Flor de las Antillas Maduro Toro Staff Review
Flor de las Antillas Maduro was the follow-up to the original Flor de las Antillas – Cigar Aficionado’s ‘#1 Cigar of the Year’ in 2012 – and today, I’m smoking it in a popular 6 x 52 Toro. The cigar is blended by the renowned Garcia family, makers of the My Father brand. Family patriarch Jose ‘Pepin’ Garcia had been making waves with critics and cigar lovers in the years leading up to the release of Flor de las Antillas, and the Maduro version was a logical evolution of the original blend given its prestigious reception.
Pepin Garcia’s mastery of cigar-making arises from his Cuban upbringing and decades of experience blending and rolling many of Cuba’s finest brands prior to his arrival in the States, in the early 2000s, and the establishment of his extensive growing and production operations in Nicaragua. His path to success was forged with great effort and an unmistakable passion for tobacco. He dutifully passes his expertise onto his children, Jaime and Janny, who carry much weight in running the My Father brand today. Flor de las Antillas Maduro is but one example of the family’s natural talent for creating cigars of immeasurable consistency and taste.
What sets Flor de las Antillas Maduro apart is its luxurious and oily Cuban-seed wrapper, which is grown in Ecuador. It gives off a sheen similar to cacao dark chocolate. The soft box-pressed cigars are packaged in slightly darker cedar boxes than the original Flor de las Antillas blend, but both are finished with the same ornate cigar bands and box labels that depict a Renaissance scene in beautiful autumnal colors. An aroma of earth and dried fruit erupts from the box the moment you open it. A row of seamless Toros shows off uniform color as I select the perfect specimen for today’s tasting.
A clean snip to the cigar’s triple cap sets up its initial flavors of toast, wood, cocoa, and baking spices as I spin the cigar in my mouth and fire it up. Unsurprisingly, the construction, draw, and perfect burn of Flor de las Antillas Maduro reflect the impeccable standards of other classic My Father cigars I’ve smoked in the past. Beneath the wrapper is a well-aged core of premium Nicaraguan tobaccos cultivated on farms the Garcias have been planting for years. Creamy and rich clouds of smoke penetrate the eaves in the garage as I recline in my lawn chair while a slight breeze presses through the open door. Although I’m partially inside, no one ever complains when I’m smoking a high-quality, well-aged cigar made by the Garcias.
Flavors of butterscotch and cocoa layer the palate past the halfway point. An intriguing note of anise comes into play and contributes more complexity to an already delectable profile. Peppery notes of cocoa and hickory continue to make an impression while a long sweet finish unfolds. It’s easy to savor Flor de las Antillas Maduro past the nub to pick up the cigar’s intense but balanced finale. It’s a perfect cigar to smoke with an old bottle of bourbon or rum. The profile is medium to full-bodied by the time I reach the end.
The proof is in the pudding when you’re in the mood to smoke another premium hit made by Pepin Garcia. Put Flor de las Antillas Maduro on your radar with other high-end handmades like My Father Le Bijou 1922, My Father the Judge, and Don Pepin Garcia Original. We’ve got plenty of samplers curated with Pepin’s finest to consider, too, if you just can’t decide which cigar sounds best. A couple of my favorites are the Pepin Garcia ’94-97 Rated’ All-Star Sampler and Pepin Garcia ‘Heavenly Blends VIII’ Sampler. Stock your humidor before summer is officially here. Enjoy!
