Vitola: Corona- 5.625” x 46 ring gauge
- $7.99
- Purchased at Burns Tobacconist
Background
My Father Cigars debuted the Flor de las Antillas blend in 2012. It went on to win a big lifestyle magazine Cigar of the Year award soon thereafter and has been a mainstay of nearly every decent-sized cigar shop in the country ever since. In the intervening time there have been a couple new regular sizes added to the roster, as well as some store and regional exclusives, and a Maduro release to celebrate an anniversary for Federal Cigars in New Hampshire. That blend went over so well that the company decided to release it in several vitolas nationwide.
According to an article I found (that same lifestyle magazine that named it a #COTY), the filler/binder blend for the Maduro is pretty much the same as that used for the sungrown-wrapped version, though tweaked some to work better with the new Ecuadorian Habano Maduro wrapper. They shipped 5 sizes in November, including the Corona vitola that I elected to use for review purposes.
I smoked one of these “right off the truck” and found it lacking…something…and it also serves as a reminder to not smoke cigars within hours of them getting off the road. A couple weeks later I smoked another and found it much better and I decided to pick one up for review. I bought all the cigars I smoked during this review cycle at Burns.
Prelight
The band and box for the Flor de las Antillas Maduro is pretty much the same as that used for the regular release. The main band is actually so original that it still says “Sun Grown” on the part where the tabs are glued together. With all the companies trying to get new bands done to put on product to ship before the FDA dooms-date, this isn’t really all that surprising, though. The secondary band, rendered in red, cream and gold adds the “Maduro” statement, thought the very dark wrapper would probably do that well enough on its own.
And that wrapper leaf is dark. It was the color of dark chocolate or french roast coffee beans…a deep, rich brown with a very oily touch to it and a ripe earthy quality mixed with notes of cedar and cocoa powder. The foot had a stronger cocoa powder note, along with coffee and faint earthiness.
After cutting the end with my favorite Xikar Xi cutter, I got an excellent draw that had tons of sweet chocolate flavor, along with touches of wood, coffee and earth.
Flavor
Lighting up the Flor de las Antillas Maduro brought out a stout earthiness, followed on by notes of espresso bean and unsweetened cocoa powder, along with touches of dried berries, cedar and red pepper on the finish. The retrohale was almost excessively peppery with a healthy amount of cedar in the smoke there, as well. The first third continued on in pretty much the same manner, though the pepper did fade after the first 15 minutes or so.
The second third sale the coffee and cocoa powder notes diminish a bit while the earthiness continued at full strength. Dried fruit was still a lingering bit on the end of each puff, providing enough sweetness to balance the profile.
In the last third, I picked up on some anise in the predominantly earthy mix. Cocoa powder and coffee bean still played an important part in the flavor, but pepper spice had all but disappeared.
Construction
I had to make a few minor touch-ups, but nothing out of line for a Maduro. The draw was excellent and the ash was as solid as I could ask for.
Value
Like the regular Flor de las Antillas, this Maduro version is priced at a very reasonable rate for the experience it delivers.
Conclusions
The Flor de las Antillas Maduro is not the most complex cigar to come out of the My Father factory, but it is a very good blend that I enjoy more than the regular blend for the most part. I like the increased body and strength, along with the added sweetness the Maduro wrapper brings to the party. Overall, this Corona size plays very much like the MAM-13 size that we sell at Burns, but with a sweeter, fuller profile…and that’s a good thing.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
