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A Flower Blooms in the Dominican Republic La Flor Dominicana’s creator Litto Gomez Reveals His Pursuits and Passions

The first rule that Litto Gomez learned after turning his passion for Dominican cigars into a business is that you should never think that you know everything when it comes to tobacco and cigars. This willingness to learn, experiment, and follow instinct has enabled Gomez, along with his wife and business partner Ines Lorenzo, to build their La Flor Dominicana brand into a powerhouse of the premium cigar industry. In an exclusive interview in Gomez’s Dominican Republic offices, SMOKE uncovers how this upstart team transformed the tradition-rich cigar business, and what the future holds for eager fans of their prized brand.

SMOKE: What were you doing before tackling the tobacco business?

GOMEZ: I was a jeweler, and I had no experience with the tobacco trade. I was a cigar smoker, however, and as a consumer, I knew a great cigar from a bad one. But it’s a different thing when you have to do it yourself. It took some time for us to get it right. That happened at the end of 1994, and I’m still learning every day. I have conversations with my friends - all cigar makers, who have been doing this for 30, 40 years - and they still tell me often that they just learned something that’s going to make their cigars better. It’s amazing.

SMOKE: You work as partners with your wife, Ines. Was she in the tobacco business before you?

GOMEZ: No. We’re both first-generation and very proud of it. Her education was in international relations. Now, she is in charge of running our distribution in Miami, while I run the factory and the farm. Every week, I come here to the D.R. on Monday, and then I leave on Friday to go back to Miami.

We had two choices when we began: one was to contract somebody to make the cigars for us; the other was to make them ourselves. So, it’s a major task, and a long commute, but for the longevity and consistency of the brand, you need to have control of your production.

SMOKE: Your brand was launched around the beginning of the Cigar Boom. Did you see that coming?

GOMEZ: No, I didn’t know that it was happening. Actually, when I started, it was unheard of to have somebody new in the cigar business in the Dominican Republic. There were seven or eight factories here, all old-timers, and suddenly I show up. A lot of my colleagues were actually worried about my presence here. Once I got to know everybody, I understood where they were coming from. The funny thing is, a year later, there were about a hundred new guys coming into the Dominican cigar trade!

SMOKE: And by then you were a veteran?

GOMEZ: I was just working really hard, trying to make a good cigar, and then we had a lot of people coming here just trying to make some money, with no regard for quality. It was chaos. Thankfully, they’re all gone now.

SMOKE: How did you come up with the name and design for La Flor Dominicana, or “Dominican Flower?”

GOMEZ: From the tobacco plant; it’s a little flower that grows on the top of the plant that shows that it’s ready for reproduction. The flower blooming means the growing cycle is complete. It is really a capsule that contains a few thousand seeds. Normally tobacco farmers eliminate those flowers, so all the nutrients from the soil start going into the leaves. You don’t get more leaves after that point, but the leaves that you have start really developing, growing thicker and fuller of body.

In the plants you choose to use for the next generation, the ones you take the seeds from, you let the flowers bloom on those. One plant could give you a hundred thousand seeds. After the flowers dry, you cut them, destroy the cuttings, and you get all your seeds. Our farm is 120 acres, and we plant a million plants each year. So the name “La Flor,” refers to the flower of the very best tobacco plants, the ones used for reproduction.

SMOKE: Were your first La Flor Dominicana cigars a success in 1994?

GOMEZ: It was definitely a great, mild cigar, because we used good, aged tobacco - all Dominican filler and binder - and it was a success for us. And then we started other lines, like our 2000 series in 1997, with the Cameroon wrappers.

SMOKE: Was it difficult to get Cameroon wrapper back in ‘97?

GOMEZ: Yes. Ours was from a new company set up in Cameroon that started growing tobacco, and we were actually their first customer. We released the 2000 series, which had a little more body to it, more flavor, and that was very, very successful.

SMOKE: Could you describe the process of creating the original shape for your El Jocko line?

GOMEZ: I had the shape in my head for a long time, and I finally drew it on a piece of paper. Then I went to a machine shop, and I tried to indicate on a piece of wood the exact size and shape that I wanted. After that, we started working with the people who make the molds, and that took a few months to get right. Once we had the molds, then we started working with the cigar rollers.

SMOKE: That must be the hardest part.

GOMEZ: Yes. I showed them the model and at first, they told me that they couldn’t do it. I said, “Yes, you can.” It took a few months to get them to do it right. It’s not only the shape that’s hard, but once you get the shape, you have to make sure that it draws well. With that kind of shape, it can get plugged very easily. After a few months, the rollers set up a small production; they had to work very slow. With practice, they became faster, but they still cannot roll more than 150 per day. It’s a very delicate shape to roll so the production is still small. When El Jocko came onto the market, at the end of 1997, it was a fantastic success. The Jocko Natural is still our highest-selling shape.

SMOKE: Do you think that it was the novelty of the shape that intrigued customers?

GOMEZ: Yes, absolutely. And it also smoked great. The year it was released, the El Jocko triggered a lot of new, different shapes from other companies - not the exact same ones, but it seemed to usher that perfecto-smoking faction into the market.

SMOKE: Your company has successfully anticipated two trends: shaped cigars and stronger, fuller-bodied cigars - do you see the demand for both continuing in the future?

GOMEZ: I think so, especially the demand for full-bodied cigars. As the years go by, cigar smokers like a cigar with a little more flavor and spice. There’s nothing like having a cigar with a lot of flavor that really, really satisfies you. I don’t smoke full bodied cigars all day long, but there’s a moment in the day when I want a very flavorful cigar, and I think a lot of people feel the same way. Most tobacco producers today are making sure that the tobacco they grow is fuller-bodied tobacco.

SMOKE: Did Dominican cigars have a different, “milder” reputation when you first began, and have your cigars helped change that perception?

GOMEZ: Nicaragua and Honduras have always had a reputation for stronger cigars, while the tradition in the D.R. has always been to make them milder, but that’s been changing. It has definitely taken some time for people to realize that the D.R. makes full-bodied cigars. It’s a reputation that’s been intact for many, many decades, and still, the majority of cigars produced in the D.R. are mild. But there are a few companies that are now producing fuller-bodied cigars that will lead to changing that perception. And I mean “full-bodied” in the right sense of the word - it needs to have aged tobacco; it needs to leave your palate clean. It’s never good to make cigars with tobacco that’s not ready, making it too spicy and unbalanced. You need the flavor, but you’ve got to have a pleasant moment smoking. Some cigar makers are failing to see the difference between full-bodied and just harsh.

SMOKE: You introduced the Ligero line at the RTDA show this year. Is that your example of “the right way” to make a full-bodied cigar?

GOMEZ: We did introduce the Ligero line, but only one size of it. The Ligero has three sizes, 50, 54, and 60 ring gauge - all of them by 5 3/4. At the RTDA we only made the torpedo available. [Retailers] were placing orders for 20 boxes, then they would smoke the cigar and add another 50 boxes to the order. It was more than I thought. And after they’re all made and shipped, that’s all I’m making.

SMOKE: Ligero means it must be very strong.

GOMEZ: Yes, very powerful cigars, very full body, delicious tasting. It’s been extremely successful for us.

SMOKE: Another trend we’re seeing recently is Dominican cigar makers growing their own wrapper tobacco. Have you gotten involved in that?

GOMEZ: We’ve started growing our own Dominican wrapper for the first time. The D.R. has a great soil for all types of tobacco, but there has not been much culture here for growing wrapper so, most likely, you have to get somebody from another country to run the farm. With wrapper, you’re not only looking for a plant that’s going to grow and give you a great flavor. You are looking for texture, color, and sheen. They need to be beautiful. It’s very difficult; an art form, really. But, if you have good soil for growing tobacco, you can do it. In the past, I believe there were not enough growers or cigars makers that invested the right money into infrastructure and in having the right people running the operations. Now, more and more are dedicating themselves to it. It was a great experience, and we were more successful than we expected in the first year. So this year, we are expanding.

SMOKE: When will consumers see La Flor Dominicana cigars with these wrappers?

GOMEZ: Our tenth anniversary, in 2004.

SMOKE: As a first-generation newcomer to the business, what would you say is the key to survival in today’s market?

GOMEZ: I think that every new company that came into the business [at the time that we did] had the same opportunity. Everybody had a presence in the shops. Every new brand was in the stores at some point, and had good representation. But making it onto the shelves of a cigar store is only half the battle. You can get the cigar into the store, but it’s that cigar that gets the customer to come back. If your only goal is to make money, then the cigar is not going to be a great product. If you don’t have a great product, the customer is not going to come back for another. It’s basically what you focus on - the product, having pride in being a cigar maker, and in developing your relationship with tobacco. This is what it’s all about - getting to love your leaves. If you have to reject 20,000 pounds of tobacco because you don’t like it, you just do it. You don’t think; you cannot ask your accountant. You don’t do this unless you really love it.

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Cigar Watch provides cigar ratings, information on how to smoke a cigar and enjoy the experience and tips on how to identify fake cigars. We are a cigar club whose members contribute reviews of their favorite stogies and rant or rave about their experiences with smokes.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 4th, 2008 at 2:55 pm and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.