This cigar is one of the smoother smokes from La Flor made in the Dominican Republic with Dominican and Nicaraguan filler, a Dominican binder and a Cameroon wrapper. The cigar was introduced in July of 2007 and is made by Tabacalera La Flor S.A. The cigar chosen for this review was their No. 5, a Robusto size cigar with a ring gauge of 50 and a length of 5”.
Flavor and Aroma
Before cutting the cigar I gave it a good sniff. There was a very earthy aroma and just a little hint of autumn leaves. The taste was also slightly sweet. Toasting the foot released a nice aged tobacco smell but after lighting there was a slight bitterness in the taste. I remembered my cigar mentor’s advice and let it sit for about a minute before starting to draw and smoke. The taste remained earthy but was more pronounced and a flavor I could not place. After about 10 minutes I realized that it was cocoa. I was smoking this cigar outside and after 30 minutes the aroma was mixing well with the cool mountain air. It reminded me of the smell of ‘cowboy’ coffee cooking over an open flame just before dawn. Right at the 1 ½ “ mark the original bitterness came back and I knew the smoke was over.Construction
This is a very firm cigar and tightly rolled. The appearance of the wrapper is slightly rustic and rough. I used a 9mm punch to open the cigar and although the draw was good there was some restriction due to the tightness. The cigar lit easily and burned fairly even until a ½ “ crack appeared near the middle of the stick. The crack did not change the burn nor the flavor until the ash met up with the crack. Then the cigar burned around the crack and the ash eventually fell off at 45 min and at 2 ½ “.Value
This is decent cigar and is priced around $7 per stick at most shops. This is a definite medium smoke. A box of these are priced at $324, that is for a box of 50 which puts the price down to $6.5 a cigar. I smoked several of these for the review and only had one that cracked on me.
