La Instructora

Up for review today is the new Delicado from La Instructora Cigars, a brand I fell in love with reviewing one of their limited edition blends that is now sadly out of production. The Delicado is notable as this brand’s only Connecticut wrapper cigar, in contrast with the brand’s other blends which feature bolder tobaccos.

For additional background on this blend, we turn to halfwheel:

Saide came across the wrapper during the process of blending the cigar at Tabacalera Palma, with the leaf catching his attention both for its color and its sweet aroma. He told halfwheel that the creation of the cigar was about achieving balance and minimizing the lesser desired qualities of USA-grown Connecticut. To achieve that, a  binder and filler from the Dominican Republic were selected, both of which are grown by Jochy Blanco and have enough age on the leaves to provide balance to the wrapper. “Jochy achieved this blend,” Saide noted.

Saide said that while the cigar is smooth and on the milder side, the smoker never has to “reach for flavor.” He noted that there is no ligero in the blend, a decision made to ensure balance among the components.

Blend Specifics

• Cigar Reviewed: La Instructora Delicado robusto
• Wrapper: USA Connecticut
• Binder: Dominican
• Filler: Dominican
• Size: 5×50 robusto

Appearance and Construction

From a branding standpoint the Delicado is well done.  The metallic gold embossing contrasts well against the light wrapper leaf. I’m not sure what the logo is, but looks to be an impression of paint on a canvas (which makes a lot of sense if you’ve seen other bands from La Instructora). The outer wrapper leaf is golden brown in appearance, with a few noticeable veins and a velvety texture. When squeezed, the cigar has moderate give and I don’t detect any soft spots on the cigar.

The aroma off the foot of the cigar is surprising. It’s very full, with a very noticeable herbal and mint notes that sit next to cedar spice and something akin to moss.

Flavor and Smoke Characteristics

The La Instructora Delicado kicks off with copious amounts of mild bodied, medium strength smoke. The texture of the smoke is very smooth, and the flavors sit balanced between sweet (cream, vanilla), salty (popcorn, toasted nuts) and bitter (oak). It has a desert like quality to it, like an after dinner scoop of vanilla ice cream and an aperitif. The retrohale is mild, with some light spices and toasted bread. Construction wise, ash that develops through the first inch is solid white, and the burn is mostly straight with a little waviness.

The first major shift comes at the end of the first inch. The strength of the flavor increases markedly, and the overall profile shifts towards charred wood, bitter oak, and peppercorn. The nose though continues to be both gentle and extremely aromatic. Not quite as captivating as the beginning, but still enjoyable.

By halfway, the La Instructora Delicado  is mostly unchanged, but a bit of obvious harshness has managed to sneak in from time to time. Otherwise, flavors up until the final third are charred oak, toasted nuts, and baking spices. The retrohale though remains relatively mild and still aromatic.

In the final third, the La Instructora Delicado comes full circle and settles back near where it began, with an aromatic and mostly mild profile of baking spices, oak, vanilla and nuts. Thankfully the smoke remains cool, allowing me to smoke the cigar all the way to the nub.

Conclusion

The La Instructora Delicado has a lot going for it. First, an excellent start with a great flavor profile that I haven’t experienced in any other Connecticut blend. Excellent construction and smoke production as well. But, the flavor profile is at times burdened by encroaching harshness that muddies up the flavor, so it can’t achieve the higher rating it otherwise would deserve.

Final Rating: 88

Up for review today is another cigar from Aaron Saide and La Instructora Cigars. The company made a splash in the industry a couple of years ago, standing out for a number of reasons. First, the branding on these cigars is fascinating in that it’s actually quite difficult to read the name of the company which is debossed onto a modern art inspired band. The same is true for Aaron’s second company Sans Pareil, with bands that have literally no mention of the brand name. Second, the brand received a lot of attention for Saide’s assertions that the company only uses the absolute best tobaccos, specifically tobaccos from Jose “Jochy” Blanco’s farms, which no doubt do contain some of the most expensive tobaccos around.

I’ve smoked a number of cigars from both companies owned by Saide. In my experience, they’ve been somewhat hit and miss. But when they hit, they are some of the most complex and innovative cigars I’ve smoked, ever. The Limited Edition La Instructora blend I reviewed last year, for example, received a 94, a score which only two other cigars that year received. Saide’s cigars take up some of my most valued humidor space, so I’m always excited to review a blend I haven’t had yet.

And so it is with the La Instructora Perfection Invicto. It’s a cigar I haven’t had before, so I’m itching to get started. So on to the review.

Blend Specifics

The cigar’s outer wrapper is dark brown with a bit of a reddish hue to it. It has minimal veins, an oily sheen, and a strong texture similar to fine sand paper.  After clipping with a straight cut, the draw reveals itself to be perfect, with just the right amount of restrictiveness. Smelling the foot of the cigar I pick up notes of woodsiness, granola, and coffee. The cold draw on the other hand delivers a bit of the same but with some bright, spicy citrus. 

Flavor and Smoke Characteristics 

When the La Instructora Perfection Invicto kicks off, there’s a lot going on. The first few puffs are chock full of aggressive but very complex flavors, balanced between sweet, bitter, and savory flavors broadly speaking. After a few minutes of fighting for center stage, savory notes of cured meats, grilling spices, and leather take center stage. The smoke has a spicy texture, and the retrohale reflects and magnifies it. Overall I’d put the cigar at medium in terms of strength and body. The retrohale is another story entirely, offering up a blast of aggressive white and red pepper. 

By an inch in, it’s clear there’s a construction problem. The cigar is requiring many puffs in a row just to get a real draw of smoke, and the burn is starting to stray significantly. As the first ash drops, I can see why: there’s a fairly significant tunneling in the filler tobacco, creating air flow issues. This requires a long touch up to address. I’m hopeful it will sort itself out because I really want to experience this cigar to its fullest. 

At this point, the cigar is burning towards the end of the first third. I notice a stark decrease in intensity on the retrohale, and some new flavors make an introduction: cream, milk chocolate, and sweet nuttiness. The sweetness of these flavors pair very nicely with the spicy, savory notes that still take up most of the space. Unfortunately, as enjoyable as this development is, it’s nearly derailed as the burn again begins to stray. Is the cigar over humidified? Is the rosado wrapper just too thick? Or is it just a common rolling error? I wish I knew. 

As the La Instructora Perfection Invicto burns past the halfway mark, it seems as if the construction issues may finally be starting to resolve, but it sure has taken a lot of work. And it’s too bad, because from a flavor standpoint, it’s a great cigar. The spicy and savory notes have come into near perfect balance with the sweet, chocolaty flavors introduced in the second third—the kind of complexity you really have to have on a cigar to justify the ~$18 price point. 

In the final third, the ring gauge is tapering down, and there’s a marked resurgence of the spice on the palate and retrohale. The chocolate and cream give way to a woody core, and the finish is remarkably clean for such a strong showing in flavors.  

Conclusion 

This is a frustrating conclusion to write. The rosado wrapper creates a uniquely flavorful experience, with lots of red pepper and spice on the tip of the tongue, while cream and chocolate occupy the palate. But the issues with construction put a real damper on the experience as a whole, making it impossible for this cigar to achieve the score it would otherwise deserve. 

Final Rating: 84

In early May, we hosted an event featuring two limited edition cigars from La Instructora and Sans Pariel cigars alongside a flight tasting of rare rums from Diplomatico. The event and pairings were fantastic, and I was excited to take a few of these unreleased cigars and smoke and review them on my own time.

In particular, this limited edition La Instructora cigar is one that I have to review because, to be frank, I have been blown away each time I’ve smoked it. Unfortunately, I don’t have details on the tobaccos that comprise this cigar, but that isn’t stopping me from writing this review today.

So let’s get to it.

Product Specifics

• Cigar Reviewed: La Instructora Limited Edition (2018)
• Wrapper: undisclosed
• Binder: undisclosed
• Filler: undisclosed
• Size: undisclosed (best guess, 6 x 54 toro)

Appearance and Construction

To say this cigar looks unusual would be a massive understatement. Let’s tally it up.

• Weird, modern art inspired band: check
• Barber pole outter wrapper: check
• Closed foot: check
• Double wrapped foot and cap: check

The outer wrapper has a noticeable outer oiliness, and innumerable seams where all of the different wrapper leaves come together. It seems constructed well enough, with just a slight amount of give when squeezed.  The cold draw is moderately restrictive and full of finely ground pepper and spice, along with a bit of sweet earthiness.

Let’s light up.

Flavor and Smoke Characteristics

The La Instructora kicks off with a blast (and I mean blast) of extremely strong flavor, likely the result of the closed foot. The flavors are hard to pin down, but the ones I recognize are black pepper, molasses, dry cedar, burnt coffee, and a creamy finish. Hard as the flavors are to identify, it’s immediately clear that they harmonize well because damnit they’re delicious. Smoke production is slightly above average, but improves as the cigar burns.

About half an inch in, the ember is just clearing the double wrapped foot, and the profile takes a distinct turn. The flavor recedes from full to medium-full, and the profile shifts, with a dominant nuttiness, creamy cocoa, leather, with roasted nuts and pepper on the retrohale. Just absolutely delicious.

Off note, but what’s also interesting about this cigar as I smoke it is how it is so flavorful that each puff activates my salivary glands.

Heading into the second third, the smoke settles at just above medium in body and medium-full strength. That burnt coffee note has morphed into a smooth espresso, with other dark chocolate, black pepper, and minor leather notes.

The cigar stays roughly the same until halfway through the final third, where a new flavor emerges, a kind charred meat that pairs nicely with the sweeter, creamier notes. The retrohale meanwhile loses most of its spice and is replaced by a very fine charcoal flavor.

At around the last inch and a half, the strength picks up quite a bit to full, and the heat ramps up as well, providing a good (but not welcome) excuse to put the cigar down.

Conclusion

If I didn’t know anything about where this cigar came from, my first thought looking at would be “gimmick” because most barber-pole wrapped cigars I’ve smoked are muddled on the flavor side and largely unenjoyable.  But this cigar is simply spectacular, and one I wish was in regular production. I’d easily pay north of $25 for the amount of flavor, complexity, and balance that this cigar consistently provides (I smoked three for this review).

Aaron Saide and La Instructora has proven twice now that they can produce cigars with a far above average amount of complexity and flavor.

You won’t find this cigar on shelves, but if you do, buy it.

Final Score: 94

La Instructora (from Tabacalera Palma and created by Jose Blanco and Aaron Saide) is a fairly recent cigar line, having only come onto the main stage of the cigar world at IPCPR 2017, as reported by Halfwheel. I first noticed this cigar at Barclay Rex‘s downtown location, and thought the $20 price tag for a nearly unbranded, unknown cigar was pretty gutsy. So I decided to give it a try.

I’ve got to say, early on in this smoke, I was not impressed. Though the first half opens nicely, it isn’t $20-cigar-nice. However, the second half of this cigar took me for a real adventure–one that I hope to enjoy again!

Here’s what the La Instructora website has to say about this blend:

“We decided to call this box pressed cigar Box Pressed because it sounded really nice and it was Thursday.

This cigar embodies a smoke packed with uniquely intense flavors made for those that crave more.

A Brazilian Cubra wrapper clutches a combination of our prized Dominican Piloto leaf binder and top of the line fillers from our farms that harmonize in true depth and balance.”

Blend Specifics

Name: La Instructora Box Pressed 2
Size: 52 x 5 3/4
Wrapper: Brazilian Cubra
Binder: Dominican Republic (Jacagua piloto)
Filler: Dominican Republic

Appearance and construction

The Brazilian Cubra wrapper of La Instructora is slightly marbled, with minimal veins and imperfections. The cigar is box pressed. Not much to say on the band. It looks like a modern art piece and for a $20 cigar is not particularly attractive (alright, I’d say it’s downright ugly). At the very least, I’d like to be able to read the band so I know what I’m smoking. Pre light draw reveals pepper, chocolate, and wood notes.

Flavor and Smoke Characteristics

La Instructora 2 opens with medium to full bodied Smoke. The notes create a slightly sweet campfire flavor. Spices, espresso, light chocolate, and salted peanuts. The finish is long and spicy. By an inch in, the body is medium, with predominant notes of wood, peanuts, spice, and touches of chocolate. A good start, but for the $20 price tag, I’m hoping for more.

Moving into the second third, the smoke becomes almost tangy, tickling the top of my tongue. There are touches of white pepper, nuts, and a slightly buttery sweetness.

At halfway, the body and strength increase drastically, adding an intense, finely ground black pepper, baking spices, and leather. The texture is musty, almost similar to the classic mustiness that Davidoff is famous for, but darker. The cigar really takes off here.

In the final third, the smoke is still full bodied, full strength flavor. The profile introduced at halfway really is delicious, and has the kind of complexity that I would look for in a $20 cigar. Very enjoyable. The final third brings the first two profiles together in a very balanced and enjoyable way: finely ground black pepper, spices, chocolate, peanuts, and leather.

Conclusion

After a nice but not particularly interesting opening, La Instructora’s second half explodes into a robust, deeply complex cigar. I would gladly pay $20 to smoke this cigar again.

Will La Instructora and Sans Pareil succeed in breaking in to the ultra high end market? We’ll see – but I’m hopeful about their chances.

Final Grade: 91