Initial Thoughts
I came across this La Flor Dominicana Cameroon Cabinet #4 after searching high and low for the chisel tip vitola. I couldn’t seem to find the chisel tip after it had been named to the top 25 on this year’s CA list. That’s typically how things go. Once you hit the top 25 it’s very difficult to be found anywhere. So I decided even though this wasn’t the chisel tip I would still be able to taste the blend and see what all the hype was about. I honestly had zero knowledge about this cigar so I went to the LFD website and found this:
Our Cameroon Cabinets are very limited because we only use dark and oily aged Ligero Cameroon wrappers. We blended these cigars with Dominican and Nicaraguan filler and binder.
I assumed the cigar had a Cameroon wrapper on it since it was called the Cameroon Cabinet, I was hoping for some more background info into the naming of this blend. Something like “We called this the Cameroon Cabinet because we went to visit Cameroon to find some exquisite leaf for this new blend we had been working up and tucked away in an aging cabinet we found the perfect leaf and I knew it had to used on this cigar!”… Something like that would have worked right? Oh well, didn’t find that so I’ll tell myself that’s how they got the name. Work for you all?
Looks
Typically, when I’ve smoked Cameroon wrappers in the past the outer leaf is very thin and delicate. I usually don’t see too many veins popping out. However, with this La Flor Dominicana Cameroon Cabinet #4 the wrapper looks to be more rugged than usual for a Cameroon wrapper. Maybe the fact that it’s a ligero has made it thicker and tougher and not so delicate looking? That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
The band on this cigar is gigantic. It’s right up there with the La Sirena bands. Maybe that’s part of the deal with the cigar gods, if you put La in your brand name you have to have a big ass cigar band? It makes sense to me. I definitely like the band it adds some uniqueness to the cigar for sure. The colors don’t really pop and come out at you though. In fact they blend into the barrel of the cigar. The background of the band is a dark mahogany color. Typically the LFD bands have a nice crimson color that pops and offsets from the barrel of the cigar somewhat. This band just seems to become part of the cigar. It has the traditional LFD logo surrounded by some sort of leaf, looks similar to olive branch and it makes a nice oval shape around the letters LFD. Below that you have the words Cameroon Cabinets with some golden circles striping the edge of the band. All in all a great looking band.
Function
I seem to be on a roll with these box pressed cigars lately. After smoking the Tatuaje Cojonu 2012 I figured I might as well smoke another box pressed stick right? As you can see in the picture the foot of this La Flor Dominicana Cameroon Cabinet #4 is very pronounced and has a solid box press to it.
I rolled the cigar between my fingers and I found one small soft spot in the second third of the barrel. It was just a bit spongier than the others, but I wasn’t too worried.
I nipped off the cap of the head to test the cold draw. Mmm, perfecto! A slight resistance but other than that a great draw on this big cigar. I’ve been smoking a lot of the smaller vitolas lately, but I pulled out this big boy at 6 1/2″ x 54, I finally had a couple of hours to smoke it. After getting some exciting flavors off the cold draw I was ready to put the flame to this thing and get it going!
Smoking
Today my lighter decided to be awesome again. It shot out the flame and I swear I could have boiled water with this damn near instantly. Ok, it prolly would have taken a few hours, but it was great for toasting the foot on this La Flor Dominicana Cameroon Cabinet #4! I only had one spot giving me some trouble on the foot of this cigar. For some reason it didn’t want to take to my immaculate flame. I decided instead of charring the rest of the foot I would just draw the flame in and hopefully it would follow suit and burn up like it’s brethren leaf.
The first third of this cigar burned perfectly. The smoke was thick and creamy and just flowing around me as the spring air filled the garage. The smoke was so enticing that it drew in some insects that started crawling around waiting to be massacred. 3 spiders, two centipedes and a couple mosquito killers… I thought smoke was supposed to repel bugs? Who knows I’m not an insect scientist.
The second and final thirds smoked just as well as the first. I was able to keep about a 1 inch ash on both. It seemed that was the breaking point for this particular cigar. The lip curl and burn lines on this La Flor Dominicana Cameroon Cabinet #4 were excellent. The burn wasn’t razor straight, but it was close enough for me. I didn’t have to retouch it so hey that’s a win in my book.
Flavor
Now, I’ve smoked a few Cameroon wrappers, but never before have I heard of a Cameroon wrapper being described as ‘full body’. Maybe full body in flavor, but certainly not full body in strength right? Maybe that’s whats LFD was going for when they chose this Ligero Cameroon from the special cabinet (see, my story is exciting isn’t it! PS Read above if you didn’t get this reference). Knowing that it was a Cameroon wrapper going in I wasn’t expected a ton of ‘strength’ from this cigar. I wanted a good dose of flavor and some excitement for my palate. So let’s dive into it.
On the cold draw I picked up a nice dose of raisins and some sweetness. The raisins were dominate though. I’m sure there was some other dried fruit flavors in there, but the raisins seem to really hit me for some reason. The sweetness wasn’t that of molasses, but it was definitely a fruity sweetness.
Once I got this La Flor Dominicana Cameroon Cabinet #4 lit I started picking up a nice creaminess to the flavor. It was fairly light in flavor which is what I expected from this Cameroon wrapper. Once it got about halfway through the first third I was picking up on a nice dark roast coffee. I’m sure this is some of the Nicaraguan leaf coming through. Still an overall lightness to the smoke which I was enjoying. The retrohale brought out a nice bit of floral fragrances that reminded me of spring time. The flowers and the pollen floating around, who doesn’t love that!
The second third began to build some spice. The spice and nuttiness began taking over and building into a more full body of strength for this cigar. The retrohale picked up a nice spice that almost brought a tear to my eye. The strength of the cigar still wasn’t overpowering and the general lightness of it was lingering around. It’s as if the Cameroon was battling the fillers for the spotlight.
The final third began to dial down the spice and finished with that lighter body that we started out with. The sweetness never really came through in the smoke for me. It was just a lightness that I really enjoyed. To me that’s fairly typical of the Cameroon wrapper though, It’s always enjoyable in the morning with some coffee. However, when you combine it with some strong filler from Nicaragua & the D.R. you’re bound to get some strength in that smoke. Overall, I enjoyed the cigar, it wasn’t quite the flavor bomb I was hoping for, but it was very enjoyable!
Would I Buy It Again?
Definitely, I would love to find it in the chisel tip. Possibly a smaller vitola as well.
Is It an Every Day Smoke?
For the price if very well could be!
Would I Buy a Box?
I’m not sure if you can only buy a box of 50 or what, but I think it would definitely be box worthy if you could get 24! I’m not sure if I’d have time to smoke 50 of these guys!
Conclusion
Overall, I really enjoyed this La Flor Dominicana Cameroon Cabinet #4 . It was a great smoke, great draw, and good amounts of flavor. I like the idea of the ligero Cameroon wrapper. It adds some punch and spice to what is typically a lighter sided flavor. It’s a very worthwhile smoke and I would suggest it for anyone that is an LFD or Cameroon fan to at least check it out and see what it’s all about!
