Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano Maduro
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican
Size: 6 x 54 “Chisel”
Body: Full
Price: $13.00

Today, I am reviewing the La Flor Dminicana Oro Chisel Maduro.

Yesterday, I reviewed the Toro version of this blend. As we all know, shape and size can alter the effect of the end product. I don’t know if this cigar will be a double down of the Toro but I am ready to invest some time to find out.

Some of what I write will be repetitive of the Toro review, so if you read it, skip on by.

One thing I wasn’t able to find out was about the birthing of the maduro blend of the Chisel. Initially, the Toro came out in maduro and natural; but the chisel only came out in the natural blend. And, obviously, sometime later, the maduro blend was added to the Chisel shape. It must have been recently, because as I perused my search engines, I only found 15% of reviews of the maduro vs. natural.

The gimmick of the chisel shape is that you don’t need an instrument of death to open the cap. A mere squeeze of the cap and it opens like…well….er…it just opens.

The construction has the same exemplary standards as the Toro. Except for one seam that is clearly visible but in no danger of coming loose. The Colorado red color is gorgeous. The oil shimmers in the sunlight of my dining room table window.

The PR machine reports that the La Flor Dominicana Oro is a ramped up version of the Coronado blends. And by the way, I want to thank Garland and Atlantic Cigars for the kind gift of samples.

The stick is solid with lots of proper give to it. The black and gold cigar band is stunning along with the gold tubo it comes in. And of course, “Oro” in Spanish, means gold.

I love a tubo. I do not store the cigar inside of it, but rather remove the cigar from the tube, remove the cellos and into the humidor they go. I keep the tubos for when I take the cigars to a party or gathering and this allows me to show off and look like a financial wizard; a captain of industry.
I carefully squeeze the cap to get some fresh aromas to report.

I hear a definitive “pop” when I squeeze it and it opens nicely. Unfortunately, the cap does not remain open. It merely closes back up waiting for me to put my lips on it and puff. So I must count solely on the wrapper and the foot.

I smell a large dose of cocoa…the darkest of the darkest bittersweet baking type. A potent spiciness, that for some reason, was a weak contender in the Toro version. I had expected a blast of pepper but it was mild and even keeled the whole smoke. There is also leather and wood. And a very earthy smell.

Time to light up.
The first puffs are redolent with cocoa. Just like the aroma. And this time, the spice smacks me in the puss. Makes my eyes water immediately. Totally different than the Toro. The char line has that exact same wavy condition that the Toro had. I figure, just go with it. It never caused any serious issue.

And then the flavor profile begins to form a Conga line. There is some coffee, tobacco sweetness, a potent leather taste, and the earthiness; which in the Toro became the bedrock of the cigar.

The cigar quickly becomes very well balanced. Much sooner than the Toro. The Toro was also very complex vehicle. And the Chisel is going to follow in its footsteps; but I have a gut instinct that this stick will find a way to impress me even more.

Like the Toro, sweetness moves to the front of the pack. It is fruity. Instead of raisin, it seems to be red plum. The Toro had a major component of lemon zest. And it hit pretty Johnny on the Spot. The same thing is happening here; but instead, it builds slowly. It accentuates the plum by making it tart and sweet at the same time. Nice.

The draw is pretty good. A little bit tougher than the Toro because of the chisel end. I decide to clip just a tiny bit off of the cap to open it up. It’s clipped and makes a big difference. The draw is now perfect.

This cigar, like the Toro, has been sitting in my humidor for 2-1/2 months. So I expect good things from it. I was not let down on my expectations with the Toro.

The char line is just meant to be a little bit wavy. That’s all there is to it. It wasn’t meant to be razor sharp. But who cares. It never gets so out of line that it becomes a worry.

I always review first thing in the morning when I have the sun shining on the dining room wall and streaming through its window. The most perfect time of day for photos. And because I literally do it first thing, I generally don’t eat breakfast.

I paid the price for that yesterday with the Toro. The last couple of inches kicked my ass with the power of the gods. I was swimming in a sea of swarming simbas. This morning, I hope I alleviated that problem by forcing a big bowl of cereal down my gullet. We shall see.

The first third ends with a lot of finesse going for it. The flavors are nuanced and gentle. It has a might long finish and I get as much pleasure putting the cigar down and allowing my palate to soak up the flavor; as I do puffing on it. I sip on water which douses my palate and I can feel the report of the blast of flavors.

The second third starts with flavors coming more to the surface. That big ol’ red pepper is lying low, but is much stronger than the Toro; while in the same layer of flavors as the Toro. But the lemon zest component disappears.

The sweetness really carried the Toro; while here, it is both the sweetness and the cocoa. The sub flavors of plum, coffee, leather and earth act as the bedrock of the profile.

Litto Gomez sure knows how to blend a cigar. As a “B” list reviewer, I don’t get the chance to interview blenders and manufacturers. I’m sort of stuck in this netherworld of having these people be appreciative of my reviews but it never goes any further. I would love the chance to get into Mr. Gomez’ head.

Creaminess shows up just a tad bit into the second third. A flavor I did not see once in other reviews. Clearly, it is a flavor designed to show itself after some decent rest in one’s humidor. And as we all know, we reviewers want to be the first one on the block with a review of a new cigar. I gave that up long ago. I’d rather be the last to review it but try to have the most accurate description due to the length of aging I’ve allowed the cigar to have. Of course, there is a small amount of cigars in which a couple days of dry boxing…and they are rip, roarin’ ready to go.
A rock n roll story is called for at the end of the review…

The halfway point is smooth, baby, smooth. The spice has almost completely disappeared. The rest of the flavors remain at their pertinent levels. The cigar is very complex, well balanced and continues to have a long finish.

I enter the last third and the flavors just explode. There is no longer any sub level. It’s all riding on top like a surfer on a big wave. Flavors zoom by my palate like a fast moving tornado. Explosions of cocoa, creaminess, sweetness, plum, leather, and earth.

This stick has proven to have its own character separate from the Toro. Even though the blend is the same.

So far, the stick has remained at a classic medium body this whole time. The same occurred with the Toro. And then the last third saw a sudden turn to full bodied.

The flavors continue to be delicious. The character and finesse of the cigar continue to be impressive. The creaminess, coffee, and cocoa components are right on top. Mocha Java latte.

The Chisel is not as dynamic as the Toro. It is quibbling to say that. But the Chisel is a much smoother cigar taking its time on all fronts. The bowl of cereal has served me well. No shaky hands.

The strength really begins to kick in. Like hot lava pouring into the ocean. An explosion of two elements. Flavor vs. Power.

The sticks are sold in 5 packs in a very nice presentation box. I’ve seen the price as low as $56. If you want to treat yourself, this is a great way to do so without having to dish out the dough for an entire box. My recommendation is to let them rest as long as your will and discipline will allow. You will be rewarded handsomely.

The cigar finishes out with the power of Thor and the flavor profile of Zeus. The gods smile down upon this Oro blend. With some help from Mr. Gomez, of course.

Get yourself some when you can. Atlantic Cigars seems to have the best prices on these sticks. Good place to start your hunting trip.

And now for something completely different:
1974

We were mixing the “Live” album at Air Studios in London. It was a two studio facility owned by George Martin (The Beatles’ producer).
We were almost complete and the rest of the band rarely showed up for the nuts and bolts portion of the mix. I was there every day. First, because I wanted to learn, and second, I got fed. Stewart, the drummer, felt the same way. So on this one particular day, the huge studio consisted of the engineer and producer; and the two of us.

I’ve reported in earlier stories that in the other studio right next to ours, the soundtrack to the movie, “Tommy” was being mixed and produced. I got to meet Pete Townshend one night because he was next door sort of guiding all the production. He also knew our chick singer very well; as our band had been around a long time…since 1969.

One night, late, Stew and I sat in the huge booth of the studio. We were doing some woodshedding. He was playing on a little miniature kit he bought and I was playing direct through head phones so we wouldn’t distract the production team.

Pete took a break and came over to visit with us. He sat down, put on a pair of head phones and smiled. He ran out of the room and got his guitar and plugged in. The three of us sat on the floor in the back of the booth jamming. And then all of a sudden, Pete stopped and told us we need to grab a vocal booth.

The vocal booth was about 10 feet square and was big so that there would be an organic reverb. It had removable panels of pie tins to aid in the reverb effect.

We got our gear into the room. Removed the panels to outside. And Pete told his production team to record what we were doing. Yes. Pete had the power to stop production on Tommy and divert it to a jam session in a closet.

Pete asked us to begin with what Stew and I were noodling with on the floor. He jumped in and holy shit! I felt I like I was in The Who.

Only Stew and I liked to play funky. A genre of music that had barely made it across the Atlantic Ocean from America and everyone was digging it. Pete loved it. He knew Jeff Beck had found himself a funky American rhythm section and was recording albums in this new style. That’s what Pete wanted to do.
So the Tommy production came to a sudden halt. We spent the hours between midnight til dawn playing our asses off. We didn’t do cocaine back then…just smoked hash. But instead of being drowsy, we were liberated. And energetic. What we didn’t know was that Pete was going through his heroin stage at that time. Yet, he didn’t act like it. He left a couple times for the loo and came back re-invigorated but we gave no thought to it.

Around 6am, we were spent. Totally exhausted and excited at the same time. I was a Southern California boy who was actually spending time with one of rock’s icons playing music together. I couldn’t wait to tell my friends back home.

I asked if I could have a copy of what we recorded and Pete said no. He didn’t want to see any of this bootleg stuff on the airwaves or sold secretly. I understood. But he did make one concession. He promised to mix the jam session down to its important parts, mix it, and then give me and Stew a copy. I smiled from ear to ear.

Stew and I went out for breakfast. We were so excited we could hardly eat.

The next night, we saw Pete for just a few minutes. The record label was angry that they spent an entire evening’s cost of the studio and nothing got done. So he had to focus on Tommy.

But he told us in a whisper, that wouldn’t it be nice if we could turn this into a side project for all of us. HOLY CRAP! I just kept nodding like a bobble doll.

I didn’t even care if I got paid. To be in a power trio with the legendary Pete Townshend was beyond belief.

And then…nothing…Pete didn’t have time for us anymore. He was struggling with finishing Tommy on schedule. And he was high on heroin.

Some informed sources told Stew and I about this and that we shouldn’t take anything Pete said as concrete. He was high all the time.

So, the power trio side project never happened. I never got my copy of the jam session. And I was depressed after being on such a huge high.
But ladies and germs, I still have the memory.

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS