LFD 30 Year by La Flor Dominicana
Anniversary cigars always seem to be hit or miss. They're either fantastic and a great tribute to a brand's history, playing all the greatest hits, or you come in with certain expectations based off of your favorites and it's a miss because it's a totally different experience.
BRAND / CO: La Flor Dominicana
CIGAR: 30 Years
VITOLA: Chisel (Box Press) - 6.5" x 58
STRENGTH: Medium
WRAPPER: Ecuadorian Sumatra, Natural
BINDER: Dominican Republic (Cotuí)
FILLER: Dominican Republic (La Canela)
ORIGIN: Dominican Republic, Tabacalera La Flor S.A.
APPEARANCE & CONSTRUCTION: Good
Flat out, this is a beautiful cigar. The Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper has an aged look to it with a lot of sheen, mottling, and color variation reminiscent of worn leather. It's velvety soft with some light tooth in areas, and any visible veins are pressed flat. The seams are tight, and the chisel tip is capped with a small piece of tobacco. The brown used on the bands is a little bleh because it blends in against the wrapper, but the bands are high quality and nicely printed with gold accents and a pink tobacco leaf in the center. Also, these bands are huge... almost to the point of excess.
DRAW & BURN: Good / Average
The chisel shape always strikes me as one I'm unsure how to best cut. I've heard you can squeeze the ends and it will pop open, but I'm sure as hell not doing that. But you certainly can't punch it, and a V-cut might work, but it would look odd as hell. So it's just a guillotine cut right below the cap. Honestly, I don't like the chisel; it just feels dumb. Give me a normal parejo or figurado head and a good roll. I imagine people trying to squeeze the head and just crushing their cigar rather than getting a satisfying pop. That's a great way to blow $35 quickly.
The draw is perfect, and the burn starts off a little wavy, but I never have high expectations from a box press for a clean burn. It's fairly even, just very wavy and not a crisp burn line at all. Less than an inch in, it's clear that I'm tunneling a bit. The binder and filler are burning while the wrapper is just turning black and burning at inconsistent rates, so there are little islands of charred wrapper that haven't burned fully. I fully expected to have to dump and relight early, but the cigar powers through. It leaves a charred ring of wrapper closer to the tip, that looks like a balding monk's hairline, but it's burning better now with a tighter burn line.
The ash is a very light gray with oil crystals that blend in, but are more visible on the darker sections. The ash is inconsistent in how it layers and cracks. Some areas are tight with minimal cracks, while others are a flaky mess. The burn line is still very uneven and wavy, but the ash stack is solid. This burn is just very manic and confused, literally all over the place. But the ash holds until almost the midway point before falling. Definitely a mixed bag with this burn.
FLAVOR PROFILE: Great
Sweetness just drips off this cigar at the beginning. It's a very thick and syrupy raisin to black cherry flavor up front. You get requisite cedar, earth, and leather. In the first inch, both pepper and baking spice pick up, but it's more nutmeg and pepper than cinnamon. There's also a mix of dark chocolate with earth, but no real coffee or barnyard type flavors. Spice is definitely picking up, getting to the end of the first third, while I'm getting a black licorice-like anise flavor on the sweet that's increasing bitterness.
The second third remains cedar, leather, and earth-based, but there's more breadiness, cinnamon, and caramel, trending towards molasses in the mix. The syrupy fruit sweetness is fading fast, but it's still very sweet overall. The dark chocolate notes are still very prevalent and lead right into the creamy finish.
The final third starts to stumble. Very leathery and cedar heavy, while sweet and cinnamon fall off. There's still black pepper and black licorice, but it's a less appealing combination compared to the first two thirds. Fortunately, the creaminess and smooth refinement never skip town. But then molasses, coffee, and spice come back in the last third, improving the profile and helping the cigar end on a high note.
OVERALL EXPERIENCE: Good
The good of this cigar is that it's refined, smooth, and complex with multiple transitions, but the trade-off is that I think it'll be very hit or miss based on your palate. I found it to be quite good at times and rather meh at others. At the price this cigar goes for, it's an expensive and frustrating experience when it misses. It's a bit like the Andalusian Bull in that you'll end up with very strong opinions on it, for or against. If you like the Bull, this might be right up your alley, but if you're into La Nox or the Oro Maduro, it could very well be a miss. If you are a big LFD fan, then it's probably worth buying at least one or two to try, but if you're not, I don't think you'll regret skipping this one.
Purchase Singles or by the Box HERE
Reviewed by Sean McCloskey of The Collective