Cigar: El Museo by La Flor Dominicana
Website: www.laflordominicana.com
Vitola: 6 3/4 x 52 Churchill
Filler: Dominican
Binder: Dominican
Wrapper: Dominican
Price: $30.00

Pre-light Appearance and such:

First of all, I would like to dedicate this review to Jerry Cruz and congratulate him on the birth of his daughter today. Congrats! Also, I need to let you know that I received this cigar as a gift from one of the employees at Jack Schwartz Importer here in Chicago. Their website can be found at www.jackschwartz.com.

This cigar, the El Museo is a joint venture between Litto Gomez and La Flor Dominicana cigars and Cuban-American artist Ruben Toledo. Mr. Toledo and La Flor Dominicana created this cigar and packaging to benefit New York City’s Latin American Museum; El Museo del Barrio.

The white box is adorned with a silhouette of a Latin Mambo dancer holding a cigar/cigarette who is accompanied by a butterfly and some plants as well. Ruben Toledo said of his design that “It’s an homage to the woman I love, an homage to the perfume of the woman and the magical web of charm they spin, much like the curl of cigar smoke itself.” The band is a nicely designed one that resembles a woman’s face made of palm trees and leaves.

The cigar was produced in a very limited quantity of only 2,000 boxes of 24 cigars and retails for $30 a stick and $600 per box. The blend of the cigar is of all Dominican tobaccos. The binder and filler are grown on the La Flor de Palma farm in the Dominican Republic, while the wrapper is Dominican leaf grown elsewhere.

The cigar has a very beautiful appearance; the wrapper is a nice toothy one that has the color of a milk chocolate. It has lots of small veins on this particular stick and one larger vein running down the back of the cigar. The cigar is packed full with no hard or soft spots anywhere. It is also finished with a beautiful Cuban style triple cap.

The aroma of the wrapper is of a rich natural tobacco with a hint of spice and coffee. The pre-light draw is absolutely perfect and gives the flavor of a subtle spice with a naturally sweet tobacco note. Judging by the pre-light inspection, this is a very well constructed cigar and should prove to be a rich, smooth and fairly complex smoke. Let’s light it up!

First Third (time: 45 minutes)

After lighting up the cigar, there is a very very good draw that produces a fair amount of smoke on the palate, and a lot of resting smoke. The burn in this third is nearly perfect with a small thin black burn line. The ash is very compact and strong, as it holds to the beginning of the second third before it dropped on my laptop. Ugh.

The flavors in the first third start off with a very subtle spice, that is accompanied by a smooth earthiness. These initial flavors are followed by a very rich natural tobacco note and a few hints of leather and a very subtle natural sweetness. When retrohaled, there is a very complex herbal flavor, that I can’t quite pick out. The aroma of the smoke is a very floral and pleasant. The body in this third is well within the medium range.

Second Third (time: 55 minutes)

As I continue into the second third of the El Museo, the draw is still perfect and produces a large amount of smoke on the palate. There is also a ton of resting smoke billowing from the ash. As for the ash itself, it is still very compact and shows the toothiness of the wrapper leaf. It dropped for the first time at the beginning of this third, but continued to be both compact and strong, only dropping again when I bumped in while setting it down.

The burn is still extremely even and presents itself with a thin black burn line. The flavors in this third have shifted quite a bit. The main flavor is a very smooth leathery/rich natural tobacco taste. The notes of herbal and floral flavors have picked up a bit and are now the secondary flavors. There is also a note of a naturally sweet tobacco followed by a toasty and floral finish that sits thickly in my mouth. As I continue in this third, all of the flavors have become more full and rich as a whole. The aroma of the smoke is a thick smoky floral smell. The body in this third has picked up quite a bit, but is still within the medium range.

Final Third: (time: 45 minutes)

Into the final third, the draw is still perfect and produces tons of smoke, as well as lots of resting smoke. The burn is still mostly even with the occasional waviness that corrects itself quickly. The ash is still an even gray tone and stayed very compact and strong until the end.

The flavors have shifted once again and are now predominantly a very rich and toasty earthiness followed closely by a rich natural tobacco flavor. There is still a note of the leather that was more dominant in the previous third. There is also a note of the herbal flavor that I still can’t pin point accurately.

The aroma of the smoke is still very pleasant and presents itself as a nice floral smell. The retrohale gives a slightly spicy herbal flavor. This is the first spiciness that has been more than a very subtle note. The body of the cigar has picked up a little and finishes in the lower range of full.

Final thoughts:

After about three hours of smoking this cigar, I would have to say that at first I wasn’t very impressed, but as I continued further into the stick, the body and flavors picked up a lot and ended as a very nice rich and fairly complex cigar. Overall, I really enjoyed this cigar. The biggest problem I have with this is the price point. At $30 per single, I think you may be better off getting any of the Limitado cigars that La Flor Dominicana produces.

I feel lucky that it was gifted to me, otherwise, I may feel much differently about this particular cigar. Finally, I would like to, once again, congratulate Jerry on the birth of his little Petit Corona. This is my celebration for you Jerry. The best of luck to you, Jerry!

Like it: Yes
Smoke it again: I would if I could find it for less or it is gifted to me a second time.
Recommend it: Definitely, if you can find them and can afford them: do it. It is well worth it at least once. If not, just be happy with the rest of LFD’s cigar lines.