The Oro Natural No. 6 by La Flor Dominicana

BRAND / CO:  La Flor Dominicana

CIGAR:  Oro Natural [No. 6]
VITOLA:  Toro - 6" x 54
STRENGTH:  Full
WRAPPER:  Nicaraguan Habano Sun Grown, Natural
BINDER:  Dominican Republic (La Canela)
FILLER:  Dominican Republic (La Canela)
ORIGIN:  Dominican Republic, Tabacalera La Flor S.A.

APPEARANCE & CONSTRUCTION:   Good
A warm medium brown with tan highlights that has a light sheen and mottling.  Oro feels like a reference to the golden years because this looks like an old cigar dug up from the bottom of Grandpa's humidor.  There's a lot of wrinkles, creases and stretch marks running across the veins and all the ridges and bumps from the binder layer show.  But the seams blend in, they're difficult to see, and the triple cap is clean and evenly applied.  It has a nice firm feel and good weight to it.

DRAW & BURN:   Good / Great
The draw is spot on and the burn starts perfectly. The ash is a light gray with tight and even striations.  The burn line is even with just a little waviness early on, then it settles in nicely to dead even.  The ash holds just past the first third.

FLAVOR PROFILE:   Great
A nice explosion of flavor out the gate, though quite traditional and maybe a hair generic.  Strong cedar notes, supported by lighter coffee, chocolate, earth, leather and honey sweet with a pinch of salt. Then the peanut flavor came in.  We're getting a really nice honey roasted peanut vibe.  Then that changes as cedar and grassiness push the nuttiness and other flavors into the background.  Bits of pepper and spice pop up but they're very mild.  There's even a light floral quality to it all and it's very smooth with a creamy finish.

There's a lot going on flavor wise, but it all feels very medium because it's mellowed a lot in the second third.  It's heading very woody and grassy with a lot of milder complimentary flavors.  Normally something with this strong of a traditional wood and grass note would be boring, but you're getting the kitchen sink of flavors in support, even if they are mild.  They coalesce into a nice white noise of supporting flavor.  There's baking spice, pepper, coffee, honey, chocolate, earth, leather, peanuts, citrus and light floral notes.

I was a little worried the cigar might be drifting to bland because the second third was really mellowing downward after a nice start, but the final third brought back one last bang.  Coffee, peanut, and sweet have a quick uptick back to medium strength to make things more interesting.  

OVERALL EXPERIENCE:   Great
Every place I checked says this is a full strength cigar but I never felt like I experienced that.  Definitely more of a medium in both flavor and nicotine IMO.  The middle really got a bit too mellow to give it the highest marks, which is a shame because it was enjoyably more robust and complex in the first and final third.   And at this price point, I want a little more consistency and flavor bang, but still a solid and enjoyable cigar overall.  The only real complaint was how it mellowed in the middle and never brought that full bodied intensity.

Purchase Singles or by the Box HERE

Reviewed by Sean McCloskey of The Collective