The Good Stuff:  We joined Anthony Cantelmo and Antonio Gomez from La Flor Dominicana while we were in Phoenix at Fox Cigar Bar for the annual FoxToberfest event. While they showcased a blend they made exclusively for the event, there was another stick I had my eye on. La Flor Dominicana’s Mystery cigar. Basically it’s an event only release which carries the same idea as Quesada’s Heisenberg by not releasing any information about the blend. It’s a cigar, and you smoke it. That is all. I love trying to trudge through all the different tobaccos in a blend and deciphering the impact on the experience, but I also love the mystery in not knowing what’s in a cigar. It gives you an excuse to just sit back and enjoy it instead of picking it apart. We picked up a 5 pack of these bad boys as they came with the purchase of the FoxToberfest blend box.

Here is the press release concerning the blend:

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Coral Gables, FL, Feb 11th, 2013 – La Flor Dominicana is proud to unveil its new event program for 2013. Known unofficially as the “Mystery Event,” it centers on an unreleased cigar called the “Mystery Cigar.

“The Mystery Cigar is a 6 ½ x 44 (Lonsdale) Maduro. This cigar will only be seen at select La Flor Dominicana Retailer Events throughout the country. The makeup of the cigar will remain a secret, although you can be certain there is a bit of Dominican Ligero from our farm in La Canela.

Consumers who come to the event can get a 5-pack of the Mystery Cigars when they buy a box of La Flor Dominicana cigars at the event. Retailers will also have a limited quantity of Mystery Cigars on hand during the LFD Events for purchase.

Another exciting part of our new promotion allows LFD box buyers to have an opportunity to win a trip to our LFD factory in Tamboril, Dominican Republic. Where they get to go behind the scenes and see how cigars are made.

Depending on the success of our new Mystery Cigar event it will also be coming again in 2014. Of course the natural question about this event is “will this years Mystery cigar go into production?” And of course the answer is “that depends on feedback from the smokers.” We love the new cigar a lot, but we would love to get consumer feedback as we test this new blend across the nation.

It is also unknown how many boxes will be released. I have seen these available in both 5-count and 20-count boxes and only in Lonsdale format.

Size: 6.5 x 44
Wrapper: Unknown
Binder: Unknown
Filler: Unknown
Body: Medium/Full
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $7.75
Pairing: Lagunitas Brown Shugga’ (American Strong Ale 9.99% ABV)

Prelight: First off, I absolutely love the size. I am a big fan of smaller ring gauge cigars and my two favorite formats are corona and Lonsdale. Throw in a boxpress the La Flor Dominicana did on this Mystery cigar and I’m sold! As an extra touch the slender body of the cigar leads up to an awesome rounded bunched cap. The wrapper on the Mystery cigar in very consistent, dark brown with a few darker areas and one or two larger veins running through the body. The wrapper leaf isn’t very oily, but it’s incredibly toothy and dense. The wrapper feels very, very hard and the rest of the cigar carries absolutely no soft spots. The Mystery cigar is polished off with the standard red, gold, and black “LFD” band.

I don’t get much aroma at all from the wrapper of the cigar but the foot on the Mystery gives off a very spicy, very oaty aroma. The cap cut extremely easy using my double bladed Palio cutter. The oaty aroma I picked up came through boldly in the cold draw with just dabs of spice and tobacco.

First Smoke: LFD’s Mystery cigar lit up quick and easily using my single flame torch. Right off the bat I was greeted with a huge lot of black pepper and spice. Once the pepper began to settle down the Mystery cigar started to show it’s true colors with some awesome cedar, spice, sweetness, a bit of brown sugar, and a neat little floral note on the finish. It’s not starting as bold as a lot of other La Flor Dominicana cigars out there, but it packs some great flavors. The draw was spot on. Each little puff produced the perfect amount of thick, white smoke. The burnline was a little rough, but nothing that needed any extra action from my torch. The ash left behind was a dark and medium gray. While it was pretty tightly compacted, because of the density of the format it only held on for about ¾ of a inch before falling into my ashtray.

Halfway There: Into the second third of this LFD Mystery cigar and the pepper has completely faded out while the spice is still in the mix over some tasty cedar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and again that floral finish. The flavors in this thing are great. The strength isn’t as full as I would normally expect from an LFD cigar either. It’s just a bit above medium and I am feeling nothing in terms of nicotine as I close out the second third. The burnline is still a bit chunky, but again, if I don’t have to fuss with it then it’s not bothering me.

Finish: The strength in the Mystery cigar started to ramp up into the final third. It’s still not a power house cigar, but I really enjoy having that extra “umph” in there. The flavors are still similar with the spice, brown sugar, and floral finish but in the final third some creamy, natural tobacco flavors began to mix in with the strong cedar creating a very smooth finish. I am feeling only a very slight nicotine kick, no harshness at all, and I never had to touch up or relight this cigar the entire hour and a half it took to take it down to the nub.

Overview: This is just another great cigar to add to the already stacked La Flor Dominicana portfolio. It’s not as bold as some other LFD’s but it makes up for that with some amazing flavors, and an incredibly smooth and enjoyable experience.  My only complaint is how difficult it is to get your hands on these cigars. There was plenty to go around during the event, but I fear I would have a hard time finding a box if I went searching for one (Which I just might). Outside of that, the price point, vitola, and overall great experience make for a very box worthy cigar that I would welcome into my daily rotation with open arms.

Pairing: I couldn’t think of a better beer to pair with the LFD Mystery cigar other than Lagunitas’ Brown Shugga’. As the name would suggest it’s packed with some great brown sugar sweetness while still carrying a bit of the hoppiness that Lagunitas is known for. I also picked up some great citrus, caramel, and lots of maltiness. You gotta love the ABV on this guy too coming in at a whopping 9.99%. I’m sure that sugar had a lot to do with that. Either way the flavors mended in perfectly with the cedar, spice, and sweetness from the cigar. It’s almost as if these two were made for each other.

The post La Flor Dominicana – LFD – Mystery Cigar appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Good Stuff: Eddie took on a huge feat when he decided he wanted to release the Wild Bunch series this year. 12 blends, in 12 months. That’s nuts, but Eddie pulled it off. Maybe he got bored, or maybe he just loves Cliff and the staff at Fox Cigar Bar. Whatever the case may be he decided to throw out another blend this year producing “The Fox”, an event specific blend for Fox Cigar Bar’s FoxToberfest.

This is a huge event into it’s second year for Fox Cigar Bar. Many manufactures and staff headed out this year to pay a visit including Eddie Ortega from Ortega Cigar Company, Jose Ortega from My Father, Jesus Fuego from J Fuego Cigars, Matt Booth from 101, Nish Patel from Rocky Patel, Fabian Ziegler from Drew Estate, Tony Gomez from La Flor Dominicana, Rafael Alejandro from Boutique Blends, Wes Thornton from the Crowned Heads, Clint Aaron from 262 Cigars, David Fraser from Xikar, Meera Levin from Ashton, Terence Reilly from Sag, Jeff Nolen from Oliva Cigars, and Glen Loope from CRA.  We’ll have more on the event later this week. Eddie was one of the manufacturers who created a blend specific for the event (Along with Rafael who created a Swag blend, and LFD). This isn’t just a spin off of any of his other blends, The Fox was created as it’s own blend completely separate for anything Eddie was already doing. I don’t have the specifics of the blend at this time, but I will update this post as they become available to me.

While this was slotted to be a limited release with only a handful of 5 packs produced, Cliff let me know that Fox Cigar Bar has since secured the blend and are looking on even extended the line in the future. What does this mean? Simply put, you can still get your hands on them, but only from Fox Cigar Bar. They may still have a few on hand, with more on the way. They run $39.99 per 5-pack and you can get yours by contact Fox Cigar Bar directly via email, Facebook, twitter, or by simply walking in the store.

Size: 6.5 x 38
Wrapper: Unknown
Binder: Unknown
Filler: Unknown
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $7.99
Pairing: Founder’s Breakfast Stout (Double Chocolate, Oatmeal, Coffee Imperial Stout 8.3% ABV)

Prelight: Ortega’s Fox starts off with a beautiful, dark brown wrapper. The wrapper showcases some darker webbing areas in the leaf as it seamlessly leads up to the cigars round, tailed cap. I love these little tails on the caps of corona/Lancero cigars. Adds so much character. Anywho, the cigar is very slim and slender so I was a bit worried about compressing it to see the strength of the tobacco, but the Fox holds it own and is actually incredibly firm to the touch. The wrapper is very thick and toothy. The cigar is polished off with a “Wild Bunch” style logo showcasing Fox Cigar Bar’s infamous Fox logo along with white words printed on the back: “FoxToberfest 2013 Cigar & Beer Festival Limited Edition Fox Cigar Bar”. Good stuff.

The Fox gives off lots of spice and chocolate aromas from the wrapper and a nice blast of pepper and spice from the foot. The Cap cut clean and easily using my double bladed Palio cutter. The cold draw produces a really sweet, leathery, syrupy draw. I get a bit of the black pepper from that as well.

First Smoke: The Fox leads off with a nice blast of black pepper which quickly faded away after the first few draws leaving behind lots of dark chocolate, syrup, natural tobacco flavors with a real neat floral aftertaste. The draw is just a bit tight, but nothing too concerning. In fact, I smoked three of these and all had a flawless draw except for this one. Anywho, it’s not plugged and really isn’t giving me much trouble so I’ll move on. The burnline is dead even and razor sharp leaving behind a brilliant trail of white and light gray ash which held on for only about ¾ of an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Halfway There: The chocolate has really started to pour out of Ortega’s “The Fox” into the second third. Most of the spice and pepper has dropped out and the cigar is burning with lots of sweetness, chocolate, espresso and still a bit of those floral notes I picked up in the first third. I am also happy to report after about the first inch the draw completely opened up and has been pumping out a ton of thick, smoke ever since. The retrohale on the Fox is actually quite satisfying coating my nasal passage with just a ton of chocolate and even a bit of cedar. The burnline is still dead even and razor sharp while I am feeling absolutely no nicotine at this point.

Finish: The Fox has began to mellow out and finished off with a creamy mixture of coffee and chocolate. The floral flavors have diminished and I can only pick up the spice on the aftertaste. Usually I tend to smoke Lancero faster than most vitolas leading towards some harshness built up here and there, but that wasn’t the case in any of the Foxes I smoked. Each one finished off very smooth and creamy leaving behind absolutely no feeling of nicotine. It took me about an hour and a half to take this one down to the nub.

Overview: It’s easy to see why Cliff was so excited to introduce “The Fox” to the cigar world. Eddie created yet another masterpiece. First off, I love the size, but that’s no secret. I’m a corona, Lonsdale, Lancero guy. But the blend itself is just great. Leading off with a bit of black pepper and spice, balanced out with a ton of sweetness, coffee, and chocolate before finishing off with lots of creamy, earth notes. Great experience all around. Add in a fantastic price point,  the great people at Fox Cigar Bar and 5pk packaging vs. full boxes and you got a winner. I would contact Fox Cigar Bar ASAP and get a few if you’re a fan of flavorful, balance, cigars. Or just a fan of Eddie’s work in general.

Pairing: I found the perfect pairing for The Fox. Founders Brewing Breakfast Stout. It’s a double chocolate, coffee, oatmeal Imperial stout. Seriously, read that again. Without even drinking the beer can you see why it’s a perfect pairing? Brewed at the Founders Brewery in Michigan this Imperial stout comes in at a whopping 8.3% ABV. So, we got chocolate, coffee, oatmeal, and high ABV? SOLD! Seriously it’s just as good as it sounds leading with a ton of chocolate with just a bit of coffee on the finish. Lots of malt, and caramel fill the gap in between the two dominant flavors making as close to a perfect stout as you can get. Now add the sweetness, coffee, and chocolate from Ortega’s Fox and you have a perfect, all-round balanced pairing.

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