La Flor Dominicana Limitado II Oscuro

{by Mike Copperman, Proprietor,
Bethesda Tobacco Company}

Shape: Parejo
Wrapper: Oscuro
Origin: Dominican
Price: $8-9.00

Earlier this year, I was part of a group of tobacconists that had the pleasure of sharing a smoke with Litto at his farm, Estancia Flor de Palma.
A fiery sun was setting over the Cibao river valley and we were drowning in the beauty of it.

"You can hear the silence," commented Litto as he drew from one of his masterpieces..

In response to the question, can the Dominican Republic produce cigars that boast more flavor than the Vuelta Abajo of Cuba, Litto Gomez responds once again with a resounding yes. This time his passion is reborn in the body of the Limitado ll. These leaves mirror the size and shape (6 1/2 by 54) of the wildly successful Limitado cigar (only 1000 boxes were produced in 2002-packaged in cabinets of 50).

Like its progenitor, the Limitado ll has a filler blend of ligero rich tobaccos grown at Estancia Flor de Palma (still
very limited in cabinets of 48). While the capa resembles a maduro, the process is a difference in kind, not one of degrees. Litto, who by my
estimate is the most innovative blender and tobacco farmer living today, has created a natural process that allows the fragrant oils of the leaf to saturate the wrapper, not by sweating or baking, but by the deft use of
inspired hands.

The wrapper has been titled Oscuro Natural and is a sight to behold: think roasted coffee beans bathed in oil with highlights of burnt sienna. Other cigars are meant to cap off a memorable event---this cigar is the event. It is a means and end in and of itself. It is smoking for smoking's sake. And oh, what smoke it is..

Oak perfume paints the air at
first light. The body is full and textured. There are bright notes in the nose of citrus and exotic wood, but this is a cigar to be relished on the palette. Lofty earth and peppers inform caramelized flavors that build and finish in almonds and spiced cocoa. This cigar is crafted for quiet reflection, a cigar composed to "hear the silence."

Today, the silence to be heard is that of humbled cigar journeymen throughout the Vuelta Abajo...Litto Gomez is a poet of leaves and the Limitado ll is his poem.