength was much more aggressive in the latter half of the cigar, although I’d still peg it as medium-full to full.
• While Litto Gomez is now known for strong and bold cigars, that was not always the case. Los Libertadores was Gomez’s first cigar and hardly similar to lines like Double Ligero and Small Batch.
• Both the Aging Room and Ortega The Fox releases are said to be becoming regular releases for the store next year, no word on the LFD.
• Final smoking time was two hours and 30 minutes.