La Flor Dominicana’s “Andalusian Bull” is one of the first cigars in my own journey that I remember being told I needed to seek out and smoke. Some longtime fans say that it is not quite the same cigar they remember, while those just now discovering them eagerly enjoy the iteration available to them. Can any cigar really remain the same, year after year, crop after crop? So used to ordering something and having it at one’s door the same day, we sometimes inadvertently impose those expectations on products with exponentially more variables than anything available on Amazon.
Cigar blends and the associated rituals that we take part in – almost always good metaphors for life – can evolve and change and offer new experiences even after years enjoying the same familiar favorites. Few things beyond perhaps food or music can so potently remind us that something can be new without being bad. It is through that lens that I attempted to view LFD’s most recent announcement, a “save the date” for the their Golden Bull NFT Auction:
Our Golden Bull NFT launch site is officially up! Visit https://t.co/XopQMvuER6 and drop your email address to receive updates. Auctions go live on 8/11/22 pic.twitter.com/l3ZRkH8kd5
— La Flor Dominicana (@LFDcigars) July 21, 2022
Announced back in April, the Golden Bull cigar itself is a 42 x 6.25” Lonsdale version of the much discussed Andalusian Bull. The blend has been kept private until now, reserved only for Litto and Tony Gomez and their friends. “Personally, it’s my favorite cigar,” said Tony Gomez, Vice President of La Flor Dominicana. “There is just something special about the Lonsdale, I think it’s the most beautiful cigar size, and when combined with the Andalusian Bull blend there emerges an elegance and depth of flavor that is nothing short of spectacular.”
According to LFD, seven NFTs will be minted and auctioned off in partnership with UREEQA . Those who purchase one of the NFTs will gain the right to buy up to 70 of these cigars per month for as long as they own the NFT. La Flor Dominicana guarantees that these seven NFT owners will be the only people in the world who can buy The Golden Bull, and that they will only be available directly from LFD. Owners of the NFTs will be allowed to re-sell the digital asset in the future, transferring the right to purchase the cigars to a new owner.
“La Flor Dominicana is an adventurous, creative brand entering uncharted territory with an NFT release that is historic and unprecedented in their industry,” UREEQA Chief Marketing Officer Shannon Powell said. “We’re happy that they’ve recognized we can offer them the ultimate protection and guidance for their highly anticipated release. This is the beginning of something big!”
”We realize that this idea will expose a lot of people to a totally unknown world,” said Gomez, “so being able to provide a safe, secure platform for bidding and purchasing that offers assurances regarding authenticity is extremely important. The way we see it, these NFTs aren’t just access to a special cigar — they are an investment, and UREEQA’s validation services provide protection on that investment.”
Along with the option of being able to purchase this blend in the future, each of the 7 original owners will receive a humidor – in the shape and finish of a gold bar – filled with 50 Golden Bulls. Manufactured in Spain by the experts at @humidores_wacota, each humidor is encrusted with an 18k gold LFD emblem.
One project in a larger marketplace where crypto “stablecoins” have proven to be anything but stable, and in which stories of NFT “rug pull’ scams flood our feeds every other week – it is understandable why some won’t immediately gravitate toward this auction. Limiting the minting to 7 tokens serves not only to keep everything exclusive, but also makes it more realistic that LFD will be able to fulfill their obligations over time. While many NFTs lose momentum, and by extension responsible fiduciary stewardship, LFD is a trusted company in the industry and would not be very likely to stake their whole reputation on a project they weren’t confident in.
It is not currently known if there is a minimum reserve for the tokens to be auctioned off at. Even though announcement garnered much engagement online , imagining the potential audience for this project reveals some barriers to entry that could prove difficult to overcome in terms of the auction reaching substantial numbers. One has to know what an NFT is or be interested enough to find out. Of that group that now knows what an NFT is, one must be interested in cigars to be a part of the next subset, which then gets whittled down to those know what an NFT is, enjoy cigars, and have had an LFD product before or are now curious enough to try one.
What nobody can take away is the LFD is trying something new in an industry where “the way we’ve always done it’ can often win out – and that is to be commended. If you are interested in learning more about the August 11th auction, you can sign up for updates at nft.lfdcigars.com.