My Father Flor De Las Antillas 10th Anniversary

On one hand you can count the number of cigar makers who arrived on the scene and changed the game. At the top of that very short list is Jose “Pepin” Garcia, and boy did he turn the industry on its ear. At the time, there was no one making cigars that captured the essence and flavor of Cuban cigars. His unique fermenting and blending style coupled with his small batch production in Miami quickly catapulted his cigars to the top of aficionados’ hit lists. With his well-deserved success, expansion was the only way to keep up with demand. He quickly established the My Father factory in Nicaragua and began to transfer production and expand his portfolio. One of the first big hits his new factory produced was the Flor de las Antillas and was his first blend to earn Cigar Aficionado’s prestigious Cigar of the Year award.

The name Flor de las Antillas translates from Spanish to Flower of the Antilles. It is Pepin’s homage to Cuba (the largest of the Antilles Islands) where he was born and raised. The blend debuted about 10 years ago and won Cigar Aficionado’s Cigar of the Year award by earning a 96 point rating in its debut. That award cemented the Garcia’s Nicaraguan factory as a world class operation. A decade later and the Flor de Las Antillas line is still a darling of the community. To celebrate the brand’s 10th Anniversary, Pepin Garcia decided to tweak the blend and make it a little bolder. It uses Nicaraguan filler and binder tobaccos grown on 4 different Garcia-owned farms. The wrapper is a higher priming and darker version of the Nicaraguan Rosado Sun Grown leaf used on the original blend. Tasting notes include notes of cedar, dark coffee, and pepper along with hints of cocoa, earth, nutmeg, and a marzipan sweetness. If you loved the original blend (and who didn’t), this is a real treat!