Agree...that aromatic fruity-floral rich flavor and aroma only comes from the Cuban tobaccos.
catfishbluezz:
rzaman:
Dustin, you hit the nails on the head. I try to be little more diplomatic. I try not to argue about the issue. It requires some time and smoking experience to understand the differences.
catfishbluezz:
blurr:
Your reviews tend to rave on Cuban smokes. Is there a bad Cuban you could review for us. Just so we can get a not lopsided Cuban promoter viewpoint. I know that's what you like rip, but give me a bad Cuban review. Not quintero, something bad.
i haven't had many bad Cubans really. I've had some that had construction issues, too young, or I didn't like the profile. But I've yet to have one that I'd call a bad smoke, while I've had plenty of bad smokes from other regions.
i even like some of the short filler stuff. Even though they burn funky, they still have a decent finish.
It is risky to smoke them. Just forget about them though I know it's hard. Hey if you can't find the Upman LE 09 let me know. I really want you to smoke one. it is very different than as usual Cubans. It reminds me little bit of the Paratags Series E no. 2 which also has completely different flavors and complexity. Kyle, Chris and Alan smoked with me when they were in my place.
catfishbluezz:
rzaman:
You mean the entire box got blue mold? Man you need to check the entire humidor.
catfishbluezz:
Havent had this yet, had on resting that was in a box that got bit by blue mold. Guess I need a box lol
long story, but I'm good. I did loose a good 15-20 smokes, it was like nothing I'd ever seen. I have pics saved. The consistency was very sticky and stained the wrappers if it came off, nothing like white mold. I still have some of them in a bag somewhere, need to toss them as Im afraid to smoke them really.
And it wasnt my humi, was storing them elsewhere, it was a bummer.
oh I can find them....I just have sooooo many boxes to buy LOL! I'll keep my eyes peeled for another. I love H Upmann. Personally, aged upmann and montecristo are my favorite and these are on the box list. I just find I like upmann at all stages, while I really don't like monte until it is 5-6. I may try and sneak over ther with them sometime, who knows. Alan always hits me up now to smoke, should see him this week. I can't wait to try their new blends as well. I have a good idea as we spoke about them, he also was taking on ometepe as well in a new blend to see if he could create a complex cigar around it due to the funky volcanic earth tones.
Cohiba Pyramid Extra is an addition to the Linea Clasica of Cohiba. This vitola includes a new Cohiba band with innovative design and security elements. Cohiba has 4 different Lines: The L
Hi Shawn, This is a great cigar. It is a well balanced and complex smoke with intense flavors and aroma. However, I do not think it is as complex as Behike or 1966, specially 1966. Smoke one now so you can compare the changes in complexity and the mellowness in the future. Please share your opinion with us. I am very curious to know.
La Flor Dominicana (Dominican Flower) is a "boutique-style" cigar brand manufactured by Tabacalera La Flor S.A., a company started in 1996 in Santiago, the Dominican Republic. The company was started and is currently owned by cigar maker Litto Gomez Diez, who was called by Cigar Aficionado "arguably the most innovative mind in the cigar business." Gomez, a jeweler-turned-cigar maker started the business after his jewellery store in Miami was robbed by armed men at gunpoint of about $400,000 worth of jewellery. Today the company's factory is based in Tamboril, in the Dominican Republic.
The brand was first known as Los Libertadores and according to Gomez, it took him 15 to 20 years to refine his cigar making process and bring the brand to where it is today. The name of the brand was inspired by the flower of the tobacco plant which signifies that the growing cycle is complete and the plant is ready for reproduction. In 1999 the factory produced about 2.5 million cigars, up from 2.4 million in 1998 growing substantially from the 300,000 cigars produced in the first year of operations. Subsequently the company made 1.5 million cigars in 2004, 1.9 million in 2005 and 2.9 million in 2006. It likely surpassed the 4 million cigar mark by the present time. In order to tightly control production and quality, Gomez acquired a 120-acre farm where he grows tobacco for his use; in 2006 he also acquired a smaller 40-acre farm used for the growth of Corojo and Sumatra. In the beginning the company only focused on growing binder and filler tobacco however in 2002 they started cultivating shade grown wrapper; sun grown and encallado are also grown to satisfy binder and filler production needs. In 1999 the company had a serious fire in the cigar room at its factory and according to Gomez, the company lost about 400,000 cigars. La Flor Dominicana Salomone are the very first cigars to feature Litto's special Habano wrapper leaf. They have a blend of 2006 and 2007 vintage Dominican tobaccos for the filler and binder. These beautiful Salomon's have a rich smoke and an abundance of flavor. The blend is from homegrown tobacco from La Canela, Dominican Republic, and a stunning, dark wrapper imported from Nicaragua. This cigar comes with two different wrappers- one with Nicaraguan Sun grown Habano and the other with Ecuadorian Sun Grown Maduro. 10,000 of these cigars were made. The La Flor Dominicana Salomon rated #13 of Cigar Aficionado Top 25 Cigars of 2009.[Source: Cigar Aficionado, Wikipedia and other on-line sources]
It is a huge figurado shape cigar. The wrapper is rich milk chocolate brown color, shiny and oily with few visible veins but not that stand out. It is beautifully rolled without any glitch. It feels heavy and handful- overall has a great aesthetic feeling. The wrapper has barnyard, mild leather, wood scents and mild earth and cocoa powder aroma on the foot. The flavor and aroma profile is the combination of earth, leather, cocoa powder, chocolate, coffee, black pepper flavors. The beauty of this cigar is the layers of aroma of green-red peppery spice, subtle dried aromatic fruits and subtle salty-nutty and super mild brown sugar sweet finish. The retrohale has crisp and clean fresh green peppery finish through the nose. It is a powerful cigar but balanced. The draw is perfect with little uneven burn. It is not extremely complex but complex enough with balanced flavors and aroma. There is no harshness which is a sign of well-aged tobaccos. Wrapper: Nicaraguan aged Habano
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dominican Republic 1/3: As any other figurado it starts with little tight draw but opens up once it passes the tiny tip of the cigar. It starts with powerful blast of black peppery spiciness but not with strength. This is interesting because I am feeling the powerful spiciness on top of my tongue only. In addition, it has a mild earth, dry-sweet wood, spicy leather and cocoa powder flavors with mild dried aromatic dried fruity aroma at the back. As I mentioned earlier that it is powerful in spice but not in strength so I am rethrohaling from the start. The retrohale has a crisp and clear green peppery spiciness through the nose. It is not like other LFD or Dominican cigars. It produces a lot of smoke but light in texture. The top of my tongue has a strong black peppery spicy zing, the middle of my tongue is full of thin bodied smoke and the back of my tongue is completely clean. Now, I will try to elaborate a little more about the uniqueness of this cigar. A lot of cigars are powerful and spicy with strong strength. Also most of the cigars dominated by upfront flavors and aroma but this cigar perform differently. Though it is powerful with black pepper spice but strength is medium. It has a good amount of flavors but background mild aromatic dried fruit note with salty finish is also very noticeable. The crispy and clean fresh green peppery spiciness through the nose is kind of unusual but very enjoyable. It is medium in strength with subtle but powerful spiciness, it has flavors and aroma with medium-long finish, the complexity is balanced. At this moment the cigar is all about powerful but subtle spice. The smoke is pretty dry. The dryness may also coming from the powerful spiciness. This is the reason why we need to drink a lot of water with spicy food. It is a very good start. 2/3: As rolling into second third, I am detecting distinctive chocolate flavor with cocoa powder, earth, leather and black peppery spiciness. It also has the aromatic dried fruity aroma but I am also detecting distinctive red-green peppery aroma with subtle salty-nutty and mild brown sugary sweetness at the back- very balanced complexity here. The cigar picks up a point at this stage. The retrohale has more power but crisp and clean fresh green peppery finish through the nose. I had to wake up to pay more attention. This is very interesting. The cigar is very powerful in spice but not overly powerful in strength. It is straight medium- full bodied in strength. However, the dancing of the complex spiciness makes this cigar very unique. I have experience with complex sweetness, nuttiness and earthiness but not with spiciness like this La Flor Dominicana Salomone. I am really enjoying the smoke. My mouth is not as dry as 1/3 mark because a layer of mild brown sugary sweetness at back is releasing some water in my mouth. This is where the cigar deserves another point in complexity. The smoke is thicker, creamy and lush at this moment. The top of my tongue has the strong black peppery spicy zing, the middle of my tongue is full of creamy, thick and lush smoke, the back of my tongue is still clean- no bitterness at all. I am rethrohaling each and every puff because I love spicy food. I swimmed this morning and my nose is completely clean. This is really helping me to retrohale with clear sense. At this stage, this is an excellent smoke. The cigar is full of flavors and aroma with balanced complexity and long finish. I have the tingly spicy feeling inside my mouth which I really enjoy in a cigar. The only negative part was the burn- I had to even it few times. Overall, it performs very well at this stage. Final/3: As I got into final third, the chocolate flavor is turning into coffee flavor with earth, wood, cocoa powder, spicy leather, black pepper spicy flavors. The woodiness is gone. The aroma at the back is dried fruits (aromatic aroma is gone), red pepper (green pepper is gone), subtle salt with toasted nutty aroma. The brown sugar sweetness is gone. My mouth is again getting dry. I am drinking water more often to keep my mouth wet. In the rehtrohale, the fresh crispy -clean green pepper spiciness is more powerful. The cigar is full bodied in strength now but not bold. In fact, the spiciness is very intense at this stage. However, it is still balanced with moderate complexity and long finish. My mouth is full of spice as a result I have no feeling at the top of my tongue, the middle of my tongue is filled with thick, lush and creamy smoke and I am feeling very mild tobacco bitterness at the back of my tongue but it doesn't undermine the taste of the cigar. Except coffee flavor and toasty nuttiness, I am not detecting any new flavors or aroma at this stage. It did add a twist to the complexity but not enough. I am feeling little bored but not bored enough to stop smoking the cigar. I also got a little nicotine buzz.
Final Thoughts: This is a very good smoke and unique because of its complex spiciness. This is not an extremely complex cigar but complex enough and well balanced. The flavor profile is also limited however it doesnt undermine its unique taste. It has great aging potential. More aging will mellow out the spiciness and bump up the complexity. I wish the cigar had more sweetness. However, I am positive the one comes with Maduro wrapper is more sweet. It also makes me believe that the Maduro one will be better than the Habano one. I haven't smoke the one comes with Maduro wrapper yet. I would say, this cigar is little overpriced with $23-25 price tag. It should have been from $15-18. I really enjoyed the smoke but wish had a little more twist and complexity at the final third. I would recommend this cigar at least for once to enjoy its balanced spiciness. In figurado size, I always prefer mild-medium or medium bodied with more sweetness and fruity-floral aroma. I love Cuban cigars in figurado shape and my favorite brand is Cuban Cuaba Salomones or Diademas.
NOTE: This cigar was a gift from Tony AKA SleevePlz. He sent me two Salomon with Habano and Maduro wrapper. He also sent me the original Olive 1 & 2 blends. I would like to thank him for sharing these great cigars with me. I appreciate it Tony and thanks again for your generosity and friendship.
La Flor Dominicana (Dominican Flower) is a "boutique-style" cigar brand manufactured by Tabacalera La Flor S.A., a company started in 1996 in Santiago, the Dominican Republic. The company was started and is currently owned by cigar maker Litto Gomez Diez, who was called by Cigar Aficionado "arguably the most innovative mind in the cigar business." Gomez, a jeweler-turned-cigar maker started the business after his jewellery store in Miami was robbed by armed men at gunpoint of about $400,000 worth of jewellery. Today the company's factory is based in Tamboril, in the Dominican Republic.
The brand was first known as Los Libertadores and according to Gomez, it took him 15 to 20 years to refine his cigar making process and bring the brand to where it is today. The name of the brand was inspired by the flower of the tobacco plant which signifies that the growing cycle is complete and the plant is ready for reproduction. In 1999 the factory produced about 2.5 million cigars, up from 2.4 million in 1998 growing substantially from the 300,000 cigars produced in the first year of operations. Subsequently the company made 1.5 million cigars in 2004, 1.9 million in 2005 and 2.9 million in 2006. It likely surpassed the 4 million cigar mark by the present time. In order to tightly control production and quality, Gomez acquired a 120-acre farm where he grows tobacco for his use; in 2006 he also acquired a smaller 40-acre farm used for the growth of Corojo and Sumatra. In the beginning the company only focused on growing binder and filler tobacco however in 2002 they started cultivating shade grown wrapper; sun grown and encallado are also grown to satisfy binder and filler production needs. In 1999 the company had a serious fire in the cigar room at its factory and according to Gomez, the company lost about 400,000 cigars. La Flor Dominicana Salomone are the very first cigars to feature Litto's special Habano wrapper leaf. They have a blend of 2006 and 2007 vintage Dominican tobaccos for the filler and binder. These beautiful Salomon's have a rich smoke and an abundance of flavor. The blend is from homegrown tobacco from La Canela, Dominican Republic, and a stunning, dark wrapper imported from Nicaragua. This cigar comes with two different wrappers- one with Nicaraguan Sun grown Habano and the other with Ecuadorian Sun Grown Maduro. 10,000 of these cigars were made. The La Flor Dominicana Salomon rated #13 of Cigar Aficionado Top 25 Cigars of 2009.[Source: Cigar Aficionado, Wikipedia and other on-line sources]
It is a huge figurado shape cigar. The wrapper is rich milk chocolate brown color, shiny and oily with few visible veins but not that stand out. It is beautifully rolled without any glitch. It feels heavy and handful- overall has a great aesthetic feeling. The wrapper has barnyard, mild leather, wood scents and mild earth and cocoa powder aroma on the foot. The flavor and aroma profile is the combination of earth, leather, cocoa powder, chocolate, coffee, black pepper flavors. The beauty of this cigar is the layers of aroma of green-red peppery spice, subtle dried aromatic fruits and subtle salty-nutty and super mild brown sugar sweet finish. The retrohale has crisp and clean fresh green peppery finish through the nose. It is a powerful cigar but balanced. The draw is perfect with little uneven burn. It is not extremely complex but complex enough with balanced flavors and aroma. There is no harshness which is a sign of well-aged tobaccos. Wrapper: Nicaraguan aged Habano
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dominican Republic 1/3: As any other figurado it starts with little tight draw but opens up once it passes the tiny tip of the cigar. It starts with powerful blast of black peppery spiciness but not with strength. This is interesting because I am feeling the powerful spiciness on top of my tongue only. In addition, it has a mild earth, dry-sweet wood, spicy leather and cocoa powder flavors with mild dried aromatic dried fruity aroma at the back. As I mentioned earlier that it is powerful in spice but not in strength so I am rethrohaling from the start. The retrohale has a crisp and clear green peppery spiciness through the nose. It is not like other LFD or Dominican cigars. It produces a lot of smoke but light in texture. The top of my tongue has a strong black peppery spicy zing, the middle of my tongue is full of thin bodied smoke and the back of my tongue is completely clean. Now, I will try to elaborate a little more about the uniqueness of this cigar. A lot of cigars are powerful and spicy with strong strength. Also most of the cigars dominated by upfront flavors and aroma but this cigar perform differently. Though it is powerful with black pepper spice but strength is medium. It has a good amount of flavors but background mild aromatic dried fruit note with salty finish is also very noticeable. The crispy and clean fresh green peppery spiciness through the nose is kind of unusual but very enjoyable. It is medium in strength with subtle but powerful spiciness, it has flavors and aroma with medium-long finish, the complexity is balanced. At this moment the cigar is all about powerful but subtle spice. The smoke is pretty dry. The dryness may also coming from the powerful spiciness. This is the reason why we need to drink a lot of water with spicy food. It is a very good start. 2/3: As rolling into second third, I am detecting distinctive chocolate flavor with cocoa powder, earth, leather and black peppery spiciness. It also has the aromatic dried fruity aroma but I am also detecting distinctive red-green peppery aroma with subtle salty-nutty and mild brown sugary sweetness at the back- very balanced complexity here. The cigar picks up a point at this stage. The retrohale has more power but crisp and clean fresh green peppery finish through the nose. I had to wake up to pay more attention. This is very interesting. The cigar is very powerful in spice but not overly powerful in strength. It is straight medium- full bodied in strength. However, the dancing of the complex spiciness makes this cigar very unique. I have experience with complex sweetness, nuttiness and earthiness but not with spiciness like this La Flor Dominicana Salomone. I am really enjoying the smoke. My mouth is not as dry as 1/3 mark because a layer of mild brown sugary sweetness at back is releasing some water in my mouth. This is where the cigar deserves another point in complexity. The smoke is thicker, creamy and lush at this moment. The top of my tongue has the strong black peppery spicy zing, the middle of my tongue is full of creamy, thick and lush smoke, the back of my tongue is still clean- no bitterness at all. I am rethrohaling each and every puff because I love spicy food. I swimmed this morning and my nose is completely clean. This is really helping me to retrohale with clear sense. At this stage, this is an excellent smoke. The cigar is full of flavors and aroma with balanced complexity and long finish. I have the tingly spicy feeling inside my mouth which I really enjoy in a cigar. The only negative part was the burn- I had to even it few times. Overall, it performs very well at this stage. Final/3: As I got into final third, the chocolate flavor is turning into coffee flavor with earth, wood, cocoa powder, spicy leather, black pepper spicy flavors. The woodiness is gone. The aroma at the back is dried fruits (aromatic aroma is gone), red pepper (green pepper is gone), subtle salt with toasted nutty aroma. The brown sugar sweetness is gone. My mouth is again getting dry. I am drinking water more often to keep my mouth wet. In the rehtrohale, the fresh crispy -clean green pepper spiciness is more powerful. The cigar is full bodied in strength now but not bold. In fact, the spiciness is very intense at this stage. However, it is still balanced with moderate complexity and long finish. My mouth is full of spice as a result I have no feeling at the top of my tongue, the middle of my tongue is filled with thick, lush and creamy smoke and I am feeling very mild tobacco bitterness at the back of my tongue but it doesn't undermine the taste of the cigar. Except coffee flavor and toasty nuttiness, I am not detecting any new flavors or aroma at this stage. It did add a twist to the complexity but not enough. I am feeling little bored but not bored enough to stop smoking the cigar. I also got a little nicotine buzz.
Final Thoughts: This is a very good smoke and unique because of its complex spiciness. This is not an extremely complex cigar but complex enough and well balanced. The flavor profile is also limited however it doesnt undermine its unique taste. It has great aging potential. More aging will mellow out the spiciness and bump up the complexity. I wish the cigar had more sweetness. However, I am positive the one comes with Maduro wrapper is more sweet. It also makes me believe that the Maduro one will be better than the Habano one. I haven't smoke the one comes with Maduro wrapper yet. I would say, this cigar is little overpriced with $23-25 price tag. It should have been from $15-18. I really enjoyed the smoke but wish had a little more twist and complexity at the final third. I would recommend this cigar at least for once to enjoy its balanced spiciness. In figurado size, I always prefer mild-medium or medium bodied with more sweetness and fruity-floral aroma. I love Cuban cigars in figurado shape and my favorite brand is Cuban Cuaba Salomones or Diademas.
NOTE: This cigar was a gift from Tony AKA SleevePlz. He sent me two Salomon with Habano and Maduro wrapper. He also sent me the original Olive 1 & 2 blends. I would like to thank him for sharing these great cigars with me. I appreciate it Tony and thanks again for your generosity and friendship.
great review rip! Being a lfd fan this is one that truly scares me lol I've had a couple lfd's that bent me over!! But those are some true beauties!!
great review rip! Being a lfd fan this is one that truly scares me lol I've had a couple lfd's that bent me over!! But those are some true beauties!!
Thanks Lee. it is a huge cigar and took me two plus hours to smoke. This is a reason I smoke figurado shape rarely. However it is a very good smoke. LFD makes some good cigar. This cigar reminded me that I shouldn't neglect smoking LFD for such a long time.
Thanks Tony. You do need a warmer summer day with two plus hours to smoke this beauty. Hey, thanks again for the cigar. I will also review the one smokes with Maduro soon.
SleevePlz:
Wow, great review Rip! Can't wait for it to get warmer outside so I can fire up another one!
Thanks Tony. You do need a warmer summer day with two plus hours to smoke this beauty. Hey, thanks again for the cigar. I will also review the one smokes with Maduro soon.
SleevePlz:
Wow, great review Rip! Can't wait for it to get warmer outside so I can fire up another one!
Rip. How were the Factory Press I, II, IIIs? I was reading that the blend is different from one series to the next.
Litto Gomez seems to know how to balance strength and flavor so that neither is overpowering; skating on the edge of smooth to bring some great cigars. They also seem consistent. Quickly becoming one of my favorites. Thanks for the review of these Salomon's which I haven't tried.
Intelligence is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.
I like Oliva and Quesada (including Regius) a lot. I will smoke anything, though.
Thanks Tony. You do need a warmer summer day with two plus hours to smoke this beauty. Hey, thanks again for the cigar. I will also review the one smokes with Maduro soon.
SleevePlz:
Wow, great review Rip! Can't wait for it to get warmer outside so I can fire up another one!
Rip. How were the Factory Press I, II, IIIs? I was reading that the blend is different from one series to the next.
Hi Peter, you are correct, La Flor Dominicana Factory Press series cigars comes with different blends. The no. I comes with Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Dominican Sumatran binder and Dominican Corojo fillers, II with same wrapper, binder and fillers, III comes with Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Dominican fillers, IV comes with Mexican San Andres Maduro Wrapper, Ecuadorian binder and Dominican fillers, V comes with Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Dominican fillers. Though wrappers and binders are different but the fillers are always aged Dominican. The flat and wide boxed press cigars are really enjoyable smoke. They are very good but overpriced. Here is a picture of no IV. I will review it someday.
Your welcome Eric. Not all the LFD cigars are great but most of them are well balanced with good complex flavors, aroma and finish.
Martel:
Litto Gomez seems to know how to balance strength and flavor so that neither is overpowering; skating on the edge of smooth to bring some great cigars. They also seem consistent. Quickly becoming one of my favorites. Thanks for the review of these Salomon's which I haven't tried.
The Daruma Sucio Room 101 LTD is made by Camachos Tabacos Rancho factory in Jamastran, Honduras which is now part of the Davidoff Group, and is the most recent release from Matt Booth. Matt Booth was a US Marine who was stationed in the Far-East. While he was there he was so intrigued and impacted by the culture it followed him back to the US and has influenced him profoundly. Room 101 creates designs that combine a timeless classic fashion, with intrinsically beautiful artwork. They bring this design to everything they make, clothes, jewelry, accessories and of course their cigars. Room 101 is fusion of Asian influenced. They even plan to create custom-made private jet interiors. Room 101 designs have been featured in top lifestyle, fashion, and specialty magazines. New additions to the collection include a custom golf bag line and custom made knives. Future plan includes a tailored suit and cashmere line as well as customs instrument. Matt has made several appearances on major network television. Matts products are featured in select boutique stores worldwide and he works with several well-known designers. Their slogan is Room101 is more than a brand, its a lifestyle. Legends are made in Hollywood. You are made in ROOM101. In a nutshell, the brand is a story of a former US marine, became a fashion designer to a cigar maker. Daruma is a new approach for the Room 101 brand moving away from Honduran dominated blends. Only 20,000 cigars were produced in each of vitola released for a total of 100,000 cigars for Daruma in total. It comes is five different vitolas- Mutante (7 x 38), Sucio (7 x 48), Monstro (5 x 60), Roxxo (4 x 48) and Papi Chulo (4 x 42). [Source: ROOM 101] Daruma dolls are made based on Bodhidharma - Patriarch of Zen Buddhism. Daruma doll is popular in Japan, more than ninja, kabuki, karate, and judo. One of the most popular talismans of good luck in modern Japan is the armless, legless, and eyeless Daruma doll, or tumbling doll. It is made of paper mache, weighted on the bottom so it always stands up, even when pushed- symbolic of Bodhidharma's persistence in meditation. This has the meaning of standing up positively even if failing, and has the meaning of reaching the objective. Moreover, the design such as sho-chiku-bai, cranes, and turtles assumed that the history is good from old times is given to the pattern of the face. History of Daruma doll In about the 5th century, DARUMA - Father of Zen Buddhism - obtained realizing at the end when he sat for nine years toward the wall, and the teaching was succeeded from generation to generation by apprentices, spread to China, and to Japan. In 1697, Daruma-ji temple was founded by Priest Shinetsu to here Takasaki. He drew The Zen meditation image of the DARUMA and it comes to be distributed at the New Year of every year, and it is assumed that it is a start of the Takasaki Daruma doll. About end of the 18th century, Yamagata Goro carved initial Daruma doll getting a hint from the type by Priest Togaku, and he put Japanese paper on it afterwards. At the Meiji era when the sericultural industry became active, Daruma doll was requested to pray that they were able to harvest a lot of silk threads. Afterwards, it arrived at the present age, and the tumbling doll became necessary indispensable as guard that prayed for the business prosperity. [Source: Daruma.jp] It is a Churchill size cigar with a very dark brown wrapper (almost Maduro color) but it is an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. The band is simply silver and black but extremely elegant. I know Matt used to be stationed in Japan and the idea came from Asian Japanese Daruma spiritual culture. The wrapper is oily and has many visible veins. It has a sweet wood (cedar) and spicy aroma, sweet earthy, mild coffee, hay scents at the foot. The cigar has no soft spot and feels good in hand. I also have weaknesses for Churchill size. The cold draw is effortless and perfect. The flavor profile is a combination of sweet earth, cedar, mild leather, black pepper, cocoa powder, Indian Darjeeling Oolong tea, bitter-sweet dark chocolate-creamy espresso flavors with hazelnut, lemon, mint, fruity-Chinese pear, caramel and processed cherry aroma and sweetness at the back. During retrohale has a wonderful aromatic clove and distinctive crushed red peppery spiciness through the nose. The draw is perfect but it has some burn issue. It has extreme complexity and the finish is long. It becomes medium to full bodied at the end.
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Brazilian Mata Fina
Fillers: Honduran Corojo and Criollo/ Dominican Pelo de Oro 1/3: The cigar starts with a blast of bitter-sweet dark chocolate, cocoa powder upfront flavors. It also has sweet earth, cedar, mild leather and black peppery spice flavors but they are at the back. It has a hazelnut and aromatic fruity aroma with a thin layer of caramel sweetness at the finish- wow, very nice start. The smoke is thick and dense. The retrohale has a strong crushed red peppery spiciness through the nose. It is pretty strong but not unpleasant. The top of my tongue can feel the black peppery spice, the middle of my tongue feel the smooth, thick texture with above flavors and aroma, the back of my tongue has a very mild tobacco bitterness and also a thin layer of metallic finish. It burns slowly because of the oil in the wrapper. At this stage the cigar has a good and balanced complexity with medium finish. I am letting the ash drop quickly because of the windy weather in Managua. I do not want to drop the ash on my iPad. At the end of first third, the overall spiciness became weak. I am really enjoying its medium body strength. The draw and burn is perfect. After a Lebanese Lamb Shish Kabob dinner, I needed this strength. Overall, it performed very well. 2/3: While heading into second third, the spiciness is weaker compares to the first third but I am feeling a concentrated black peppery spiciness on top of my tongue. The cedar, mild leather, cocoa powder flavors are completely gone. The bitter-sweet dark chocolate flavor turns into bitter-sweet creamy espresso coffee. The sweet earthy, black pepper spice is there but at the back. The hazelnut and aromatic fruity aroma is still there. The caramel sweetness is gone and taken over by processed cherry sweetness at the finish. There is also a crispy lemony finish at the back. During rethrohale the strong crushed red peppery spiciness is gone but it has taken over by aromatic cloves kind of subtle spiciness. The cigar receives two additional points in complexity here. The smoke is fairly smooth, lush, creamy, round and mouthful at this stage. The top of my tongue is enjoying the zing of black pepper and aromatic clove spiciness; the middle of my tongue is filled with fairly smooth, creamy texture with above flavors and aroma. The back of my tongue is pretty clean with mild tobacco bitterness. I also have the tingly feeling around my mouth. The strength is still medium. At the end of second third, the aromatic clove spiciness again picking up some crushed red peppery spiciness through the nose. I consider it as a nice twist in spiciness. The only weakness of this cigar at this stage is the burn because I had to light it up few times. Other than that it is a great cigar with balanced, extreme complexity and layers of flavors and aroma with long finish at this stage. Final third: I am in the final third of the cigar now and it dropped many flavors and aroma but picking up new flavors and aroma. The dominating flavor is brand new. It has a crispy Darjeeling Oolong tea flavor now which is also close to Taiwanese Bai Hao Oolong flavor. Bai Hao Oolong is a hybrid of Indian Darjeeling and Taiwanese Shan Ling Ji Oolong tea. I love tea and any cigar with tea flavor makes me very happy. The creamy toasted Espresso flavor is also there. The aroma is dominated by Chinese pear and fresh mint at the back. The lemony finish is also there. I will give an additional point in complexity here. The black pepper has faded away but it is there with a mild layer. The rethrohale is again with straight clove spiciness through the nose. The crushed red pepperiness is gone. The strength is medium to full now. I am in love with this cigar. Overall, this is an extremely complex with balanced flavors and aroma with long finish. My entire mouth is full of tingly feeling. I am also enjoying the tea bitterness. Congratulation Matt Booth- Ah finally!
Final Thoughts: Overall, this is a great cigar with assured aging potential. The weakness of this cigar at this moment is the extra oil in the wrapper which led to light it up couple times during the smoke. Some aging will evaporate the extra oil and improve the burn. Also the first third blast of spiciness will mellow out more. Also the mild tobacco bitterness and metallic finish at the back will be disappeared with some aging. Other than that this is an excellent smoke. In fact, I enjoyed it more than O.S.O.K and Namakubi. I mentioned this in my OSOK review that, I believe Matt Booth is improving his quality with every new release. However, please don't get me wrong, OSOK is a great smoke but Daruma has a different exotic twists. I believe, after smoking Daruma, OSOK, Namakubi, I am convinced that Matt Booth won a special place in my cigar collection. Without any doubt, I am going to buy a full box of Sucio and add it to my aging project. The $10 price tag is fully justifiable and it definitely delivers the value.
For some reasons the wrapper reminds me of Frank Llaneza's 1961 cigar wrapper which is also an Ecuadorian wrapper. I assume this a Criollo wrapper came from Oliva's tobacco farm. As far as I know, only Oliva produces this super dark Criollo Habano wrapper in Ecuador. This wrapper goes through extra fermentation which has a tricky marketing terms- triple fermentation. The term triple fermentation simply means longer fermentation then as usual. In a nutshell, after curing the tobacco leaves have all their potential locked inside then the tobacco leaves are placed into a groups of 20-30 leaves called MANOS. The MANOS are stacked in large piles called PILONES. Inside the PILONES the temperature reached up to 120-125 degrees. This way, the inner leaves in PILONES generates most of the heat. They move them around to distribute the heat equally. These are all handmade process and the master blenders use his judgments with instinct. Basically, triple fermentation means rotates certain temperature three different times. I saw the process in Nicaragua. A minor miscalculation or lack of judgment can kill the entire process. If my assumption is correct than I would say good job on collecting this rare wrapper from the Oliva family.
Note: I would like thank my friend Dustin AKA Catfish for sending me this excellent cigar. He sent me some excellent smokes which I never smoked before. I appreciate it Dustin.
Glad you liked it, I have been very impressed with the Daruma. The Lancero is also amazing, along with the petite robusto. I've had all three and honestly it is hard to say which one I like best. Like the OSOK, this is another hit for me from Booth. I'm not sure which one I will box buy honestly, need to smoke a few more lancero before I make my mind up. Great review as always, this one was on my top 12 of 2012 list.
Glad you liked it, I have been very impressed with the Daruma. The Lancero is also amazing, along with the petite robusto. I've had all three and honestly it is hard to say which one I like best. Like the OSOK, this is another hit for me from Booth. I'm not sure which one I will box buy honestly, need to smoke a few more lancero before I make my mind up. Great review as always, this one was on my top 12 of 2012 list.
+1 on the lancero. The petite robusto punched me in the face a little.
"It's plume, bro. Nothing to worry about. Got any Opus?" The suppose to be DZR
Thanks Tony. You do need a warmer summer day with two plus hours to smoke this beauty. Hey, thanks again for the cigar. I will also review the one smokes with Maduro soon.
SleevePlz:
Wow, great review Rip! Can't wait for it to get warmer outside so I can fire up another one!
Rip. How were the Factory Press I, II, IIIs? I was reading that the blend is different from one series to the next.
Hi Peter, you are correct, La Flor Dominicana Factory Press series cigars comes with different blends. The no. I comes with Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Dominican Sumatran binder and Dominican Corojo fillers, II with same wrapper, binder and fillers, III comes with Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Dominican fillers, IV comes with Mexican San Andres Maduro Wrapper, Ecuadorian binder and Dominican fillers, V comes with Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Dominican fillers. Though wrappers and binders are different but the fillers are always aged Dominican. The flat and wide boxed press cigars are really enjoyable smoke. They are very good but overpriced. Here is a picture of no IV. I will review it someday.
Rip, was that the original salomon or the re-released? I picked up one of the re-released a couple of weekends ago at a local shop. I've been waiting for a nice bit of weather to smoke it. I have a couple boxes of the 1st release along with the maduro, I love these cigars. I am hoping the re-release is as good. Well actually I don't as I don't need another box to get.
Hi Glen, I don't know if it was original or re-released because Tony(SleevePlz) sent me the cigar.
Tony could you please chime in and answer the question?
Glen, apparently you have a huge collection of this great cigars. Lucky you.
phobicsquirrel:
Rip, was that the original salomon or the re-released? I picked up one of the re-released a couple of weekends ago at a local shop. I've been waiting for a nice bit of weather to smoke it. I have a couple boxes of the 1st release along with the maduro, I love these cigars. I am hoping the re-release is as good. Well actually I don't as I don't need another box to get.
Thanks Tony. You do need a warmer summer day with two plus hours to smoke this beauty. Hey, thanks again for the cigar. I will also review the one smokes with Maduro soon.
SleevePlz:
Wow, great review Rip! Can't wait for it to get warmer outside so I can fire up another one!
Rip. How were the Factory Press I, II, IIIs? I was reading that the blend is different from one series to the next.
Hi Peter, you are correct, La Flor Dominicana Factory Press series cigars comes with different blends. The no. I comes with Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Dominican Sumatran binder and Dominican Corojo fillers, II with same wrapper, binder and fillers, III comes with Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Dominican fillers, IV comes with Mexican San Andres Maduro Wrapper, Ecuadorian binder and Dominican fillers, V comes with Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Dominican fillers. Though wrappers and binders are different but the fillers are always aged Dominican. The flat and wide boxed press cigars are really enjoyable smoke. They are very good but overpriced. Here is a picture of no IV. I will review it someday.
Dustin, I really enjoyed it. Now I am confused which size to buy lol. I think I also want one box in my collection. I agree with you, Daruma is one of the top 2012 release. I appreciate your nice comments and thanks again for the great smoke!
catfishbluezz:
Glad you liked it, I have been very impressed with the Daruma. The Lancero is also amazing, along with the petite robusto. I've had all three and honestly it is hard to say which one I like best. Like the OSOK, this is another hit for me from Booth. I'm not sure which one I will box buy honestly, need to smoke a few more lancero before I make my mind up. Great review as always, this one was on my top 12 of 2012 list.
Dustin, I really enjoyed it. Now I am confused which size to buy lol. I think I also want one box in my collection. I agree with you, Daruma is one of the top 2012 release. I appreciate your nice comments and thanks again for the great smoke!
catfishbluezz:
Glad you liked it, I have been very impressed with the Daruma. The Lancero is also amazing, along with the petite robusto. I've had all three and honestly it is hard to say which one I like best. Like the OSOK, this is another hit for me from Booth. I'm not sure which one I will box buy honestly, need to smoke a few more lancero before I make my mind up. Great review as always, this one was on my top 12 of 2012 list.
honesty...I think I'm leaning towards the Churchill. I still have a few lancero left before I decide, but te Churchill has the best complexity imo
Hi Glen, I don't know if it was original or re-released because Tony(SleevePlz) sent me the cigar.
Tony could you please chime in and answer the question?
Glen, apparently you have a huge collection of this great cigars. Lucky you.
phobicsquirrel:
Rip, was that the original salomon or the re-released? I picked up one of the re-released a couple of weekends ago at a local shop. I've been waiting for a nice bit of weather to smoke it. I have a couple boxes of the 1st release along with the maduro, I love these cigars. I am hoping the re-release is as good. Well actually I don't as I don't need another box to get.
Ah, okay. Well they don't make it easy to tell without the box. One would have thought they would have put something on the band. IMO the maduro is the best but either way one cannot go wrong with either. Hopefully you'll put up your maduro review soon. I did some reviews on both a while back in my review thread. Nice to see some more on these great smokes. (BTW my pictures are crap compared to yours :::bows in honor::::)
This Especial Limited Edition release was named for My Father Cigar Company President Jamie Garcia, son of popular Master blender Pepin Garcia. He is well known for creating the famous and popular My father Limited Edition cigars which have been releases once a year. However, he wanted to create a new brand exclusively blended by him. As a result, he came up with Jamie Garcia Reserva Special (JGRE) line. JGRE comes with two different wrappers- Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper and Ecuadorian Connecticut shed grown wrapper with the same blend. However, Jamie wanted to add a twist to the blend and end up releasing this limited edition 2011 version. According to one of source, In Nicaragua, Pepin Garcia has the largest aged Pelo de Oro (PDO) tobacco stock in his hand. Jamie not only created the binder with PDO tobacco but also added two leaves in the blend. Please do not quote me on this. Cigar world is full of hype. Anyway, PDO tobacco is really tasty and I will talk about it a little in my final thoughts section. The cigar looks very well constructed, solid and feels good in hand. It has two eye catching bands. The cigars come in beautiful white boxes of 15, and each box contains a special 16th cigar. The wrapper is very dark brown, oily with some visible veins. It has cedar and spicy scents and strong earth, sweet oak aroma at the foot. The cold draw has barnyard, sweet oak, mild leather, mild dried fruity, cocoa aroma. The cigar has no soft spot and has some farm surface. The cigar has perfect draw and burn. The flavors and aroma profile is the combination of wood, barnyard, earth, leather, black pepper, dark chocolate, coffee( strong espresso), mochaccino flavors with aromatic cinnamon, anise, dried fruit, cashewnut nut aroma at the back. It has a nice honey-caramel sweetness at finish. It is a complex cigar but not extremely complex but it could be. The overpowering black peppery spiciness plus additional bold strength undermines and hampers the complexity. It is well balanced with long finish. It is straight spicy full bodied to bold in strength. Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf Viso
Binder: Nicaraguan Pelo De Oro
Fillers: Nicaragua 1/3: As I light up the cigar, it starts with a strong overpowering black peppery spiciness with tons of wood, leather, earth flavors with cocoa notes at the back. Within few puff the wood, earth, cocoa notes become weak. I am detecting distinctive sweet dark chocolate flavor with a hint of aromatic anise and dried fruity aroma at the back. There is also a mild layer of honey like sweetness to the finish. Hell...I couldn't retrohale at all. When I tried, it practically burned my nasal canal with overpowering black peppery spiciness. This cigar got full 1+ year aging in my humidor but still has the overpowering spiciness. I cannot say it is complex at this stage. But the flavors and aroma is enjoyable. The smoke is thick and lush. The top of my tongue has the sparkly black peppery spiciness, the middle of my tongue is full of thick, lush smoke with above flavors and aroma, the back of my tongue has the medium tobacco harshness with metallic disturbing edge. This is where I always complain about most of Pepin Garcia's cigars. I do not like this. The flavor and aroma profile is pretty good but it is not allowing me to retrohale to enjoy the smoke in full scale. This is where the cigar straight lose a point for its overpowering spice, harshness and metallic finish at the back of the tongue. The cigar flavors are strong and the aromatic anise, cocoa powder aroma at the back with honey like sweetness is very enjoyable. Other than that I can't find the complexity though it is balanced with long finish. This is cigar needs more age. It is straight full in strength with perfect draw and burn. 2/3: The cigar mellow out a lot while coming into the second third. This is a good sign. I have also able to retrohale and identify more back notes. The sweet dark chocolate flavor is weak and taken over by strong espresso coffee flavor with super mild layer of vanilla note at the back- very nice! I am also detecting dried berry, earthy, sweet wood (cedar-oak), very mild leather, mild cocoa powder, black pepper flavors with strong aromatic cinnamon, anise aroma at the back. It also has a honey-caramel sweetness at the finish. Now it is really enjoyable to smoke and adds an additional point in complexity. I am also able to retrohale the black peppery spicy finish through the nose. Though it is spicy but manageable and not unbearable as 1/3. In fact, this is a great smoke at this stage with perfect balanced with complex flavors and aroma. The finish is also very long. One negative thing is- the mild harshness and the metallic finish at the back of my tongue is still little unpleasant. At the end of 2/3, the rethrohale is very enjoyable. The strength is straight full bodied and heading to bold level. It is all about richness. Overall, the cigar is performing very well with perfect draw and burn. Final/3: At this stage, the cigar is full bodied, bold in strength with balanced black peppery spiciness with strong caramel sweetness at the finish. The flavor is still rich, strong espresso with a layer of added mochaccino note which is a very nice complex twist. Mochaccino is the combination of espresso and chocolate. That means the flavors is chocolate + espresso = mochaccino. I love this dominating flavor. The sweet cedar, earth, leather, dried fruit aroma is there but at the back. The cocoa powder, cinnamon and anise aroma is upfront- very nice! The black pepper spicy flavor is also there but not overpowering any longer. However, the harshness is still there at the back of my tongue. This harshness combine with the bold strength is little disturbing. This cigar need longer age like most of Pepin's cigar. Other than that it has well balanced flavors and aroma, complexity with long finish. I am also having the tingly feeling in my mouth. Overall this is a good and enjoyable smoke.
Final thoughts: When a cigar is $15 plus in price, I became very critical because smokers should deserve close to a perfect smoking experience. This cigar MSRP is $16 and with that price range the harshness and metallic finish really exposed its weaknesses. I do see the aging potential and it will be a very good smoke with 2-3 years of additional age. I can't highly recommend this cigar or for a box purchase. IMO, having five of these sticks in the humidor is good enough. I also missed the zesty sweetness of the popular Pelo de Oro tobacco like the Le Variete 2008 and 2009 releases. Pelo de Oro is Pepin's secret weapon. He is the best in utilizing this tobacco in a blend. In Spanish Pelo de Oro means Golden Hair. This is a great variety which can be used as wrapper, binder as well as fillers. In this blend it was used as binder also in the fillers. It is very strong in flavor with sweet finish. It is a Cuban variety and hybrid from Cuban Capadura tobacco. Pepin's cigar lovers should not miss this smoke- you will love its rich flavors and aroma.
Hi Glen, I don't know if it was original or re-released because Tony(SleevePlz) sent me the cigar.
Tony could you please chime in and answer the question?
Glen, apparently you have a huge collection of this great cigars. Lucky you.
phobicsquirrel:
Rip, was that the original salomon or the re-released? I picked up one of the re-released a couple of weekends ago at a local shop. I've been waiting for a nice bit of weather to smoke it. I have a couple boxes of the 1st release along with the maduro, I love these cigars. I am hoping the re-release is as good. Well actually I don't as I don't need another box to get.
Ah, okay. Well they don't make it easy to tell without the box. One would have thought they would have put something on the band. IMO the maduro is the best but either way one cannot go wrong with either. Hopefully you'll put up your maduro review soon. I did some reviews on both a while back in my review thread. Nice to see some more on these great smokes. (BTW my pictures are crap compared to yours :::bows in honor::::)
Sorry I didn't see this exchange sooner. This one was from the original release. I picked up a box of them last year on the secondary market for a great price.
I appreciate the information. Is there any way to get some more originals? Thanks!
SleevePlz:
phobicsquirrel:
rzaman:
Hi Glen, I don't know if it was original or re-released because Tony(SleevePlz) sent me the cigar.
Tony could you please chime in and answer the question?
Glen, apparently you have a huge collection of this great cigars. Lucky you.
phobicsquirrel:
Rip, was that the original salomon or the re-released? I picked up one of the re-released a couple of weekends ago at a local shop. I've been waiting for a nice bit of weather to smoke it. I have a couple boxes of the 1st release along with the maduro, I love these cigars. I am hoping the re-release is as good. Well actually I don't as I don't need another box to get.
Ah, okay. Well they don't make it easy to tell without the box. One would have thought they would have put something on the band. IMO the maduro is the best but either way one cannot go wrong with either. Hopefully you'll put up your maduro review soon. I did some reviews on both a while back in my review thread. Nice to see some more on these great smokes. (BTW my pictures are crap compared to yours :::bows in honor::::)
Sorry I didn't see this exchange sooner. This one was from the original release. I picked up a box of them last year on the secondary market for a great price.
Comments
La Flor Dominicana (Dominican Flower) is a "boutique-style" cigar brand manufactured by Tabacalera La Flor S.A., a company started in 1996 in Santiago, the Dominican Republic. The company was started and is currently owned by cigar maker Litto Gomez Diez, who was called by Cigar Aficionado "arguably the most innovative mind in the cigar business." Gomez, a jeweler-turned-cigar maker started the business after his jewellery store in Miami was robbed by armed men at gunpoint of about $400,000 worth of jewellery. Today the company's factory is based in Tamboril, in the Dominican Republic.
The brand was first known as Los Libertadores and according to Gomez, it took him 15 to 20 years to refine his cigar making process and bring the brand to where it is today. The name of the brand was inspired by the flower of the tobacco plant which signifies that the growing cycle is complete and the plant is ready for reproduction. In 1999 the factory produced about 2.5 million cigars, up from 2.4 million in 1998 growing substantially from the 300,000 cigars produced in the first year of operations. Subsequently the company made 1.5 million cigars in 2004, 1.9 million in 2005 and 2.9 million in 2006. It likely surpassed the 4 million cigar mark by the present time. In order to tightly control production and quality, Gomez acquired a 120-acre farm where he grows tobacco for his use; in 2006 he also acquired a smaller 40-acre farm used for the growth of Corojo and Sumatra. In the beginning the company only focused on growing binder and filler tobacco however in 2002 they started cultivating shade grown wrapper; sun grown and encallado are also grown to satisfy binder and filler production needs. In 1999 the company had a serious fire in the cigar room at its factory and according to Gomez, the company lost about 400,000 cigars.
La Flor Dominicana Salomone are the very first cigars to feature Litto's special Habano wrapper leaf. They have a blend of 2006 and 2007 vintage Dominican tobaccos for the filler and binder. These beautiful Salomon's have a rich smoke and an abundance of flavor. The blend is from homegrown tobacco from La Canela, Dominican Republic, and a stunning, dark wrapper imported from Nicaragua. This cigar comes with two different wrappers- one with Nicaraguan Sun grown Habano and the other with Ecuadorian Sun Grown Maduro. 10,000 of these cigars were made. The La Flor Dominicana Salomon rated #13 of Cigar Aficionado Top 25 Cigars of 2009.[Source: Cigar Aficionado, Wikipedia and other on-line sources]
It is a huge figurado shape cigar. The wrapper is rich milk chocolate brown color, shiny and oily with few visible veins but not that stand out. It is beautifully rolled without any glitch. It feels heavy and handful- overall has a great aesthetic feeling. The wrapper has barnyard, mild leather, wood scents and mild earth and cocoa powder aroma on the foot. The flavor and aroma profile is the combination of earth, leather, cocoa powder, chocolate, coffee, black pepper flavors. The beauty of this cigar is the layers of aroma of green-red peppery spice, subtle dried aromatic fruits and subtle salty-nutty and super mild brown sugar sweet finish. The retrohale has crisp and clean fresh green peppery finish through the nose. It is a powerful cigar but balanced. The draw is perfect with little uneven burn. It is not extremely complex but complex enough with balanced flavors and aroma. There is no harshness which is a sign of well-aged tobaccos.
Wrapper: Nicaraguan aged Habano
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dominican Republic
1/3: As any other figurado it starts with little tight draw but opens up once it passes the tiny tip of the cigar. It starts with powerful blast of black peppery spiciness but not with strength. This is interesting because I am feeling the powerful spiciness on top of my tongue only. In addition, it has a mild earth, dry-sweet wood, spicy leather and cocoa powder flavors with mild dried aromatic dried fruity aroma at the back. As I mentioned earlier that it is powerful in spice but not in strength so I am rethrohaling from the start. The retrohale has a crisp and clear green peppery spiciness through the nose. It is not like other LFD or Dominican cigars. It produces a lot of smoke but light in texture. The top of my tongue has a strong black peppery spicy zing, the middle of my tongue is full of thin bodied smoke and the back of my tongue is completely clean. Now, I will try to elaborate a little more about the uniqueness of this cigar. A lot of cigars are powerful and spicy with strong strength. Also most of the cigars dominated by upfront flavors and aroma but this cigar perform differently. Though it is powerful with black pepper spice but strength is medium. It has a good amount of flavors but background mild aromatic dried fruit note with salty finish is also very noticeable. The crispy and clean fresh green peppery spiciness through the nose is kind of unusual but very enjoyable. It is medium in strength with subtle but powerful spiciness, it has flavors and aroma with medium-long finish, the complexity is balanced. At this moment the cigar is all about powerful but subtle spice. The smoke is pretty dry. The dryness may also coming from the powerful spiciness. This is the reason why we need to drink a lot of water with spicy food. It is a very good start.
2/3: As rolling into second third, I am detecting distinctive chocolate flavor with cocoa powder, earth, leather and black peppery spiciness. It also has the aromatic dried fruity aroma but I am also detecting distinctive red-green peppery aroma with subtle salty-nutty and mild brown sugary sweetness at the back- very balanced complexity here. The cigar picks up a point at this stage. The retrohale has more power but crisp and clean fresh green peppery finish through the nose. I had to wake up to pay more attention. This is very interesting. The cigar is very powerful in spice but not overly powerful in strength. It is straight medium- full bodied in strength. However, the dancing of the complex spiciness makes this cigar very unique. I have experience with complex sweetness, nuttiness and earthiness but not with spiciness like this La Flor Dominicana Salomone. I am really enjoying the smoke. My mouth is not as dry as 1/3 mark because a layer of mild brown sugary sweetness at back is releasing some water in my mouth. This is where the cigar deserves another point in complexity. The smoke is thicker, creamy and lush at this moment. The top of my tongue has the strong black peppery spicy zing, the middle of my tongue is full of creamy, thick and lush smoke, the back of my tongue is still clean- no bitterness at all. I am rethrohaling each and every puff because I love spicy food. I swimmed this morning and my nose is completely clean. This is really helping me to retrohale with clear sense. At this stage, this is an excellent smoke. The cigar is full of flavors and aroma with balanced complexity and long finish. I have the tingly spicy feeling inside my mouth which I really enjoy in a cigar. The only negative part was the burn- I had to even it few times. Overall, it performs very well at this stage.
Final/3: As I got into final third, the chocolate flavor is turning into coffee flavor with earth, wood, cocoa powder, spicy leather, black pepper spicy flavors. The woodiness is gone. The aroma at the back is dried fruits (aromatic aroma is gone), red pepper (green pepper is gone), subtle salt with toasted nutty aroma. The brown sugar sweetness is gone. My mouth is again getting dry. I am drinking water more often to keep my mouth wet. In the rehtrohale, the fresh crispy -clean green pepper spiciness is more powerful. The cigar is full bodied in strength now but not bold. In fact, the spiciness is very intense at this stage. However, it is still balanced with moderate complexity and long finish. My mouth is full of spice as a result I have no feeling at the top of my tongue, the middle of my tongue is filled with thick, lush and creamy smoke and I am feeling very mild tobacco bitterness at the back of my tongue but it doesn't undermine the taste of the cigar. Except coffee flavor and toasty nuttiness, I am not detecting any new flavors or aroma at this stage. It did add a twist to the complexity but not enough. I am feeling little bored but not bored enough to stop smoking the cigar. I also got a little nicotine buzz.
Final Thoughts: This is a very good smoke and unique because of its complex spiciness. This is not an extremely complex cigar but complex enough and well balanced. The flavor profile is also limited however it doesnt undermine its unique taste. It has great aging potential. More aging will mellow out the spiciness and bump up the complexity. I wish the cigar had more sweetness. However, I am positive the one comes with Maduro wrapper is more sweet. It also makes me believe that the Maduro one will be better than the Habano one. I haven't smoke the one comes with Maduro wrapper yet. I would say, this cigar is little overpriced with $23-25 price tag. It should have been from $15-18. I really enjoyed the smoke but wish had a little more twist and complexity at the final third. I would recommend this cigar at least for once to enjoy its balanced spiciness. In figurado size, I always prefer mild-medium or medium bodied with more sweetness and fruity-floral aroma. I love Cuban cigars in figurado shape and my favorite brand is Cuban Cuaba Salomones or Diademas.
NOTE: This cigar was a gift from Tony AKA SleevePlz. He sent me two Salomon with Habano and Maduro wrapper. He also sent me the original Olive 1 & 2 blends. I would like to thank him for sharing these great cigars with me. I appreciate it Tony and thanks again for your generosity and friendship.
great review rip! Being a lfd fan this is one that truly scares me lol I've had a couple lfd's that bent me over!! But those are some true beauties!!
Thanks Lee. it is a huge cigar and took me two plus hours to smoke. This is a reason I smoke figurado shape rarely. However it is a very good smoke. LFD makes some good cigar. This cigar reminded me that I shouldn't neglect smoking LFD for such a long time.
I like Oliva and Quesada (including Regius) a lot. I will smoke anything, though.
The Daruma Sucio Room 101 LTD is made by Camachos Tabacos Rancho factory in Jamastran, Honduras which is now part of the Davidoff Group, and is the most recent release from Matt Booth. Matt Booth was a US Marine who was stationed in the Far-East. While he was there he was so intrigued and impacted by the culture it followed him back to the US and has influenced him profoundly. Room 101 creates designs that combine a timeless classic fashion, with intrinsically beautiful artwork. They bring this design to everything they make, clothes, jewelry, accessories and of course their cigars. Room 101 is fusion of Asian influenced. They even plan to create custom-made private jet interiors. Room 101 designs have been featured in top lifestyle, fashion, and specialty magazines. New additions to the collection include a custom golf bag line and custom made knives. Future plan includes a tailored suit and cashmere line as well as customs instrument. Matt has made several appearances on major network television. Matts products are featured in select boutique stores worldwide and he works with several well-known designers. Their slogan is Room101 is more than a brand, its a lifestyle. Legends are made in Hollywood. You are made in ROOM101. In a nutshell, the brand is a story of a former US marine, became a fashion designer to a cigar maker. Daruma is a new approach for the Room 101 brand moving away from Honduran dominated blends. Only 20,000 cigars were produced in each of vitola released for a total of 100,000 cigars for Daruma in total. It comes is five different vitolas- Mutante (7 x 38), Sucio (7 x 48), Monstro (5 x 60), Roxxo (4 x 48) and Papi Chulo (4 x 42). [Source: ROOM 101]
Daruma dolls are made based on Bodhidharma - Patriarch of Zen Buddhism. Daruma doll is popular in Japan, more than ninja, kabuki, karate, and judo. One of the most popular talismans of good luck in modern Japan is the armless, legless, and eyeless Daruma doll, or tumbling doll. It is made of paper mache, weighted on the bottom so it always stands up, even when pushed- symbolic of Bodhidharma's persistence in meditation. This has the meaning of standing up positively even if failing, and has the meaning of reaching the objective. Moreover, the design such as sho-chiku-bai, cranes, and turtles assumed that the history is good from old times is given to the pattern of the face. History of Daruma doll In about the 5th century, DARUMA - Father of Zen Buddhism - obtained realizing at the end when he sat for nine years toward the wall, and the teaching was succeeded from generation to generation by apprentices, spread to China, and to Japan. In 1697, Daruma-ji temple was founded by Priest Shinetsu to here Takasaki. He drew The Zen meditation image of the DARUMA and it comes to be distributed at the New Year of every year, and it is assumed that it is a start of the Takasaki Daruma doll. About end of the 18th century, Yamagata Goro carved initial Daruma doll getting a hint from the type by Priest Togaku, and he put Japanese paper on it afterwards. At the Meiji era when the sericultural industry became active, Daruma doll was requested to pray that they were able to harvest a lot of silk threads. Afterwards, it arrived at the present age, and the tumbling doll became necessary indispensable as guard that prayed for the business prosperity. [Source: Daruma.jp]
It is a Churchill size cigar with a very dark brown wrapper (almost Maduro color) but it is an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. The band is simply silver and black but extremely elegant. I know Matt used to be stationed in Japan and the idea came from Asian Japanese Daruma spiritual culture. The wrapper is oily and has many visible veins. It has a sweet wood (cedar) and spicy aroma, sweet earthy, mild coffee, hay scents at the foot. The cigar has no soft spot and feels good in hand. I also have weaknesses for Churchill size. The cold draw is effortless and perfect. The flavor profile is a combination of sweet earth, cedar, mild leather, black pepper, cocoa powder, Indian Darjeeling Oolong tea, bitter-sweet dark chocolate-creamy espresso flavors with hazelnut, lemon, mint, fruity-Chinese pear, caramel and processed cherry aroma and sweetness at the back. During retrohale has a wonderful aromatic clove and distinctive crushed red peppery spiciness through the nose. The draw is perfect but it has some burn issue. It has extreme complexity and the finish is long. It becomes medium to full bodied at the end.
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Brazilian Mata Fina
Fillers: Honduran Corojo and Criollo/ Dominican Pelo de Oro
1/3: The cigar starts with a blast of bitter-sweet dark chocolate, cocoa powder upfront flavors. It also has sweet earth, cedar, mild leather and black peppery spice flavors but they are at the back. It has a hazelnut and aromatic fruity aroma with a thin layer of caramel sweetness at the finish- wow, very nice start. The smoke is thick and dense. The retrohale has a strong crushed red peppery spiciness through the nose. It is pretty strong but not unpleasant. The top of my tongue can feel the black peppery spice, the middle of my tongue feel the smooth, thick texture with above flavors and aroma, the back of my tongue has a very mild tobacco bitterness and also a thin layer of metallic finish. It burns slowly because of the oil in the wrapper. At this stage the cigar has a good and balanced complexity with medium finish. I am letting the ash drop quickly because of the windy weather in Managua. I do not want to drop the ash on my iPad. At the end of first third, the overall spiciness became weak. I am really enjoying its medium body strength. The draw and burn is perfect. After a Lebanese Lamb Shish Kabob dinner, I needed this strength. Overall, it performed very well.
2/3: While heading into second third, the spiciness is weaker compares to the first third but I am feeling a concentrated black peppery spiciness on top of my tongue. The cedar, mild leather, cocoa powder flavors are completely gone. The bitter-sweet dark chocolate flavor turns into bitter-sweet creamy espresso coffee. The sweet earthy, black pepper spice is there but at the back. The hazelnut and aromatic fruity aroma is still there. The caramel sweetness is gone and taken over by processed cherry sweetness at the finish. There is also a crispy lemony finish at the back. During rethrohale the strong crushed red peppery spiciness is gone but it has taken over by aromatic cloves kind of subtle spiciness. The cigar receives two additional points in complexity here. The smoke is fairly smooth, lush, creamy, round and mouthful at this stage. The top of my tongue is enjoying the zing of black pepper and aromatic clove spiciness; the middle of my tongue is filled with fairly smooth, creamy texture with above flavors and aroma. The back of my tongue is pretty clean with mild tobacco bitterness. I also have the tingly feeling around my mouth. The strength is still medium. At the end of second third, the aromatic clove spiciness again picking up some crushed red peppery spiciness through the nose. I consider it as a nice twist in spiciness. The only weakness of this cigar at this stage is the burn because I had to light it up few times. Other than that it is a great cigar with balanced, extreme complexity and layers of flavors and aroma with long finish at this stage.
Final third: I am in the final third of the cigar now and it dropped many flavors and aroma but picking up new flavors and aroma. The dominating flavor is brand new. It has a crispy Darjeeling Oolong tea flavor now which is also close to Taiwanese Bai Hao Oolong flavor. Bai Hao Oolong is a hybrid of Indian Darjeeling and Taiwanese Shan Ling Ji Oolong tea. I love tea and any cigar with tea flavor makes me very happy. The creamy toasted Espresso flavor is also there. The aroma is dominated by Chinese pear and fresh mint at the back. The lemony finish is also there. I will give an additional point in complexity here. The black pepper has faded away but it is there with a mild layer. The rethrohale is again with straight clove spiciness through the nose. The crushed red pepperiness is gone. The strength is medium to full now. I am in love with this cigar. Overall, this is an extremely complex with balanced flavors and aroma with long finish. My entire mouth is full of tingly feeling. I am also enjoying the tea bitterness. Congratulation Matt Booth- Ah finally!
Final Thoughts: Overall, this is a great cigar with assured aging potential. The weakness of this cigar at this moment is the extra oil in the wrapper which led to light it up couple times during the smoke. Some aging will evaporate the extra oil and improve the burn. Also the first third blast of spiciness will mellow out more. Also the mild tobacco bitterness and metallic finish at the back will be disappeared with some aging. Other than that this is an excellent smoke. In fact, I enjoyed it more than O.S.O.K and Namakubi. I mentioned this in my OSOK review that, I believe Matt Booth is improving his quality with every new release. However, please don't get me wrong, OSOK is a great smoke but Daruma has a different exotic twists. I believe, after smoking Daruma, OSOK, Namakubi, I am convinced that Matt Booth won a special place in my cigar collection. Without any doubt, I am going to buy a full box of Sucio and add it to my aging project. The $10 price tag is fully justifiable and it definitely delivers the value.
For some reasons the wrapper reminds me of Frank Llaneza's 1961 cigar wrapper which is also an Ecuadorian wrapper. I assume this a Criollo wrapper came from Oliva's tobacco farm. As far as I know, only Oliva produces this super dark Criollo Habano wrapper in Ecuador. This wrapper goes through extra fermentation which has a tricky marketing terms- triple fermentation. The term triple fermentation simply means longer fermentation then as usual. In a nutshell, after curing the tobacco leaves have all their potential locked inside then the tobacco leaves are placed into a groups of 20-30 leaves called MANOS. The MANOS are stacked in large piles called PILONES. Inside the PILONES the temperature reached up to 120-125 degrees. This way, the inner leaves in PILONES generates most of the heat. They move them around to distribute the heat equally. These are all handmade process and the master blenders use his judgments with instinct. Basically, triple fermentation means rotates certain temperature three different times. I saw the process in Nicaragua. A minor miscalculation or lack of judgment can kill the entire process. If my assumption is correct than I would say good job on collecting this rare wrapper from the Oliva family.
Note: I would like thank my friend Dustin AKA Catfish for sending me this excellent cigar. He sent me some excellent smokes which I never smoked before. I appreciate it Dustin.
Tony could you please chime in and answer the question?
Glen, apparently you have a huge collection of this great cigars. Lucky you.
This Especial Limited Edition release was named for My Father Cigar Company President Jamie Garcia, son of popular Master blender Pepin Garcia. He is well known for creating the famous and popular My father Limited Edition cigars which have been releases once a year. However, he wanted to create a new brand exclusively blended by him. As a result, he came up with Jamie Garcia Reserva Special (JGRE) line. JGRE comes with two different wrappers- Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper and Ecuadorian Connecticut shed grown wrapper with the same blend. However, Jamie wanted to add a twist to the blend and end up releasing this limited edition 2011 version. According to one of source, In Nicaragua, Pepin Garcia has the largest aged Pelo de Oro (PDO) tobacco stock in his hand. Jamie not only created the binder with PDO tobacco but also added two leaves in the blend. Please do not quote me on this. Cigar world is full of hype. Anyway, PDO tobacco is really tasty and I will talk about it a little in my final thoughts section.
The cigar looks very well constructed, solid and feels good in hand. It has two eye catching bands. The cigars come in beautiful white boxes of 15, and each box contains a special 16th cigar. The wrapper is very dark brown, oily with some visible veins. It has cedar and spicy scents and strong earth, sweet oak aroma at the foot. The cold draw has barnyard, sweet oak, mild leather, mild dried fruity, cocoa aroma. The cigar has no soft spot and has some farm surface. The cigar has perfect draw and burn. The flavors and aroma profile is the combination of wood, barnyard, earth, leather, black pepper, dark chocolate, coffee( strong espresso), mochaccino flavors with aromatic cinnamon, anise, dried fruit, cashewnut nut aroma at the back. It has a nice honey-caramel sweetness at finish. It is a complex cigar but not extremely complex but it could be. The overpowering black peppery spiciness plus additional bold strength undermines and hampers the complexity. It is well balanced with long finish. It is straight spicy full bodied to bold in strength.
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf Viso
Binder: Nicaraguan Pelo De Oro
Fillers: Nicaragua
1/3: As I light up the cigar, it starts with a strong overpowering black peppery spiciness with tons of wood, leather, earth flavors with cocoa notes at the back. Within few puff the wood, earth, cocoa notes become weak. I am detecting distinctive sweet dark chocolate flavor with a hint of aromatic anise and dried fruity aroma at the back. There is also a mild layer of honey like sweetness to the finish. Hell...I couldn't retrohale at all. When I tried, it practically burned my nasal canal with overpowering black peppery spiciness. This cigar got full 1+ year aging in my humidor but still has the overpowering spiciness. I cannot say it is complex at this stage. But the flavors and aroma is enjoyable. The smoke is thick and lush. The top of my tongue has the sparkly black peppery spiciness, the middle of my tongue is full of thick, lush smoke with above flavors and aroma, the back of my tongue has the medium tobacco harshness with metallic disturbing edge. This is where I always complain about most of Pepin Garcia's cigars. I do not like this. The flavor and aroma profile is pretty good but it is not allowing me to retrohale to enjoy the smoke in full scale. This is where the cigar straight lose a point for its overpowering spice, harshness and metallic finish at the back of the tongue. The cigar flavors are strong and the aromatic anise, cocoa powder aroma at the back with honey like sweetness is very enjoyable. Other than that I can't find the complexity though it is balanced with long finish. This is cigar needs more age. It is straight full in strength with perfect draw and burn.
2/3: The cigar mellow out a lot while coming into the second third. This is a good sign. I have also able to retrohale and identify more back notes. The sweet dark chocolate flavor is weak and taken over by strong espresso coffee flavor with super mild layer of vanilla note at the back- very nice! I am also detecting dried berry, earthy, sweet wood (cedar-oak), very mild leather, mild cocoa powder, black pepper flavors with strong aromatic cinnamon, anise aroma at the back. It also has a honey-caramel sweetness at the finish. Now it is really enjoyable to smoke and adds an additional point in complexity. I am also able to retrohale the black peppery spicy finish through the nose. Though it is spicy but manageable and not unbearable as 1/3. In fact, this is a great smoke at this stage with perfect balanced with complex flavors and aroma. The finish is also very long. One negative thing is- the mild harshness and the metallic finish at the back of my tongue is still little unpleasant. At the end of 2/3, the rethrohale is very enjoyable. The strength is straight full bodied and heading to bold level. It is all about richness. Overall, the cigar is performing very well with perfect draw and burn.
Final/3: At this stage, the cigar is full bodied, bold in strength with balanced black peppery spiciness with strong caramel sweetness at the finish. The flavor is still rich, strong espresso with a layer of added mochaccino note which is a very nice complex twist. Mochaccino is the combination of espresso and chocolate. That means the flavors is chocolate + espresso = mochaccino. I love this dominating flavor. The sweet cedar, earth, leather, dried fruit aroma is there but at the back. The cocoa powder, cinnamon and anise aroma is upfront- very nice! The black pepper spicy flavor is also there but not overpowering any longer. However, the harshness is still there at the back of my tongue. This harshness combine with the bold strength is little disturbing. This cigar need longer age like most of Pepin's cigar. Other than that it has well balanced flavors and aroma, complexity with long finish. I am also having the tingly feeling in my mouth. Overall this is a good and enjoyable smoke.
Final thoughts: When a cigar is $15 plus in price, I became very critical because smokers should deserve close to a perfect smoking experience. This cigar MSRP is $16 and with that price range the harshness and metallic finish really exposed its weaknesses. I do see the aging potential and it will be a very good smoke with 2-3 years of additional age. I can't highly recommend this cigar or for a box purchase. IMO, having five of these sticks in the humidor is good enough. I also missed the zesty sweetness of the popular Pelo de Oro tobacco like the Le Variete 2008 and 2009 releases. Pelo de Oro is Pepin's secret weapon. He is the best in utilizing this tobacco in a blend. In Spanish Pelo de Oro means Golden Hair. This is a great variety which can be used as wrapper, binder as well as fillers. In this blend it was used as binder also in the fillers. It is very strong in flavor with sweet finish. It is a Cuban variety and hybrid from Cuban Capadura tobacco. Pepin's cigar lovers should not miss this smoke- you will love its rich flavors and aroma.