La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero Natural

Overall Score

1 review for La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero Natural

  1. DrFever

    La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero Natural

    Origin : Dominican RepublicLa Flor Dominicana
    Format : Chisel
    Size : 5.5 x 55
    Wrapper : Sun Grown Ecuadorian Sumatra
    Filler : Dominican Republic
    Binder : Dominican Republic
    Hand-Made
    Price : $8.75 each

    This vitola is named as such because of the unique cap that is shaped like the head of a chisel. In any event, the cigar is filled with Dominican Ligero tobacco, some of the strongest tobacco grown. The cigar’s name alone warns you to ready yourself for a powerful smoke and the company promotes the cigar with the “Eat before you smoke ‘em” tagline. Let’s see how this cigar measured up to my taste buds.

    Appearance : [rating:5/5]
    The dark brown Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper was expertly chosen and it shows. There were no defects on the cigar to speak of. The cigar was silky smooth with only slight veining and very tight and only slightly visible seams. It sported an elegant band featuring “LFD” (La Flor Dominicana) on a red and black band background with gold accents.

    La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero Natural

    Construction : [rating:4/5]
    The cigar felt nicely balanced in my hand, soft but not too spongy on inspection with a couple of lumpy spots noticed. It has a nicely applied “chisel cap”. Knowing where to cut this cigar is the trick as you don’t want it unwinding on you. My advice is to take off a little less than normal then snip a tad more above the cap line if you feel you need a little more opening. The cigar was tightly packed and the draw was a bit tight at the start but opened up nicely by the middle of the first third. It did need correction just past the halfway mark and a re-light before removing the band. The smoke output was tremendous. Lush clouds of smoke. The ash was firm, did not flake and held on for extended periods of time. Deductions were made for the touch ups, re-light and the lumpy spots that perhaps contributed to the uneven burn.

    La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero Natural

    Flavor : [rating:3.5/5]
    Pre-light aromas were of exotic spice, dark chocolate, leather and sweet cedar. The pre-draw offered up some sweet cedar, hints of dark tea and leather.

    On lighting the LFD I was overwhelmed with spice. I was not impressed. It was far too much spice to start the cigar that lingered in my mouth for a very long time making it extremely hard to actually discern any flavor. This overwhelming spice diminished about halfway through the first third. Once I got past that blast of heat I started to pick up hints of chocolate, dried fruit, tea and mild citrus.

    The flavors transitioned nicely from cocoa, sweet wood, tea, dried fruit and leather. The spice was always there in the finish but thankfully by the start of the second third and until just past halfway, it was a lot more tolerable.

    The second third leading into the final third continued to offer a nice mix between the aforementioned flavors. I actually found the Double Ligero sweeter as I smoked it. This helped a lot with balancing the still strong exotic type of spice that was in the finish. It had a very enjoyable salty/sweet residue on the lips and the smoke’s texture started out dry but became a bit more lush and velvety as I smoked it. It was never a honey-like thickness though. Still, there was that ever present pepper that did diminish but came back again near the final third.

    I continued to get flavors of sweet wood and leather with background hints of sweet cocoa, mild citrus and tea. Only once did I get a little bitterness best described as unsweetened coffee but certainly not anything harsh.

    By the time I removed the band I was really feeling the nicotine. This cigar is a power bomb. I did eat a hearty meal beforehand because I had heard these cigars could be quite strong. Perhaps too strong for my liking because smoking the final bit after removing the band simply became too much for me, a hardened cigar smoker. I was sweating and definitely had a nicotine rush. Not helping matters was the re-emergence of the overwhelming spice that had returned again in the final third, taking over the palate.

    I want to make something clear. The flavors (when I actually got to taste some) were fabulous. The cigar had great complexity and transitions. The problem was, there wasn’t enough coming through the spice. With less spice I would have scored this cigar higher.

    Value : [rating:3/5]
    $8.75 per stick is what I paid for this cigar in the United States. The LFD Double Ligero is not listed as a premium cigar but for non-Cuban prices it is not cheap for its size. I would not smoke another one because while I enjoyed the flavors once they got to shine through, the spice was simply too overwhelming as was the cigar’s strength.

    Overall Rating : [rating:3.75/5]
    I’ll be blunt. The La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero was far too spicy and strong for my liking and by the time the spice had diminished I had already been overwhelmed with either nicotine or a coating of spice on my palate that blocked most of the flavors. Getting distinguishable flavors became a real chore. However when the flavors were allowed to shine they were phenomenal. Not a horrible cigar at all but for my palate, too much heat and too much strength. I like them strong but this one was one of the strongest I have had in a while. At times it felt like smoking pepper or Jalapeno. I don’t want to spend this much on a cigar that requires me to fight with the spice to get enjoyment out of it. In my opinion, spice should be in a cigar to give it extra complexity, it shouldn’t be the feature.

    [sz]double ligero chisel[/sz]

    Helpful?
    0 0
    • DrFever

      As with all my cigars, I try to give them ample resting time before smoking them for review purposes. This one was purchasd in January of this year and smoked this month so it had a good 9 months in my humidor. I can’t tell you how long it was in the shop before I purchased it. I remember the box in the cigar shop being half empty when I bought it.

      My friend who travelled with me still has the one he purchased and I’ve agreed to trade with him. SO I will leave that one until the spring and perhaps do a follow up review at that point to see if these simply need resting time which might be the “fix” considering the strength of this cigar. However, I didn’t get any amonia so I’m thinking that it’s perhaps not the relative youth of this cigar but the strength that needs rest to mellow out a bit. One never knows though so I will submit observations when I smoke the next one IF I notice some mellowing of the spice with another 6 months of rest.

      Regards

    • Avatar photo

      Inspector

      That’s exactly what I thought (“it could use some age”). How much humidor time did this one have? I wonder what 6 months in the humi would do to this smoke.

    • Emmett

      Sounds like it could use some age.

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Cigar Region Dominican Republic
Filler Dominican
Wrapper Ecuador Sumatra
Binder Dominican Republic
Length 5 1/4
Ring Gauge 52
Vitola Parejo
Construction Hand Made