As the name indicates, the Flor de las Antillas Maduro is a maduro version of My Father Cigars’ Flor de las Antillas line. Last month, New Hampshire based retailer Federal Cigar celebrated its 95th anniversary. As a part of the celebration, two cigars were featured. One of those two cigars was a shop exclusive from E.P. Carrillo called the E.P. Carrillo Federal 95th Anniversary Edition. The second cigar wss the Flor de las Antillas Maduro in the form of a box press torpedo. Recently I’ve had an opportunity to smoke the Flor de las Antillas Maduro Box Press Torpedo. Overall I found this to be a solid offering and one that satisfied my curiosity on what a maduro version of Flor de las Antillas would smoke like.

One can make the case that the Flor de las Antillas line has been one of the most successful for My Father Cigars. Flor de las Antillas was named Cigar of the Year by Cigar Aficionado for 2012. That original Flor de las Antillas is a Nicaraguan puro highlighted by a Sun Grown wrapper. Last year, for Federal Cigar’s 94th Anniversary, the maduro counterpart for this line made its debut in the form of a box-press  Petite Robusto. This year, a box-press torpedo for the Flor de las Antillas made its debut. At press time, both the Flor de las Antillas Petite Robusto and Box Press torpedo have been limited production releases – and both have only been sold at Federal Cigar. It’s a little unclear if this blend will ever go national and / or whether these two sizes will ever return. For now, Federal Cigar has been the only home for the Flor de las Antillas Maduro line.

Federal Cigar’s anniversary celebration has built up an impressive list of cigars that have been made exclusively available for the retailer. My Father Cigars (and the My Father Cigars factory) have played a significant role in these releases. We summarize them here.

• 90th: Tatuaje Federal Cigar 109 (Rosado and Reserva), Arturo Fuente Federal Queen B,  E.P. Carrillo Short Run 2010 No.4.
• 91st: My Father Le Bijou 1922 Federal Cigar 91st Cervantes (Broadleaf and Connecticut Shade *)
• 92nd: E.P. Carrillo Medalla D’ Oro, My Father Special F, Tatuaje 109 Federal 90th Redux
• 93th: Federal Cigar 93rd Anniversary Reserve No. 2 by Oliva
• 94th: Quesada Seleccion Espana Churchill, Flor de las Antillas Maduro Petit Robusto
• 95th: E.P. Carrillo Federal 95th Anniversary, Flor de las Antillas Maduro Box-Pressed Torpedo

* While the My Father Le Bijou 1922 Federal Cigar 91st Cervantes made its debut at Federal’s 91st anniversary celebration, the Cervantes (along with three additional sizes: Corona, Petite Robusto, and Grand Robusto) are now an on-going shop exclusives to Federal Cigar.

Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the Flor de las Antillas Maduro and see what this cigar brings to the table.

Blend Profile

My Father Cigars has not disclosed what type of maduro wrapper is used on the Flor de las Antillas Maduro. According to Federal Cigar, the Flor de las Antillas Maduro blend “retains the Nicaraguan in the binder and filler, but replaces the Nicaraguan sun-grown wrapper on the regular line with an unspecified “maduro” leaf.”

Wrapper: Maduro
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Country of Origin: Nicaragua (My Father Cigars SA)

Vitolas Available

For 2016, a total of 100 ten count boxes were produced of the Box Press Torpedo. In 2015, a single production run of the Short Robusto was also produced. Both the Torpedo and Short Robusto are box press cigars.

Torpedo: 6 1/8 x 52
Short Robusto: 4 1/2 x 50

Appearance

The wrapper of the Flor de las Antillas Maduro has a dark espresso color to it. I found the complexion of this wrapper to be smooth and oily. Any visible veins were on the thin side and the dark color does a good job at hiding the wrapper seams. I found the box-press itself to be firm with no soft spots.

The band to the Flor de las Antillas Maduro is the same as the regular production Sun Grown line.  The band contains the Flor de las Antillas signature portrait-like image that I describe as a cross between Italian Renaissance and old Cuban flair.  At the top of the band it says “Flor de las Antillas” in a classic red font.  Toward the bottom of the band it says “MY FATHER CIGARS” in a thin black font on a mint-colored ribbon.  On the right side of the band it (still) says “SUN GROWN” in a brownish font on a thin pale yellow rectangular field in landscape mode. There is also a red ribbon surrounding the wrapper on the foot of the cigar.

Preparation for the Cigar Experience

Prior to lighting up the Flor de las Antillas Maduro, I used a straight cut to remove the tip of the cigar. As what I do with most torpedo cigars, I used my Credo Special T cutter with the 36 ring gauge hole to get an ideal cut for this belicoso. I then moved on to the pre-light draw phase. The dry draw delivered a mix of earth, leather, and some cocoa. Overall I considered the pre-light draw of the Flor de las Antillas Maduro to be satisfactory. At this point I removed the footer ribbon, lit up the cigar, and moved on to the smoking phase.

Flavor Profile

The start to the Flor de las Antillas Maduro Torpedo delivered a mix of leather, cocoa, and white pepper. There also was a sweetness in the background that I could not put my finger on. Meanwhile on the retro-hale, I also detected an additional layer of white pepper.

During the first third of the Flor de las Antillas Maduro Torpedo, the leather and cocoa notes alternated in intensity. The cocoa notes became more prominent and toward the end of the first third it had a richer chocolate flavor. By this point, I identified the sweetness as a berry flavor. This berry, along with the white pepper remained secondary notes on the tongue.

During the second third, I found the cocoa and leather combination morphed to more of a classic black coffee note. During this stage, I found the white pepper increased, and too a lesser extent I got some additional berry sweetness.

By the last third, there was a significant increase in the white pepper – which was now the dominant note. The coffee and berry notes were now in the much more distant background. This is the way the flavor profile of the Flor de las Antillas Maduro Torpedo came to a close. The resulting nub was soft to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn and Draw

Overall I didn’t find the  Flor de las Antillas Maduro Torpedo to have the most elegant burn, but it performed well. The burn path remained straight from start. Despite some jaggedness on the burn line, I didn’t find this cigar needed an abnormal amount of touch-ups. The ash was on the firm side with only some very minor flaking along the way. The ash itself had a light gray color. The burn rate and burn temperature were both ideal.

The draw to the Flor de las Antillas Maduro Torpedo had a touch of resistance to it – something that I consider a positive. Overall I considered this an excellent draw.

Strength and Body

With the Flor de las Antillas Maduro Torpedo, I found it to have slightly more strength and body than the original sun-grown Flor de las Antillas. I assessed the strength as being medium from start to finish. While the strength did increase slightly, it didn’t get out of the medium range of the spectrum. Meanwhile the body of the Flor de las Antillas Maduro Torpedo also started out medium. Along the way, the body increased and by the second third it was in medium to full territory.

In terms of strength versus body, I assessed the body has having a slight edge over the strength.

Final Thoughts

The Flor de las Antillas Maduro Torpedo was an enjoyable smoke. This is one of those cigars you are going to want to sit back and savor as it will bring out a lot of the intricacies and nuances of of the blend. While every cigar will bring out its best smoked undistracted, when it comes to the Flor de las Antillas Maduro Torpedo, it seems amplified. I found this to be a good cigar now – with plenty of aging potential down the road.  It’s a different smoke than the Flor de las Antillas Sun Grown, so its going to come down to personal profile to see if you like this.

This is going to be a cigar I’d recommend for an experienced cigar enthusiast.  This also has potential to be a good cigar for a novice looking to graduate to something fuller. As for myself, this is a cigar I’d smoke again – and it’s worthy of a fiver.

Summary

Burn: Good
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: High
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium (1st Third), Medium to Full (Remainder)
Finish: Good
Assessment: 3.0-The Fiver
Score: 89

References

News: Flor de las Antillas Maduro Box-Pressed Torpedo Slated for Federal Cigar 95th
Price: $9.50
Source: Cigars Provided by Retailer
Stogie Geeks Podcast: Episode 187
Stogie Feed: Flor de las Antillas Maduro Box Pressed Torpedo by My Father Cigars
Brand Reference: My Father Cigars