La Flor Dominicana

La Flor Dominicana is a family-owned cigar company in the Dominican Republic, founded in 1994 by Litto Gomez and his wife, Inés Lorenzo-Gomez. The company started as Los Libertadores and took the name La Flor Dominicana in 1996.

Its cigars are made at the company’s own factory, Tabacalera La Flor, in Tamboril near Santiago. Much of its tobacco comes from its La Canela farm in the Cibao valley, where it also grows wrapper leaf. Litto Gomez’s sons now work in the business.

La Flor Dominicana became known for strong Dominican cigars at a time when most Dominican brands were mild. Its Ligero and Double Ligero lines use a lot of ligero leaf. The company also created the Chisel, a cigar whose head is pressed flat like the tip of a chisel instead of being rounded. The Andalusian Bull, a figurado, was Cigar Aficionado’s Cigar of the Year in 2016. Other lines include the 2000 Series and Litto Gomez Diez.

The company showed that Dominican tobacco could make full-bodied cigars, not only mild ones.