Dominion Cigar Black Lotus – Rough Cut Cigar Review

Though it has been on the market in Canada since 2014, the Dominion Cigar Black Lotus was officially introduced to the US market at the 2016 IPCPR in Las Vegas. With all the Cuban cigars available in the Canadian market, the Black Lotus has been one of the most popular non-Cuban brands and as you will read our review, rightfully so! If you would like to learn a little more about Dominion Cigars checkout the interview we did at the end of this article.

According to the Dominion Cigar website

Dominion Cigar owner Steve Ricker, wanted to produce something very special for his first cigar the Black Lotus. Produced at Tabacos De Oriente in Honduras, also know for producing such fine cigars from Rocky Patel and Alec Bradley, just to name a couple. After several months of working on the project, and tweaking the blend that incorporated the finest Honduran and Nicaraguan tobacco, the Black Lotus was born.

The Dominion Cigar Black Lotus is available in one vitola in the US market  – a 6 x 50 Toro.

The US blend is slightly different from the Canadian blend and is described as:

• Wrapper – Mexican San Andres
• Binder – Honduran Sumatra
• Filler – Honduran and Nicaraguan

The Dominion Cigar Black Lotus is priced at around $9.00 USD

For this review I sampled the Black Lotus Maduro Toro

Cigar Review Notes

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• Gorgeous band with a Black Lotus flower centered in it
• Second band declares it the Maduro
• Gritty dark brown San Andres wrapper
• Some protruding veins
• Sweet hay and grass aroma on foot
• Tea aroma along barrel
• Used my thumb nail to open the cap
• Draw is just perfect
• Earthy with just a hint of pepper on cold draw
• Red pepper burst on the palate
• Fruit – Floral aroma
• Pepper lingers on the nose
• Smoke is full
• Ash is light grey on a medium char line
• Espresso note enters after half-inch
• Touch of nut enters
• Peppers slides to background after an inch
• Leather wraps around the flavors
• Burn is excellent
• Cedar adds to profile
• Working out to be a complex flavor bomb!
• Ash fell after an inch and half
• Decent, well centered, dark burn cone
• Cedar builds with a sweet citrus sliding in to the profile
• Smoke has smoothed out nicely by end of first third
• The aroma shifts to a spicy nut
• Strength at half way is medium plus
• The spice finds its way into the profile
• Bitter chocolate enters just before the primary band
• Burn is just impeccable
• Flavors have all blended well with a sweet and spicy background to the finish
• Finished medium to full in strength
• A solid hour and 20 minute smoke

Overall, the Dominion Cigar Black Lotus is a cigar that should have been on the US market since 2014. What were you waiting for Steve? This cigar was full of flavor and had impeccable construction and burn qualities. Finishing at a medium plus in strength the Dominion Cigar Black Lotus is one I would recommend for any cigar enthusiast to try. Hopefully they will be available in more shops here in the US.

And for something extra

At this years IPCPR I got a moment to sit down with Steve Ricker the owner of the Dominion Cigar Company and talked about his brand and some thoughts about what its like to be in a highly regulated cigar market in Canada.