Vitola: 1959- 4.75” x 52 ring gauge
- MSRP $8.00
- Purchased at Silo Cigars
Background
L’Atelier hit the cigar scene in a big way a few years back, but it seemed to have quieted down coming into this year’s trade show. I’m just speaking from what I could see from sales at the shop where I work…Tatuaje sales continued to be high, even among lines that were years old, but L’Atelier sales had fallen off after the initial newness had worn off. (The reason I lump them together is because they both have the influence of Pete Johnson and the Garcia family in the blending and marketing…Lat also has influences from K.C. Johnson and Dan Welsh). It looked like they needed an unqualified hit…
La Mission du L’Atelier may just be that hit. Upon announcement, the buzz and hype started building. The sample I got from the trade show was probably the best thing I had ever had from the My Father factory that used a Mexican wrapper. Best of all, the cigars sold briskly at both the wholesale and retail levels. When Burns tried to get boxes for a “Tat/Lat” event, we were unable to get anything more than a couple boxes of the largest vitola. So I ended up getting this sample from Silo on a recent trip to Knoxville.
As mentioned, La Mission uses a Mexican San Andres wrapper, with the usual My Father Nicaraguan fillers and binder, and the blend is said to use Sancti Spiritus tobacco in the blend, a trademark of the L’Atelier lines. Three vitolas were launched originally, each named after “a vintage year when the Château La Mission Haut-Brion wine received a 100 point designation by Robert Parker,” and thus further cementing the Johnson family with the wine trade. I’ve had this blend before only in the show sample…this smoking is my first officially released stick.
Prelight
The band on La Mission is by far the most ornate thing to adorn a L’Atelier. It has a complex die cut shape with lots of gold foil and black on a cream colored background. Some embossing, a highly textured paper stock and a splash of red in the middle complete the look which is rich and very old school…again, unlike pretty much anything in this particular company’s past. The wrapper leaf was a dark brown with a toothy look and an oily touch. It had a strong earthiness with a touch of leather. The foot of the cigar had more earth and some chocolate aroma.
I clipped the end with my regular straight cutter and got a fairly tight cold draw with tons of sweetness…a mix of dried fruit and chocolate. There were also some earthy and grassy notes in the mix.
Flavor
It didn’t take long…maybe three puffs…and I was blown away. Seriously, my initial impression of this being the best Mexican-wrapped cigar out of the My Father rolling rooms seemed to be confirmed and amplified right out of the gate. Unlike some of their past Mexican blends, which I found to be overly bitter and chalky, this was explosive with sweetness and spice, earth and coffee.
The cigar burned slowly through the first third and into the second, constantly delivering a full-bodied, oily smoke that had a great deal of creaminess and sweetness, along with lesser notes of black coffee and earth. The grassy notes faded a bit and pepper was only really felt on the nose.
The last third of La Mission showed a bit of the bitterness that I’ve come to expect from Mexican wrapper, but there was still enough sweetness to balance it well. Notes of coffee, earth and cocoa powder still reigned and the pepper left the building completely.
Construction
I needed to touch up the burn line a couple times, but nothing out of the ordinary for a Maduro wrapper. The draw was a little snug, but more in a way that made the cigar smoke very slowly than not being able to get sufficient smoke. The ash held on for up to an inch at a time.
Value
The price point was at the upper end of the sweet spot, which was really quite reasonable for such a good stick.
Conclusions
La Mission is truly a remarkable new cigar from the L’Atelier line. It has a great flavor, a pleasing amount of complexity and a very slow burn rate. I don’t hesitate to call this my favorite Mexican-wrapped cigar from the My Father factory and one of my favorite Mexican sticks ever. It’s simply an excellent full-bodied stick that you should try.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10
