My Father Flor de las Antillas Toro Review

2026-07-05  Hand-Me-One · 2/4 My Money

Verdict: Hand-Me-One (2/4)... the flavor's there when you manage it, but the burn fought me start to finish. This one nearly landed a tier lower. Sweet nuttiness, almond, baking spice that turns to pepper, a manageable acrid edge... and when it's burning even, the smoke and flavor come back strong. Problem is it almost never burned even. Constant relights, a wonky U-shaped burn, and it went out on me more than once just sitting there. I won't keep these in my humidor. But if you handed me one, I'd smoke it.

The Setup

• Cigar: My Father Flor de las Antillas, Toro (6 x 52, box-pressed)
• Blend: Nicaraguan puro... Nicaraguan Sun Grown wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, Nicaraguan (Cuban-seed) filler
• Factory: My Father Cigars S.A. (Estelí, Nicaragua... the García family / José "Pepín" García)
• Street price: about $11 a single, ~$180 a box of 20 (roughly $9 a stick by the box)... and it turns up on sale regularly, B&M's don't tend to go over retail
• Source: my own money, out of my humidor... nobody sent me this
• Storage: 69% Boveda in my humidor, holding right around 68°
• When/where: 2:40 in the afternoon on the back deck, sitting in the shade... 86°, 88 real feel, 63% humidity
• Food beforehand: couple cheddar brats, nacho cheese Doritos, fruit salad, half a chocolate chip cookie a couple hours earlier... water only, paired with water

Cold Draw and Light Up

Nice-looking cigar out of the gate. Wrapper's clean... no cracks, no missed caps, looks like at least a double cap. A little toothy, small bumps, nothing big. Good foot, good pack, box-pressed and sitting nice in the hand. The foot ribbon came off clean, foot in great shape underneath and no damage... it did its job in transport and storage.

Cold draw is slightly sweet, and on the cold-draw retrohale it's a little tingly in the sinuses. The draw is excellent, exactly where I like it.

First light gives me sweet nuttiness and a little spice. Same on the retrohale... sweet nuttiness plus baking spice for sure, not a harsh bread or black pepper, but a very noticeable amount of spice. Not buried in the background, not blowing your sinuses off either. Excellent smoke production, excellent draw, mild body to start. Liking it.

First Third

A single puff gives a very light nuttiness and a hint of sweetness, then it's gone.

It burned really wonky right at the start. I gave it the benefit of the doubt as a bad light on my end and touched it up to give it the best shot... and after the touch-up it burned normal, so I'll call the start a bad light on me.

Halfway through the third I'm getting more almond than a general nuttiness, but it disappears fast, and there's a very slight sweetness that goes just as quick. Almond and baking spice, then pretty quickly a slightly acrid aftertaste on the retro. Less baking spice now, more of a pepper spice, but more sweetness and more general nuttiness that hangs around longer... and not really any of that acridness if you skip the retrohale.

Ash is holding fine but it's not pretty, wonky and a little flaky on one side, hanging on well enough.

Then the burn started fighting me again. I was talking a few minutes without pulling on it and it basically went out, super thin wispy smoke. The ash was wonky anyway so I ashed it, knocked off what I could, and relit. It's unusual for a cigar to nearly die just because I talked for a couple minutes. Even after that touch-up the burn was still a little wonky, not razor sharp, never fully corrected.

Second Third

On a normal puff it's a very light sweetness and a tiny bit of nuttiness, then the acridness takes over on the retro right at the end of the first / start of the second third. The spice ramped up, and it's not baking spice anymore, it's pepper spice, not sinus-blowing but definitely there. The nuttiness really comes through on the retro with heavier sweetness, and the finish leaves a light acridness, not horrible, and oddly less of it on the retro. Expected more cream here... not getting much cream at all.

Here's the single-puff-versus-double-puff thing, and it's a real pattern. A single puff gives you that light background almond-type sweetness with a slight acrid finish. A double puff, two draws back to back, gives you almost none of the sweetness or almond or nuttiness, and the acrid moves up to a front note instead of a finish.

Halfway through the second third I'll call it officially: this is not my lighting technique. It keeps burning wonky, a good quarter inch deeper on one side than the other, U-shaped down one side. I don't know if it's the whole line or just this one bad cigar. I've lost count of the lights. It's one of those you're constantly babysitting and touching up.

The smoke production tracks the burn exactly. The more wonky it burns, the thinner the smoke. Touch it up to an even burn and the smoke comes back with a vengeance, and the flavor jumps up right along with it. You just have to keep it touched up to get there.

Near the end of the third I tried the purge, blowing back through the cigar to clear the acrid taste. After about two mouthfuls of air the long ash dropped off, so I tapped the rest and touched it up. First couple pulls were noticeably less acrid, more sweetness, a little nut in the background. Finish still had a slight acridness but it was pleasant now. Retro was pleasant and definitely getting spicy, right up close to the line where I'd stop enjoying it but not past it. Want to test that purge trick more on acrid cigars.

By the end of the second third it was burning wonky again. Went to puff and it was thin and wispy, took three puffs to get regular smoke back, then I set it down maybe 30 seconds and it had basically gone completely out. Definite construction issues. First Flor de las Antillas I've ever smoked, and this isn't what I expect out of any cigar, much less a My Father line. Relit for the final third.

Final Third

Same split all the way in. A single puff is good... real flavor, sweetness, light nuttiness, the acrid staying in the background, feeling like it's about to grow and then backing off. A double puff is all acrid on the front and just not enjoyable. Weird part is the single puff is genuinely good, but it's almost like you have to single-puff and then purge just to keep the thing lit. Still a wonky burn. Knocked the ash off about a third into the final third and touched it up again.

One thing I should've flagged way earlier: the draw has been perfect the entire way through. That never fought me once.

Final third smoked about like I expected. Single puff slightly sweet and nutty with a little acrid on the end, but the burn keeps going out if you're not almost constantly drawing on it. I set it down for 60 seconds and it was completely out.

Calling it here with maybe a half inch left. The flavor at this point is just wet cigar leaf, no sweetness, no nuttiness, some acridness, and a double puff is straight acrid on the front.

Construction

• Wrapper: very nice. No cracks, no missed caps, looks like at least a double cap, lightly toothy, good box-press.
• Draw: perfect, start to finish. Exactly where I like it. The one thing that never gave me trouble.
• Burn: the whole problem. Wonky and U-shaped, a good quarter inch off side to side, and it went out repeatedly, even set down for 30 to 60 seconds. I lost count of the relights and touch-ups. Never fully corrected.
• Ash: held on well but wonky and a little flaky, never a pretty stack.
• Smoke output: excellent when it was burning even, thin and wispy the second the burn went sideways.
• Foot: the ribbon did its job... foot clean and undamaged out of storage.

Bottom Line

The flavor's here when you manage it. Sweet nuttiness and almond, baking spice that ramps into pepper, a manageable acrid edge you keep in check with single puffs and the occasional purge. When it's burning even, the smoke and flavor are genuinely good. It's just not complex, and at this price you're not chasing complexity anyway.

The problem is everything else. The burn fought me the entire smoke, U-shaped and wonky, going out if I so much as set it down or talked too long, and no touch-up ever fully squared it. The draw was perfect the whole way, which almost makes the burn more frustrating. This is the first Flor de las Antillas I've smoked, so I can't tell you if it's the whole line or one bad stick... but this one was a lot of work.

Would I smoke it again? Hand-Me-One... I won't keep these in my humidor and I wouldn't buy them, but if somebody handed me one I'd smoke it, because the flavor's there if you're willing to babysit the burn. It's just not a grab-and-smoke, and it's not worth the effort to buy.

Best for: somebody who doesn't mind constantly touching up a burn for a good-flavored, mild-to-medium Nicaraguan puro... and who catches it on one of its regular sales instead of paying full retail.

My rating scale, one question only... would I spend my own money on this again? 4 Box Buy (box on hand, always) / 3 Five-Pack (yes, a few live in the humidor) / 2 Hand-Me-One (wouldn't buy it, wouldn't turn one down) / 1 Not Even Free (I'd rather smoke nothing).

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