The La Galera Connecticut comes to us from Tabacalera Palma which has origins back to the mid 19th century when a Spanish citiizen named Jose Manuel Blanco Lozada moved to the Dominican Republic to specialize in the trade of tropical fruits and tobacco.
La Galera is the first project from Jochy Blanco that will be distributed by Indian Head Cigars; a company he acquired back in the fall of 2015. The name of the cigar is a term for the heart of any cigar factory. In this case, it is the space where experienced rollers concentrate to express their art in creating cigars using the best tobacco from the fields of the Cibao Valley in the Dominican Republic.
Last week we took a look at the Habano and today we follow it up with the Connecticut
Cigar Review: La Galera Connecticut
Size: 6 1/8 x 52 (Cortador / Torpedo)
Wrapper: Ecuador Connecticut
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Piloto Cubano, Criollo ’98, Dominican T-112
Strength: Mild-Medium
The Look: Unlike the Habano which utilizes dress boxes the La Galera Connecticut comes shipped in white cabinet style boxes of 20 cigars. The foot of the cigar is wrapped in a red ribbon giving the cigar some contrast to the near blonde wrapper. The white band with red and gold highlights denotes La Galera Connecticut. To mix things up I selected the torpedo size mainly because I haven’t smoked one in ages. The cigar is flawlessly rolled with no soft spots and a well packed foot.
The Notes: The cold draw of the La Galera Connecticut Cortador is reminiscent of social tea cookies with a touch of buttery richness and a little bit of earth. The aroma off the foot matches that off the cold draw and it’s like a little bit of Nabisco in a cigar.
Once the first third is toasted and lit with my Vertigo Cyclone the torpedo shaped La Galera serves up notes of buttery richness, cedar, earth and a hint of raisins. I am rather impressed but the subtle nuances this Connecticut has to offer. The retrohale of the cigar adds a little bit of a carrot like aroma.
In the second third of the cigar the cigar continues to serve up a myriad of flavors some of which are easy to identify (earth, cedar, nuts) and some that are so subtle they are more of an afterthought (cinnamon, tea). On the retrohale the cinnamon becomes more enhanced causing it to linger on the finish.
The last third sees the complexity tone down some. The cigar remains creamy with elements of earth and cedar. The aroma is a little sweet on the nose while the retrohale enhances the earthiness.
The Burn: The La Galera Connecticut has a perfect burn with a thin combustion line that reveals a medium gray ash that holds on in one and a half increments. The draw of the cigar was perfect and it remained lit from first light to last puff. Smoking time was just south of two hours and never needed to be touched up.
The Finish: Generally speaking I am not a fan of Connecticut cigars but I seem to be on a little bit of a run lately finding some really good smokes with shade wrapper. The complexity on this cigar from Jochy Blanco is impressive and this stick falls solidly in the midst of my top 10 Connecticut cigars.
Score: 93
Price: $6.19 / $107.99
La Galera Connecticut
La Galera Connecticut Foot
La Galera Connecticut Burn
