Cigar Review: La Flor Dominicana, Grand Maduro No. 5

This La Flor Dominicana cigar is from their "Premium Line" (it says so right on the band!) and measures 6.25" by 52 ring. I got this cigar as part of the 10-pack at last month's LFD event at Burns in Chattanooga. I wanted to take the time to review this one because I have never had a cigar before from their "Premium Line" and wanted to see how it compares with the Ligero, Double Ligero and Coronado lines that I am very familiar with.

The appearance was smooth with a few larger veins. It was slightly oily to the touch, but also had that semi-velvety feel that you get with a Torano Exodus 1959. The aroma was a mix of black licorice, coffee and dried fruit, with just a little bit of barnyard mixed in. The box-press was a mild one, with just slightly rounded corners. As a matter of fact, the picture of this cigar on the LFD website does not even look like a box-pressed stick. The prelight draw was very easy and the flavors are more of dark chocolate and coffee. I wasn't thrilled with the aroma on prelight, but the prelight flavors got my interest and expectations back up.

After lighting, the initial flavors are of black coffee and earth with some black pepper and leatheriness on the finish. It struck me as a medium to full-bodied smoke right from the beginning and gave off a prodigious amount of smoke. During the first third, the cigar displayed mostly the coffee flavor while retaining the peppery finish. The body remained mostly in the high-medium range--definitely not a butt-kicker, but very nice.

During the the second third, the burn got a little unever and I had to touch it up a bit. The flavor got a little more on the earthy side, but some of the coffee flavor remained, too. The pepper spice had all but disappeared by this time. As I finished up the second third and head into the home-stretch, I am impressed by the construction: the draw remained perfect and the ash holds on for at least an inch. The flavors remained very consistent throughout the smoke, with just some minor variations on which ones were most prominent at different times.

Overall, this is a very fine cigar that would probably be most appreciated by the less-experienced smoker who wouldn't want the kick of the Ligero and Double-Ligero cigars and wouldn't distinguish the complexity they have either. My biggest beef with this one is price: it's really not complex or flavorful enough to justify the $8 to 9 per stick price tag.

Body: 7
Strength: 6
Complexity: 4

AFP Scale:
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 3/5
Value: .5/1
Total: 7.5/10