La Flor Dominicana TAA 50 Oro Tercera Edicion Maduro
La Flor Dominicana TAA 50 Oro Tercera Edicion Maduro

 

In 2021, La Flor Dominicana would release a pair of cigars as a part of the 2021 Tobacconists Association of America (TAA) series, the La Flor Dominicana TAA 50 Oro Tercera Edicion Maduro. When I look at companies that have put a lot of effort into making a TAA Exclusive cigar, La Flor Dominicana has to stand at the top. In 2018, for the TAA’s 50th anniversary, La Flor Dominicana created a cigar known as the The Golden Anniversary. Since then, there have been several extensions of that release – one of which is the La Flor Dominicana TAA 50 Oro Tercera Edicion Maduro.

The TAA Exclusive Series consists of cigars made by leading manufacturers that are exclusively sold at TAA member retailers. The TAA is a small group of retailers. At press time the number of retailers is approximately 80. The TAA describes itself as:

The Tobacconists’ Association of America, Ltd. is a trade organization established in 1968 by visionary retail tobacconists. By providing education, communication, research, advocacy, and member discount programs, The TAA works with our members and the industry they support to offer the tools and relationship building opportunities needed to maximize professionalism and success.

2021 TAA Exclusive Series

There are 15 cigars released for 2021 as a part of the TAA Exclusive Series:

The following have been the La Flor Dominicana TAA Exclusive Series offerings:

As mentioned, 2018’s Golden Anniversary was created for the TAA’s 50th anniversary – and that was released in a box-pressed torpedo. In 2019, the “Segunda Edicíon” was created. The Segunda Edición blend was issued in a box-pressed Toro. A Nicaraguan Sun Grown Maduro-wrapped offering was also introduced to go alongside the Natural (Nicaraguan Sun Grown Offering). The releases that followed also came in the Natural and Maduro offerings. The Tercera Edition would feature La Flor Dominicana’s signature Chisel cap, and the most recent (at press time), The Golden Salomon features the two blends in a large Salomon offering.

Without further ado, let’s break down the La Flor Dominicana TAA 50 Oro Tercera Edicion Maduro and see what this cigar brings to the table.

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

The La Flor Dominicana TAA 50th Tercera Edición Maduro consists of a Nicaraguan Sun Grown Maduro wrapper over Dominican tobaccos for the binder and filler. The filler includes the Dominican Criollo ’99 tobacco.

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Sun Grown Maduro
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican, including Criollo ’98
Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
Factory: Tabacalera La Flor

Vitolas Offered

Both the La Flor Dominicana TAA 50th Tercera Edición Natural and Maduro offerings come in one size – a 6 1/2 x 58 box-pressed vitola featuring La Flor Dominicana’s signature chisel cap.

Appearance

The Nicaraguan Sun Grown Maduro wrapper of the La Flor Dominicana TAA 50 Oro Tercera Edicion Maduro had a rich chocolate color to it. There was some darker mottling visible on the surface. The surface of the wrapper had some oil on it. There were some visible veins on the surface. There also were some minimally visible wrapper seams.

The La Flor Dominicana TAA 50 Oro Tercera Edicion Maduro had a soft box press to it. The cigar features La Flor Dominicana’s patented chisel tip. This is a wedge-like head on the cigar – that pretty much looks like the head of a chisel tool. There is a slight amount of tapering on the cigar to that wedge tip.

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw

A very thin straight cut was used to remove the cap from the chisel head of the La Flor Dominicana TAA 50 Oro Tercera Edicion Maduro. Once the cap was removed, it was on to the pre-light draw experience. There were coffee, cedar, and a slight amount of floral notes present. Even with the floral note, the cigar still delivered an excellent pre-light draw experience. At this point, it was time to toast up the footer of the La Flor Dominicana TAA 50 Oro Tercera Edicion Maduro and move on to the smoking phase.

Tasting Notes

The La Flor Dominicana TAA 50 Oro Tercera Edicion Maduro started out with notes of mocha, cedar, earth, and a slight amount of red pepper. The mocha notes were a fusion of coffee and chocolate notes. The mocha notes moved to primary early on with the cedar, red pepper, and earth settled in the background. There was an additional layer of cedar on the retro. Toward the end of the first third, the coffee notes became more dominant in the mocha component.

As the La Flor Dominicana TAA 50 Oro Tercera Edicion Maduro moved through the second third, the mocha notes had split apart with the coffee in the forefront and the chocolate notes in the background with the pepper, cedar, and earth notes. During the second third, the cedar, pepper, and earth notes increased in intensity with the chocolate notes diminishing. By the midway point, the chocolate notes dissipated. In addition, some pepper made its way into the retro-hale, and some grassy notes also emerged.

The last third saw the pepper and earth join the coffee in the forefront. There were still some grassy notes in the background. This is the way the La Flor Dominicana TAA 50 Oro Tercera Edicion Maduro came to a close. The resulting nub was soft to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn

On each of the samples of the La Flor Dominicana TAA 50 Oro Tercera Edicion Maduro, multiple touch-ups were needed to maintain a straight burn path. In particular, as the cigar progressed, the touch-ups would be more frequent. The resulting ash was silver-gray with some dark speckles. The ash itself wasn’t overly firm, but wasn’t loose nor flaky either. As for the burn rate and burn temperature, both maintained ideal levels.

Burn of the La Flor Dominicana TAA 50 Oro Tercera Edicion Maduro

Draw

Normally I like a little resistance on the draw, but in the case of the La Flor Dominicana TAA 50 Oro Tercera Edicion Maduro, the draw was a little snugger than I prefer. The cigar didn’t get plugged nor require re-lights, but it did require more work to get flavors than I prefer.

Strength and Body

The La Flor Dominicana TAA 50 Oro Tercera Edicion Maduro started out with medium to full strength, and medium to full-bodied flavors. Both the strength and body increased in intensity. The strength increased at a faster pace and by the second half, the La Flor Dominicana TAA 50 Oro Tercera Edicion Maduro was in full-strength territory.

In terms of strength versus body, the strength had a slight edge over the body.

BANDING AND PACKAGING NOTES

The banding on the La Flor Dominicana TAA 50 Oro Tercera Edicion Maduro is something that is very worthy of a TAA cigar. The primary band is the gold LFD band that is seen on La Flor Dominicana’s Oro line. The secondary band is also gold and is unique to the series of La Flor Dominicana 50th cigars. This secondary band features the TAA’s 50th-anniversary logo.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

First up, bravo to La Flor Dominicana for this TAA release. It’s clear that effort and hard work were put into this release. Overall, it’s really nice to see one of La Flor Dominicana’s signature shapes make its way into

The La Flor Dominicana TAA 50 Oro Tercera Edicion Maduro wasn’t the highest-scoring La Flor Dominicana TAA cigar, but this was still a good cigar. Coming in at 89 points, this has scored better than most TAA cigars as of late. At $23.10, this isn’t an inexpensive cigar, so you may want to first try a sample and see if this cigar is a fit for you.

Summary

Key Flavors: Mocha (Coffee, Chocolate), Earth, Cedar, Grass, Pepper
Burn: Very Good
Draw: Very Good
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium to Full (1st Half), Full (2nd Half)
Body: Medium to Full
Finish: Very Good

Rating

Value: Try a Sample
Score: 89

REFERENCES

News: n/a
Price: $23.10
Source: Purchased
Brand Reference: La Flor Dominicana

Photo Credits: Cigar Coop

Note: Wrapper and vitola information has been corrected shortly after publication