Aaron Saide of La Instructora is sending a surprise to some of his retailers and customers next month by way of some uniquely designed cigars.

Dubbed Lucky Cigars, these variants will come in the same boxes and sizes as the regular production La Instructora lines, but will feature unique designs on them and some variations on the wrappers. “We had a roller that really seemed to enjoy that kind of work, a younger guy who would just put on his headphones, jam out and start bringing me all sorts of crazy stuff,” Saide told halfwheel.

For the project, Saide went into the aging rooms of Tabacalera Palma in the Dominican Republic, where the cigars are made, and pulled out cigars from the original batch of La Instructora and removed the wrappers so that the roller could create his designs. He said that the wrappers will generally remain the same as what is found on the original, but there will be some variance due to the different varietals used to create the accents and designs. “It was a super-fun project to create a bunch of unique looking cigars, though incredibly stressful to watch,” Saide said, referring to how very delicate and intricate pieces of tobacco were cut and applied by the individual working on the project.

He also noted that there will be no way to tell from the boxes whether or not it contains the specially designed cigars. Each of the ten sizes got its own unique design, so a box of Lucky Cigars will contain 15 cigars of the same design. Additionally, they won’t cost any more than the price of their regular production counterparts. Saide said he simply wanted to do something fun with the line without it coming at a premium price.

La Instructora is made up of two lines, Perfección and Box Pressed. The Perfección wears the multi-colored band and uses an Ecuadorian habano rosado wrapper and Dominican criollo 98 binder from Potrero, with a blend of Dominican tobaccos for the filler. It comes in the following five sizes:

  • La Instructora Perfección Belicoso Extra (6 x 57) — $15 (Box of 15, $225)
  • La Instructora Perfección Invicto (5 3/4 x 56) — $18 (Box of 15, $270)
  • La Instructora Perfección Petite Salomón (5 1/2 x 47) — $12.50 (Box of 15, $187.50)
  • La Instructora Perfección Royal Corona (5 1/8 x 48) — $10 (Box of 15, $150)
  • La Instructora Perfección Short Robusto (4 1/2 x 52) — $10 (Box of 15, $150)

The Box Pressed comes in a black-and-white band and uses a Brazilian cubra wrapper, Dominican piloto binder from Jacagua, and a filler blend of Dominican criollo 98 ligero and seco from Potrero, along with Dominican piloto seco and viso from La Canela. All but the wrapper is grown by José “Jochy” Blanco of Tabacalea Palma. It is offered in five sizes as well:

  • La Instructora Box Pressed 1 (7 x 54) — $17 (Box of 15, $255)
  • La Instructora Box Pressed 2 (5 3/4 x 52) — $18 (Box of 15, $270
  • La Instructora Box Pressed 3 (5 1/2 x 47) — $12.50 (Box of 15, $187.50)
  • La Instructora Box Pressed 4 (4 1/4 x 46) — $10 (Box of 15, $150)
  • La Instructora Box Pressed 5 (5 1/2 x 55) — $150 (Box of 15, $150)

Saide declined to share images of the Lucky Cigars or what the designs look like, but he said that “if I had bought a box of cigars and found something like this, it would have made my week, my month, maybe even my year.”

He added that he produced a bit more than 100 boxes of the La Instructora Lucky Cigars for the release, and left the door open to doing more in the future without committing to future productions. He expects that the first boxes will be discovered by retailers in mid-April.

Avatar photo

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 MLB.com, 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.