Cigar Review – La Flor Dominicana Airbender Guerrero

Today we had a respite from the ridiculous weather that’s become the standard for the last few weeks, and were finally able to enjoy a beautiful near-50-degree day. As such, I figured it was a worthy occasion for a top shelf smoke—that’s why I picked up the La Flor Dominicana Airbender Guerrero.

The Air Bender line, like several of La Flor Dominicana’s other lines, features an Ecuadorian wrapper leaf. This 6 ¼ x 54 toro glistened with oil as I removed it from the cellophane. Immediately I picked up aromas of cocoa and coffee before I even punched the cap. Pre-light didn’t stray too much from this initial profile, except that the dry cocoa formed into more of a sweet milk chocolate. Without further ado, it was time to light up!

The first few puffs delivered La Flor Dominicana’s signature spice rush, which gave way to sweet chocolate, caramel, and red pepper that reminded me distinctly of cayenne. The burn was remarkably good for 54-ring-gauge cigar, and the draw was surprisingly generous considering how firm the construction was. If the Airbender Guerrero and the Double Ligero 660 represent any kind of pattern, I think La Flor Dominicana is quickly becoming one of my favorite go-to brands.

As I kept smoking, the pepper mellowed out a little bit, though never fading out completely. About halfway through, the chocolate snuck out and was replaced by caramel or toffee, which became amplified on the retrohale. As with most strong smokes, it’s a good idea to retrohale the Guerrero very slowly. Luckily I had the good sense to let the cigar cool before I decided to do so, otherwise I would’ve ended up crying like a baby like I did with the Joya de Nicaragua Antaño Dark Corojo Poderoso.

Finally, as I burned through the last third and made my way towards the nub, the taste became a little less sweet and a little more on the bready side. The pepper remained pretty consistent ever since it mellowed out somewhere in the first third, and the caramel taste turned into more of a bittersweet malt flavor that lasted for the rest of the smoke.

I wish I could’ve lit up another one of these just as soon as I put down the nub, because I think there was a lot in there that I couldn’t quite get with one smoke. I recommend getting a few of these and smoking them back to back, preferably after a pretty substantial meal, because the one I had was definitely at least in medium-to-full-bodied territory. Judging from the two LFD smokes I’ve had, I can’t wait to see what Litto Gomez comes up with next!