Before Litto Gomez became one of the most innovative cigar makers in the Dominican Republic, he was a jeweler. He and his wife Inés Lorenzo-Gomez owned a successful jewelry store in Miami — until the store was robbed, and the couple decided that if they were going to start over, they were going to do it on their own terms. Cigars had captured Litto's imagination, and in 1994 the two pivoted entirely, partnering on an early venture called Los Libertadores before a dispute with that partner sent them back to square one. In 1996, they opened La Flor Dominicana in Santiago with a single table of rollers and no safety net — just Litto's instinct for blending and Inés's conviction that they could build something lasting. That instinct pushed the brand quickly away from the mild profiles that dominated Dominican production at the time and toward something bolder, richer, and more complex — a direction that would come to define LFD's entire identity and distinguish it from virtually every other Dominican house in the market.
To fuel that ambition with complete control over the leaf, the Gomezes purchased their own estate farm in La Canela, Dominican Republic in 2000 — securing a dedicated source of high-grade ligero, the strongest and most flavorful leaf on the plant, grown to their own exact specifications. That vertical integration unlocked a new creative range: the Double Ligero, introduced in 2003, set a benchmark for full-bodied Dominican smoking that the industry is still measured against today; the patented Chisel vitola — a box-pressed size with a wedge-shaped head that concentrates the draw — became one of the most recognizable and copied innovations in modern premium cigars; and the Andalusian Bull, a large figurado wrapped in Ecuadorian Sumatra, was named Cigar Aficionado's #1 Cigar of the Year in 2016, instantly becoming one of the most sought-after and scarce releases in the hobby. Today, Litto and Inés are joined by their son Antonio in running a fully family-owned operation that has never once confused playing it safe with making great cigars.