Ok so first foray in to reviews-lets see how it goes.
La Flor Dominicana Ligero- Robusto
I went into the shop pretty unsure of what I wanted to smoke. I asked a the owner about the CAO Brazillia and a La Flor rep jumped in and talked me into buying a Ligero. Now, I am always willing to let a good sales guy sell me into a choice, if only to see if I can trust the guy for recommendations at another time, so I went for it. More importantly, however, I think this is also one of the first cigars I ever smoked so I was curious as to how I would perceive it now.
La Flor’s info
After years of aging our estate-grown Ligero Tobaccos we were ready for our first “full bodied cigar”. The wrapper is Ecuadorian Sumatra with Dominican filler and binder leaves from our farm. The flavor is outstanding.
So I snipped it using a a guillotine and went on my way. I went to the house lighter and tried to light it. After toasting I went to take a couple of small puffs to get it going and got.. almost nothing. The draw was like sipping through a coffee straw. (Hmm-maybe I should remember to stay in the habit of checking that pre-light huh?) The rep noticed me struggling to light it and asked what the issue was. I told him, at which point he felt my cigar said “wow, that is tight”, and took me back to the humidor, found another one, and comped it to me. He had to search though, according to him, he thinks its a bad box (your opinions on that?)
Anyway- I lit up this one and that is where this review will get started
1st third
The draw on this one was tight is well. That is the first thing that stood out. It was not unsmokeably tight, but I had to put effort into getting a mouthful of smoke. Also, the smoke wasn’t voluminous which didn’t help the draw situation. The flavor profile had a nice peppery touch that lingered on the back of the tongue with some earthy overtones. Some burn issues started to look like they might develop as well. The burn line was thick and it looked like it might start to burn unevenly.
2nd third
The peppery taste had mellowed and subsided to the background and the more earthy tastes was more prevalent. The burn issue started to develop into full fledged canoeing. I touched it up but the ligero wrapper just did not want to burn. It was rather annoying. I got it to a respectable distance and started to smoke again.
Final third
Somewhere between the 2nd and final third the cigar went out. I had felt a soft spot coming up and to avoid even more of an issue I chopped off a good 1/4 to 1/2 inch off the cigar before relighting. I got a decent looking even burn going, then BLAM, it went out again within 5 minutes. I re-lit it and it seemed to be burning ok. The uneven burn, however, stayed around. When the cigar was finished there was still a section that was canoeing. The final third’s flavors were earthy and tobacco. I think I lost some of the flavor from the two relights though. It didn’t really punish me but it didn’t build to where I thought it was going.
Final Thoughts
Overall the construction of this cigar was just a distracting annoyance. If the cigar would have burned well I would have enjoyed it a lot more. I enjoyed the flavors, especially the opening pepper, but it just got really distracting. I still enjoyed the cigar it was just more trouble then I would have liked, especially in an indoor environment. If I could get these without the construction issues I would be more then willing to smoke them again.
I haven’t had the construction problem, but this cigar can sneak up and kick your ass if you’re not looking.
– Zman
Nice review. My experience with the LFD line has been that construction problems are quite rare and burn problems nearly non-existent. I had a Torpedo a week ago that was so tight that my ears popped while sucking on it, but I can’t remember another case of that. Stick one in the humidor for two weeks and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
LFD’s Ligero line is my favorite overall line of cigars, but I would specify the Oscuro wrapper instead of the lighter one. I’ve probably smoked a couple dozen Ligeros over the last year or so, and have had construction problems only once–with a batch of L-500s I received for my birthday. They seemed to be too humidified and, as a result, the first two of the three were quite tight on the draw. I left the third one in my humi for some extra time and at this point, I can’t remember if I smoked it or not. That one problem seems to have been an aberration, though, as I don’t recall any draw problems before or since. Without wanting to sound like an LFD rep, the quality of their smokes is usually extremely consistent and their product line contains several of my absolute favorite sticks (besides the L-500, I would include the Coronado, DL-Lancero, DL-Chisel & Chiselito).
Sounds like the Alec Bradley Tempus burn and construction issues . . .
I recently had the wrapper completely fall off my box press III, utter dissapointment because the cigar tasted great!
I have had a few similar problems with the ligero, but not very often. I prefer the double ligero anyway.
hmm… what humidity does the shop owner keep the sticks at?
With the ligeros i’ve had some probles, but with the double Ligeros Never, stil i smoke them regulary bouth.
Right now am in the meddle of a Chisel…
Side note- just smoked another one about 3 or 4 days ago and I am happy to say I only had minor burn issues.
Oh and thanks to walt for posting this on the front page
i want to try the double!
I have to agree that this cigar was too loosly packed – and all the cigars in the box at my loca B&M store felt the same. I constantly had to stay on top of this stick with strong double draws which in turn increased the nicotine effect, which in turn affected the taste. Antoher stick I had to offer it to the Yard Gods half way through. $6 wasted.
Go for the Chiselito Double Ligero. You can punch cut a hole near the tip on the top and get a different type smoking experience that bathes the pallate first. Or…just clip it. Either way the Chiselito is a consistenly good smoke in my experience. You may have to do a minor burn correction at the start, but usually these burn great and give a lot of smoke belying their seemingly smaller profile.
The tastes are usually pretty spicy and settles into a chocolately goodness with a nice clean seasoned cedar finish that leaves no bitterness or off tastes. I call this an “artisan” stick because it is a top shelf “smoker’s” type stick and it comes in at a reasonable price. Even though it is smaller than I usually smoke it gives me the complexity I crave and lasts maybe 45 minutes to an hour. Really recommended.
Just had one of these tonight. Wow, what a nice cigar! No draw issues, lots of aromatic smoke. I was expecting it to be stronger, but it was rather nice without being overpowering. Flavor was very full, too.
The LFD Ligero is right now my favorite cigar. Out of the last 8 of these I smoked I never had a draw issue. One of them had a wrapper unravel during the last third. They burn forever and start spicy and end up chocolatey. The last one I smoked had a perfect ash that was half the length of the cigar. My kids kept telling me to knock the ash. It sounds like you may have been taking them from a bad box or they were overly humidified. They are a firm cigar but I have never had to draw too hard.