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La Flor Dominicana El Museo

B

BrooksW

New Member
Joined
May 23, 2009
Messages
142
Location
Dallas Texas
Let me set the scene.

You know how bored you get when you go to get your tires rotated, and the tire people find "a little problem" with one of your tires, and it will be "just a quick second" to check it out, and you wait and wait and wait and wait and wait while pretending to look through a Time magazine that is 5 months old and your ass is falling asleep on those hard chairs that look like they belong back in 1984?

Roll that feeling up into a leaf and smoke it, and you have the El Museo, the new (and expensive) cigar from La Flor Dominicana.

First, the background on the stick. The El Museo is a Limited Edition that is a Churchill-sized cigar measuring 6 3/4 inches by 52 ring gauge. It was created in conjunction with Cuban-American artist Ruben Toledo, whose artwork is featured on both sides of the lid of each box (and whose work has been published in Vogue, The New Yorker and Harper’s Bazaar), and also on each (VERY impressive) cigar band.

Some of the proceeds of each box will go towards renovating the El Museo del Barrio Museum...There will be 2000 boxes selling for $600 each.

* Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
* Wrapper: Dominican Republic
* Binder: Dominican Republic
* Filler: Dominican Republic
* Format: Churchill
* Size: 6.75 Inches
* Ring Gauge: 52
* Est. Price: $30.00 (no tax added)

elmuseo-big.jpg


It is a fairly dense stick, and when I first smelled the cigar, I got a really nice scent of cinnamon, but not overly much, just below the surface.

My first puff filled my mouth with tobacco and chocolate, but not much else...I was expecting to be hit with a blast of spice (it IS a LFD after all), but it was a very muted beginning...

elmuseo_1.jpg


The burn was nice and even the first third, and the ash was tight, holding on for dear life...

In the second 3rd, the chocolate disappeared, and I started to get the taste of some toasted nuts, but still no spice, and no real standouts in the flavor department...The smoke SMELLED great, but the cigar did not taste like the smoke, unfortunately...

elmuseo_2.jpg


So, by the last third of the cigar, I knew I had been had. I had spent the whole time (the cigar took about 1.5 hours to smoke, which is actually fairly quick for a cigar this size) thinking that at ANY MOMENT, that classic Litto Gomez taste was going to kick me in the balls, but I was disappointed. After the first half, I also had to touch up the stick 4 separate times, which I found odd, considering how well the cigar seemed to be made...

elmuseo_3.jpg


The last third was more of the same: Boring, Boring, Boring. No spice, no kick, no friggin FLAVOR. It was like I was smoking a cigar made out of clouds (the good ones, not the polluted ones)...Honestly, the thought that kept rolling through my head the entire time I was smoking it was that Kaizad Hansotia (owner of Ghurka Cigars) had released this, and not Gomez, and I am willing to bet that if you did a blind taste test with this and a mild Ghurka, you would not be able to tell them apart.

Some Final notes:

* The band on this cigar is unlike anything I have ever seen, it is really quite wonderful.
* I got some hints of Perfume at the nub of the cigar, but I am going to chalk that up to my taste starved mind looking for ANYTHING to latch onto while smoking this.
* I am extremely disappointed that a cigar that costs this much money can taste like it cost $4 (and I know quite a few $4 sticks that would knock this on it's ass)...I am filing this one in the "Could not possibly live up to the hype" folder.

The Bottom Line: I would have gotten more flavor if I had wrapped up 6 $5 bills and smoked them instead of this...Save your money. I give it a 70.

elmuseo_4.jpg


~brooks
 
Damn, $30 a stick, and that was all it had to offer!? Hopefully it was just a dud...

Sorry to hear you were that sorely dissapointed. I hope you promptly went and grabbed something else to rectify the waste of an a hour and a half? :(
 
I've never heard of a bad LF. That's pretty unfortunate. I've always been pleased with Litto's mixes.

Maybe the next one will be better.


Will-
 
How long did you have this stick, and in what conditions, before smoking?
 
MadMonk said:
How long did you have this stick, and in what conditions, before smoking?
Click to expand...

Hello!

I keep all of my sticks at 65/65 in a Vinotemp, and I store every cigar I review for at least two weeks before I review them, to give them time to adjust...

Hope that helps, and let me know if you have any other questions!

~brooks
 
Damn, sorry to hear this was just a big disappointment, guess this review will save me from wanting to try one.
 
I have smoked both the El Museo and their new $9.25 LFD Limited and I would definitally agree with Mr. Brooks review and would take the -$10 LFD over it ANY day.

The El Museo leaves you sitting there going.. what the hell did I just smoke and where is my $30!?

While the Limited brings La Flor's best to the taple and then knocks you off your feet!


-Brandon
 
Thanks for taking one for the team. What little interest I may have had in this smoke is gone now. (Not that I would ever pay that much $ for a cigar.)
 
Damned good review and welcome to CP!

Too bad about the stick, though. I've never even seen one of these before. Don't know what Litto was smoking when he authorized that band. Talk about lame! Still, don't write off a vitola based on one smoke. I look forward to hearing what others think about it. I'm a huge LFD fan.
 
I was lucky enough to be gifted one of these as a rider in a recent purchase. I thought I'd give it a try on my way to work this morning with my morning cup-o-joe. Now granted this is not your average LFD. It doesn't carry the typical Litto 'kick ya in the nutz' kinda profile as so many of his smokes do. It most certainly isn't a Chiselito, nor is it a Small Batch, but I honestly enjoyed the smoke. I would have to classify this one as probably one of the mellowist LFD's I have ever smoked. To me this was an enjoyable smoke. It burned well, I like the smell of the smoke, its very well constructed (although the wrapper feels weird, almost waxy), and it still didn't taste bad after coming back to it later in the morning for a re-light.

As far as the price tag, well I'd take an 80th any day. But in its defense,I mean you have to take into account it is a limited production smoke, there was obvious design cost for the artsy band, and a portion of the profit is donated. So taking that into consideration I'd probably buy a couple, but not a box. It seems a nice smoke to have for special occasion.

I guess the only thing I didn't like about this smoke was the fact that this was NOT an original review, but a copy and paste from elswhere. Maybe it just me, but I think reviews should be original material.

Art

**edit for spelling
 
mrrt said:
I guess the only thing I didn't like about this smoke was the fact that this was NOT an original review, but a copy and paste from elswhere. Maybe it just me, but I think reviews should be original material.

Art

**edit for spelling
Click to expand...
You mean copying the review from his own blog, which he wrote the review for, doesn't constitute as original?
 
I was talking about the post that was made word for word & pic for pic to puff-arella dot com only a few hours previous to this thread.

I guess my question would then be, if exact duplicate reviews are being posted to multiple sites only hours apart, wouldn't that constitute having an agenda of plugging/advertising ones website/blog?? I thought that was frowned upon here at CP.

Art

**edit to clarify .. maybe my choice of words shouldn't have been 'original review' but maybe a 'unique/non-duplicate review'.

**edit2 to add link - HERE is the puff link.
 
mrrt said:
I guess my question would then be, if exact duplicate reviews are being posted to multiple sites only hours apart, wouldn't that constitute having an agenda of plugging/advertising ones website/blog?? I thought that was frowned upon here at CP.
Click to expand...
I get your point. I remember another post that just linked directly to his review on his site with just an overview. And that was ground down real quick.
 
Sounds like you pay a whole lot for the box and band artwork and not a whole lot for the tobacco contained within.
 
It was a Really good smoke...but I just don't see it running with some of the big dogs in the 30$ range. I totally get the whole limited production, special artwork, unique blend thing...but I still dont see it in the top dollar range they want. I could easily see this in the 20$ range.

Art

**edit spell check
 
mrrt said:
I was talking about the post that was made word for word & pic for pic to puff-arella dot com only a few hours previous to this thread.

I guess my question would then be, if exact duplicate reviews are being posted to multiple sites only hours apart, wouldn't that constitute having an agenda of plugging/advertising ones website/blog?? I thought that was frowned upon here at CP.

Art

**edit to clarify .. maybe my choice of words shouldn't have been 'original review' but maybe a 'unique/non-duplicate review'.

**edit2 to add link - HERE is the puff link.
Click to expand...

I was not aware that I was only able to post reviews on one forum. :rolleyes:

I have a blog, that is true, but I post the ENTIRE review on each thread (with photos), so I am really not sure what you are bitching about.

Go to my blog if you want, otherwise, that is why I post the whole review.

~brooks
 
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