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by CigarCraig | June 3, 2018 · 7:52 am

La Flor Dominicana Event at CigarCigars in Downingtown

Wednesday evening I went to my former hometown of Downingtown, PA (beer lovers may know this is as the home of Victory Brewery, which used to allow cigars at their brew pub, I miss that! They had a great root beer too) to the CigarCigars store there for a La Flor Dominicana event. The store is fairly new, it’s only been open there a few years, and is one of twelve (soon to be thirteen) stores in the chain which recently joined the Tobacconists Association of America (TAA), which you read about here a few weeks ago. This shop has greatly improved under the direction of the store manager, Kevin. I think once they put a drop ceiling in the lounge, which is a re-purposed garage bay, the acoustics will be much better and it will have a more intimate feel. Otherwise, the selection is good, although when there is an event I pretty much focus on the brand doing the event. I started off with a La Flor Dominicana Airbender Maduro Chisel, which has an Ecuador Habano Maduro wrapper and fillers grown on their La Canela farm. It’s in the patented Chisel shape, which is a torpedo with a flattened head, measuring 6″ x 54. The fun thing about this shape is that you don’t need a cutter! Squeezing the head makes the cap pop right off, which Lito Gomez himself showed me several years ago when I asked him what his preferred cut was on this vitola. The Airbender Chisel burned for an astounding two hours.

Kyle Shackelton is our local LFD rep, and does an excellent presentation over a video showing the cigar making process, this time in reverse, from cigar to seed. He explains a lot of the processes in detail, but not so much as to overwhelm his audience. Many consumers don’t understand the extent of the time and care that goes into the cigars we love. A picture of the aging room at the factory blew me away, they had cabinets with all the wheels stored inside, many aging rooms I’ve seen just have shelves. Their facility in the DR is beautiful, one day maybe I’ll visit.

Here’s where I goofed up, or somebody did! I bought a TAA exclusive La Flor Dominicana, and the “Buy x, get one” special cigar was banded exactly the same, with the TAA secondary band. I smoked one of them, not sure which, but while it started out a little woodier than I like, it developed into a very nice smoke. I didn’t find it as rich as the Airbender Maduro, but it was good. The former event exclusive cigar they had was fantastic, I have one someplace…anyway, it was a great event, Kevin and his staff at CigarCigars Downingtown were excellent hosts, and Kyle put on a good tutorial. Catch an LFD event if you can, I don’t know if all the reps do events as good as Kyle does, but I wouldn’t be surprised! Let me know if you’ve experienced these in other markets.

That’s all for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Events, Stores

Tagged as Air Bender, Chisel, cigar, cigar store, CigarCigars, cigars, La Flor Dominicana

by CigarCraig | July 10, 2016 · 10:41 am

Fourth of July Cigars, a La Flor Dominicana and a Caldwell

Monday was the Independence Day Holiday, and my wife and my 29th wedding anniversary. I know, Independence Day, getting married….it’s a bit ironic, but we figured at least we’d always have the day off, and there would always be something somewhere to do. over the last 15 or so years I have made a point to smoke a Havana cigar as a form of celebration and of civil disobedience. I like to think the founding fathers would be pleased if they stopped rolling in their graves long enough to notice. Sometimes this works out great, other times it’s a disaster, and this time was somewhere in the middle. I’ve smoked some fantastic Montecristo No.2s over the last 20 years, and I’ve smoked some sucky ones. This one fell in the middle somewhere, as it was just a good cigar. I had been given this cigar last year, and I don’t know what the vintage was, so maybe I should have left it in the humidor for another four or five years. Most of the problem was with the draw, the flavor was good, although milder than I recall. It had the classic “twang” and a hint of citrus I expect from a Montecristo I could have dug a little further and found a Havana or two with sufficient age, but I was lazy, and the classic Monte 2 called out to me. After a great dinner out with my bride, I enjoyed the heck out of a Padron Anniversary Exclusivo Maduro that is the quintessential dessert cigar!

Later in the week I was moving humidors around and spied a La Flor Dominicana Air Bender Maduro Chisel. I assumed it was the maduro because I think by this point I know the difference, and the natural Air Bender is quite a bit lighter. This is a 6½” x 54 cigar with their patented (or is it trademarked, I’m not certain) Chisel shape, like a torpedo, but with a flattened head, not unlike a pipe mouthpiece. I’ve had success squeezing these to open them, but this time I tried a V-cut across the head. It looked pretty cool, but wasn’t giving me the draw I wanted, so I ended up lopping an eighth of an inch off to open it up a little. While the Air Bender isn’t quite as full-bodied as the Double Ligero line, it’s still a reasonable strong cigar, with rich flavor and a bit of a kick. La Flor Dominicana makes some awesome cigars, and this is one of them. They are almost always satisfying. the Air Bender uses a binder and fillers grown on their own farms in the Dominican Republic, and a very pretty, dark Habano wrapper. These are a treat every time I light one up.

Friday I wrapped up another week with a cigar I had some trepidation about. Las year I caught up with Robert Caldwell at a local shop and bought a handful of his cigars to try. I’ve enjoyed his Blind Man’s Bluff line, but I had so much trouble with the Long Live the King cigars that I was worried I’d have similar problems with The King is Dead. the Long Live the Kings I smoked had such construction problems that they just pissed me off, both because I hate it when a pricey cigar doesn’t work right, and I hate wasting my valuable smoking time fighting with a cigar. It’s just not relaxing for me to have a cigar that doesn’t work right. So I decided to try this the Caldwell King is Dead Diamond Girl, a 6 ½” x 42 pigtail cigar. The blend information provided on the website is exceptional, it’s listed as: Capa (that’s the wrapper): Negrito Dominicano – 2008, Banda (that would be the binder, sometimes called “capote”): Corojo Dominicano – 2006, Tripa (filler…think tripe, yuck): Corojo Ligero Dominicano 30% – 2006, Tripa: Negrito Viso Dominicano 20% – 2008 and Tripa: HVA 20/20 50% – 2010. I think Steve Saka is the only cigar maker who is more specific in his blend information. This cigar smoked great, with some wood and cocoa flavors and solidly medium bodied to me. I’m glad I finally smoked this one.

That’s it for now. As you can see, I still seem to be grabbing shaped cigars here and there, not sure what that’s all about, but I like torpedos and perfectos. Sunday I stopped by Holt’s in Center City Philadelphia and enjoyed a Fuente Hemingway Classic Sungrown, another pefecto. It was a fantastic cigar, and while I was there I had the pleasure of meeting and smoking with former Phillies player and broadcaster Gary Matthews, who I saw play countless times in my youth. He was a super nice guy, and apparently a regular visitor to the store. I would have figured him for just a regular patron if he hadn’t been wearing his huge World Series ring, with was hard to miss. I guess I should have gotten a picture with him, but he was such a “regular guy” it didn’t occur to me. Anyway, until the next time,