At last year’s IPCPR trade show, La Flor Dominicana released La Flor Dominicana | La Volcada. The name pays tribue to Uruguay’s tango. Litto Gomez was born in Spain but actually grew up in Uruguay where the tango was said to originate, although some say it was Argentina.
This cigar was reviewed blind (no bands) by a panel of at least 4 reviewers. They did not know what they were smoking beforehand. The scores are an average of all the reviewers' scores with outliers removed. All of our cigars reviewed are shipped to the panelists with Boveda packs to ensure optimal smoking experience.
La Volcada comes form the Spanish verb volcar which translates roughly to “tip over.” This move is where the leader causes the follower to lean forward, swinging the leg.
La Volcada comes in one size, a 7 inch by 48 ring gauge Churchill. The blend uses a dark, San Andrés wrapper with a coiled cap. The filler was all grown on Gomez’s farm in La Canela, Dominican Republic, while the binder is Ecuadoran Corojo. Each cigar has a suggested retail price of $12.
La Volvada is a regular production cigar. It comes in boxes of 20 and has a black, red and white band that features a silhouette of a tango dancer performing the volcada move. The silhouette looks a lot like the bullfighter found on their release from the years before Andalusian Bull.
“The first third started very well. The profile was rich with a good amount of barnyard, leather, and a nice bold white pepper finish. The ash was thick and white and the smoke bellowed out of the foot. As the first third continued, the burn was tremendous and ran perfect throughout.” –Steve (ThaGreatWazoo)
“On the intial light rich cedar immediately hits the palette. After a minute or two chocolate creaminess jumps in the fray with a bit of baking spices, a true cafe choco’late, bold in flavor with a little kick in strength.” –John A. (Bostoneo)
“Flavors continued to ramp up through the second third revealing a full flavor stick. The cigar also continued to smooth out and lost all edginess and became silky smooth to smoke by the mid point. The pepper notes that were on the finish of each puff during the first third disappeared and were replaced with oily leather type notes. ” –Dave W. (mdwest)
“The second third transitions quite well. The majority of the barnyard, leather, and white pepper profile is still present with a little added char. The char is not overwhelming, but gives off a really nice taste that complements the profile. The cigar is burning slow, but I am really not mad at that right now. Just sitting back, watching tv, and enjoying this stick.” –Steve (ThaGreatWazoo)
Final Third
Flavor: 93
Strength: Medium-Strong
Body/Complexity: Full
“The final third starts out with big bold beef jerky flavor, you can almost chew the smoke. A slight buzz is taking over my head, this has gotten rather strong, moma’s meatloaf couldn’t even buffer this one. As it burns down closer to the end a bitter chocolate flavor takes over as a base with some black coffee thrown in as it burns closer to its end. ” –John A. (Bostoneo)
“The cigar just kept getting better and better with every inch. By the final third there was an interesting change where the oily leather and cocoa notes that had been present since about the mid point of the smoke changed position, and leather became the flavor in the forefront of each puff, and cocoa moved to the finish. ” –Dave W. (mdwest)
Overall Impressions
Draw: 90
“The draw was very good on this cigar. I used a straight cut just past the pigtail and let it develop.” –Steve (ThaGreatWazoo)
Burn: 96
“Had to do no touch ups or relights. Close to perfect. ” –Matt (Mattehh)
Construction: 92
“From the build to the performance this cigar did not lack very many things. The construction was great with a nice added pigtail feature and the burn and draw were very pleasant and needed no attention during the smoking experience. This is exactly what I look for.” –Steve (ThaGreatWazoo)
“Wasnt a bad cigar the first and second third were kinda uninteresting but the last third was the gem to get to.” –Ryan H. (Ryan H.)
“Phew, after smoking this I need a nap… it was strong! Quite a bit of flavors going on at the start but this mellows out into a standard flavor profile as the pure strength of this smoke overwhelmed what other complexities there could have been. If you want a full full full flavored and nic buzz, hey try this out would ya? I enjoyed it, but not something I could smoke quite often!” –John A. (Bostoneo)
“Box worthy. Enough said. ” –Dave W. (mdwest)
“Overall this cigar was great. The draw and burn were close to perfect. The flavors were good and hit my sweet spot of what I look for in a cigar. The only con I have for the cigar was that it was one note. There was not much change or complexity. I was still happy with my experience and did keep me interested.” –Matt (Mattehh)
“I really enjoyed this cigar, but did not want to over rate it. The look and feel of this cigar were quite nice and the performance once it was lit was incredible. My only hesitation was the real lack of complexity in the profile. Please, do not get it wrong, this cigar was excellent, but it was so good that now I look back and wanted just a little more. Maybe a little bit more transition from the leather and barnyard flavors, but I only mention this because while I smoked it I was mesmerized. This cigar is worth everyone getting and smoking. I just enjoyed it so much, that I felt I needed to be a little bit picky to rank it any higher.” –Steve (ThaGreatWazoo)
Smoking Time (in minutes): 88
Reviewer
Apr
Aro
1/3
2/3
3/3
Draw
Burn
Const
Ovr
All
Ryan H.
85
95
90
90
90
88
88
88
88
John A.
93
95
92
90
88
95
95
88
90
Dave W.
95
88
90
95
95
88
95
95
95
Matt
95
95
95
95
95
97
97
97
95
Steve
93
88
90
90
93
90
95
92
93
To view the complete scores and notes, click here.
Blind Cigar Review: La Flor Dominicana | La Volcada
Summary
"Phew, after smoking this I need a nap... it was strong! Quite a bit of flavors going on at the start but this mellows out into a standard flavor profile as the pure strength of this smoke overwhelmed what other complexities there could have been. If you want a full full full flavored and nic buzz, hey try this out would ya? I enjoyed it, but not something I could smoke quite often!" -John A. (Bostoneo)
