La Flor Dominicana is a "boutique-style" cigar

Cigar

A cigar is a tightly-rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco that is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the mouth. Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities in Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, and the Eastern...

 brand manufactured by Tabacalera La Flor S.A., a company started in 1996 in Santiago

Santiago de los Caballeros

Santiago de los Caballeros is a city in the Dominican Republic. Founded in 1495 during the first wave of European colonization of the New World, today Santiago is the second largest metropolis in the Dominican Republic, located in the north-central region of the Republic known as Cibao valley...

, the Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

. The company was started and is currently owned by cigar maker Litto Gomez Diez, who was called by Cigar Aficionado "arguably the most innovative mind in the cigar business." Gomez, a jeweler-turned-cigar maker started the business after his jewellery store in Miami was robbed by armed men at gunpoint of about $400,000 worth of jewellery. Today the company's factory is based in Tamboril, in the Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

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History

The brand was first known as Los Libertadores and according to Gomez, it took him 15 to 20 years to refine his cigar making process and bring the brand to where it is today. The name of the brand was inspired by the flower of the tobacco plant which signifies that the growing cycle is complete and the plant is ready for reproduction. In 1999 the factory produced about 2.5 million cigars, up from 2.4 million in 1998 growing substantially from the 300,000 cigars produced in the first year of operations. Subsequently the company made 1.5 million cigars in 2004, 1.9 million in 2005 and 2.9 million in 2006. It likely surpassed the 4 million cigar mark by the present time.

In order to tightly control production and quality, Gomez acquired a 120 acre (0.4856232 km²) farm where he grows tobacco for his use; in 2006 he also acquired a smaller 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) farm used for the growth of Corojo and Sumatra.

In the beginning the company only focused on growing binder and filler tobacco however in 2002 they started cultivating shade grown wrapper; sun grown and encallado are also grown to satisfy binder and filler production needs.

In 1999 the company had a serious fire in the cigar room at its factory and according to Gomez, the company lost about 400,000 cigars.