La Galera, the brand owned by José “Jochy” Blanco along with the renowned Tabacalera Palma factory in the Dominican Republic released a new blend in mid July 2021 known as the Imperial Jade. For this new project and and 6th portfolio extension, Jochy chose to use a a Cameroon wrapper which is some thing that was growing in popularity throughout 2021 releases. The wrapper is a tricky leaf to work with in both flavor blending and combustion but Jochy is no new-comer to the industry and certainly knew what he was doing.
The resulting blend of the La Galera Imperial Jade is described as:
- Wrapper – Cameroon
- Binder – Dominican Republic
- Filler – Dominican Republic (Jacagua Piloto Cubano & La Canela Criollo 98)
The team decided they would express it in 5 vitolas that are popular with consumers each of which are packaged in 20-count boxes:
- Corona (5 1/2 x 44) – MSRP $7.00
- Robusto (5 1/2 x 50) – MSRP $8.00
- Piramide (6 x 52) – MSRP $9.50
- Toro (6 x 52) – MSRP $9.00
- Churchill (7 x 47) – MSRP $9.50
For this review I sampled one La Galera Imperial Jade Robusto
Pre-Light Examination
The La Galera imperial Jade sport a dark brown oily wrapper that has significant marbling and some toothiness throughout. There a few noticeable veins, The cigar is nicely packed from head to foot with no significant soft spots. A simple cap finishes the presentation.
A single band adorns the Imperial Jade. It is a rather large band that uses a white and jade green motif. The center of the band displays the companies logo while off the right side their is an Oriental dragon while the left side displays a Koi fish. In oriental culture, the dragon represents strength, power, and ferocity while the koi embodies perseverance and strength of will. Certainly a testament from Jochy.
As I ran the Imperial Jade along the nose, I picked up mild pungent notes off the barrel while the foot presented notes of fruit and cocoa.
Using my Baller Cutter, I opened up the cap and proceeded to give this one some cold draw puffs that I found to be fine with restriction. The draw offered a mild pepper note joined with some fruit notes.
With the pre-light examination out of the way, I used my double flame torch to warm the foot and drew in the first peppery puffs of smoke. Follow along as I burn the Imperial Jade to ash.
Cigar Review Notes
- First light offers notes of pepper along with a roasted nut aroma
- Solid white ash forms on top of a medium thick char line
- Floral notes brighten the profile
- Natural sweetness adds a tasty background to the profile
- Ash fell in nice chunk revealing a decent and centered burn cone
- Burn starts to get wavy
- Cedar notes build under the floral
- Aroma shifts to a woody note
- Strength moves up
- Wrapper cracks in the final third
- Medium to Full in Strength
- Total Smoking Time was 1 hour and 25 minutes
Final Analysis
The La Galera Imperial Jade was by no means a flavor bomb. In fact it was close to one dimensional. After the early pepper receded there was mostly cedar and floral notes that dominated the flavor. There were some nuanced aromas of wood and nut in spots but they did not push me to say- Damn I want another. Would I try it again, I might. I rate this an 89.
Point Deductions: (-1) Wavy Burn; (-2) Wrapper Crack in the final; (-1) Not very complex; (-1) Might buy Another
