Pre-light Experience

The wrapper on the La Galera Imperial Jade Churchill is light brown with some marbling and a network of raised veins and toothiness. The seams are slightly raised while the caps are well applied. The band is metallic green and white and denotes the company name. The aroma from both the wrapper and foot is a mix of cedar and light earth. The pre-light draw brings an airy, aged cedar with light mustiness.

First Third

The cigar begins with a mellow mix of lightly toasted cedar and mustiness. At three quarters of an inch in, the toast level increases a bit. The retrohale is very similar to the mouth draws, but carries a bit more mustiness. At an inch in, some light, dry earth joins the profile. At an inch and a half in, some mild baking spice becomes present. At an inch and three quarters, the earth has picked up a bit. As the third comes to a close, the profile is toasted cedar just ahead of the dry earth with baking spice in the middle and light mustiness in the background. The strength was slightly below medium.

Second Third

As the second third begins, all of the components are working pretty well together. At a half inch in, the earth is now even with the toasted cedar up front. The retrohale is now toasted cedar and earth with a mild baking spice. At an inch and a half in, the mustiness picks up a bit. As the third comes to a close, the toasted cedar and earth are even up front, with baking spice a bit behind and mustiness a bit behind that. The strength bumped up to medium.

Final Third

As the final third begins, a light creamy coffee note joins the profile while the toasted cedar gains a slight wood bitterness to it. At a half inch in, the toast level increases and the baking spice transitions to black pepper. At an inch in, the wood bitterness increases. The retrohale is now heavily toasted cedar, earth and black pepper. As the cigar wraps up, the bitterness becomes pretty heavy. The strength in this third remained at medium.

Burn

The burn line was straight throughout, but the cigar did go out once in the second third unexpectedly, requiring a re-light. The ash held on in inch and a quarter increments.

Draw

The draw was perfect, with just the right amount of resistance that I prefer.

Overall

The cigar began with a mellow mix of lightly toasted cedar and mustiness. Some dry earth joined a bit later. The second third saw all of the flavor components come together to be more cohesive. The final third saw a light creamy coffee and wood bitterness join. The toast level and bitterness increased as the third went along. The La Galera Imperial Jade Churchill had an interesting trajectory as the first third saw all of the flavor components arrive at different times, the second third showed them off working together and then the final third saw a build up of toast and bitterness. Overall, I don’t see this as something I’d come back to, but I might be interested in checking out a different vitola as the line has an attractive price point.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

6.00

Cost/Point

$1.58

Scoring System

Personal Cigar Review: La Galera Imperial Jade Churchill