According to Halfwheel, in 2016 a new released at the IPCPR Convention & Trade Show, Litto Gomez turned to a trip to southern Spain that that ended up netting him a antique cigar mold. While the mold was clearly well-worn, it was able to be duplicated, with the new copies used to produce the Andalusian Bull.
Named for southern Spain’s rich heritage of bullfighting and the running of the bulls, it builds on that by using a green and gold band that get its colors from the region’s flag, while also bearing a silhouetted image of a torero, or what you might know as a matador.
For the blend, Gomez and his team picked a dark Ecuadorian corojo wrapper, with it being the first time this specific—albeit undisclosed—priming has been used. Both the binder and filler come from Estancia La Flor de Palma, the farm shared by La Flor Dominicana and Tabacalera Palma.
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Corojo
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican
First third: Sweetness like green apple mixed with maple syrup, spice notes like hints of cinnamon and nutmeg mixed together. Smooth and creamy smoke texture like a typical Dominican cigar, yet the flavor is full and consistent, but it doesn’t have a lot of power compared with other LFD cigars.
Second third: The flavor remains the same and emphasizes the sweetness of this cigar. There’s no nasty aftertaste from this cigar, which is the most impressive part compared to other non-Cuban cigars. Plus, the sweetness is not like others that linger in the throat; it’s more like a natural sweetness refreshing your palate.
Last third: The flavor shifts to typical Dominican flavors like toasted rice notes, and the sweetness still comes out as well, but the cigar itself becomes a little bit sour when you smoke it to the nub. Overall, a phenomenal and elegant cigar definitely worth trying.
Score: 91
