La Instructora Begins Appearing at Retail
A new line of cigars from Tabacalera Palma has begun showing up at retailers.
La Instructora is a collaborative brand between Jochy Blanco of Tabacalera Palma and Aaron Saide of Sans Pareil cigars, a fairly new line that is also beginning to appear at retail. Saide is also the owner of Chatham Cigar in Midland, Mich.
The first of the new lines is the La Instructora Box Pressed, which comes in four sizes and packed in 15-count boxes:
- La Instructora Box Pressed 1 (7 x 54) — $15
- La Instructora Box Pressed 2 (5 3/4 x 52) — $18
- La Instructora Box Pressed 3 (5 1/2 x 47) — $12.50
- La Instructora Box Pressed 4 (4 1/4 x 46) — $10
The line uses a Brazilian cubra wrapper, Dominican piloto binder from Jacagua, and a filler blend of Dominican criollo 98 ligero and seco from Potrero, and Dominican piloto seco and viso from La Canela. All but the wrapper is grown by Blanco, and Saide said it’s the Dominican piloto that makes the cigar special, as it’s a rare leaf that once made cigars famous but has since become expensive and time consuming to grow properly.
The other line, La Instructora Perfección, also comes in four sizes, each in 15-count boxes:
- La Instructora Perfección Belicoso Extra (6 x 57) — $15
- La Instructora Perfección Invicto (5 3/4 x 56) — $18
- La Instructora Perfección Petite Salomón (5 1/2 x 47) — $12.50
- La Instructora Perfección Royal Corona (5 1/8 x 48) — $10
It uses an Ecuadorian habano rosado wrapper and Dominican criollo 98 binder from Potrero, with a blend of Dominican tobaccos for the filler. Blanco grew the Dominican criollo 98 seco and ligero from Potrero, while a Dominican piloto seco comes from La Canela and farmer Ernesto “Campeón” Infante. It’s rounded out by Dominican piloto viso from the Quisqueya Cia farm in La Canela.
“True rosado was something I always loved but had a hard time finding,” Saide told halfwheel, adding that it can be a tough tobacco to blend and balance. Part of achieving that balance are the secos used in the filler, one aged five years and the other aged six years.
Saide and Blanco aren’t hesitant about showing so many details about their cigars and the tobaccos used to make them. “We like to give out a lot of information about the cigar to share our passion for the tobacco and share our passion for it with those that are also passionate about it,” Saide said.
Both cigar feature distinctive bands and boxes, with a paint splatter design for each line; a purple-based, multicolor design for Perfección and black and white for the Box Pressed.
The cigar has quietly been in the market for just over a year, and Saide is currently traveling the country introducing the line to retailers, who will only be able to offer it for in-person sales. It will then be shown at the upcoming 2017 IPCPR Convention & Trade Show in its own booth along with Saide’s Sans Pareil line and separate from the Tabacalera Palma booth. In the meantime, the brand has released an introductory video on YouTube, a website, and Instagram and Facebook accounts.
Images via La Instructora.
Patrick Lagreid
I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League. I also work in a number of roles for Major League Baseball, plus I'm a voice over artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.
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