L’Atelier LAT46 Selection Spéciale

The L’Atelier line comes from the My Father factory, and is blended by Pete Johnson, of Tatuaje fame. The LAT46SS is the latest release. I had a LAT54 a few months back, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The “Sancti Spiritus” tobacco that comprises the wrapper is a special new hybrid of Criollo and Pelo de Oro tobaccos. On the regular LAT line, it is “natural” colored. The LAT46SS has a darker, Sancti Spiritus wrapper from a higher priming.

When the LAT line was announced, there was some blowback that it was a ripoff of Cohiba’s Behike “BHK” line. The sicks came in the same three vitolas (complete with pigtails), they used a special new wrapper type, and the bands had an emphasis on shiny gold. The LAT46SS, however, looks very little like any of the BHKs. What it does look like, is delicious.

Statistics

CotM: August 2013



August 2013





Shape: Parejo







Chosen by: QuikAF77







Size: 5.8″ x 46







Country of Origin: Nicaragua







Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sancti Spiritus, Criollo & Pelo de Oro Hybrid







Binder: Nicaraguan







Filler: Nicaraguan







Color: Colorado Maduro

Colorado Maduro





Strength: Medium-full







Price Paid: Trade

Trade





Smoke Date: 8/20/2013

8/20/2013





Age: 2 weeks

Accessories Used

Cuban Crafters Perfect Cutter (Silver & Carbon Fiber), Bugatti B-2002 lighter with “pyramid” double-flame torch, Pop your Top brand key-shaped keychain bottle opener, Handmade English walnut ashtray made by wedgewoodrings.

Pairing

Bear Republic Red Rocket Ale in a pilsner glass. This is one of my absolute favorite beers. It’s an unfiltered bastardized Scottish red ale, and it is thick, cloudy and red, with a head that never dissipates. The dark fruity flavors of the beer accentuated the spice and pepper of the stick. Quite a tasty pairing.

Appearance/Nose

The first thing I noticed was the dark wrapper and the shiny gold band (which looks like something you would see on the sign of a fancy restaurant). There was also a secondary band which was black with gold lettering in fancy script. The next thing I noticed was how well this cigar was rolled. The little flag pigtail on the cap is always a welcome sight. It smelled of cocoa and barnyard.

Construction

I already mentioned the construction a bit, but overall I was very impressed by the construction on this cigar. It was perfectly smooth, and cylindrical. I don’t know why, but I got a sense that this cigar was more perfectly cylindrical than other cigars I’m used to–maybe I had already had too many ales–it was just–well, really straight and smooth with no variance. It had a beautiful dark wrapper and a triple cap with flag pigtail. Cutting the head, however, revealed a number of thick stems, which I believe contributed to the extremely tight draw in the first third. A flap of wrapper leaf near the head did pop up a bit during smoking, but never presented any problems. The burn was even for the most part, with a little wandering that was corrected with rotation. The ash was white and pale gray, and fell off after about 3/4 – 1″.

Cold Draw

Cold draw was extremely tight. I couldn’t get much flavor off it for that reason. A hint of cocoa on my lips from tasting the wrapper.

Smoking

First third

The draw remained extremely tight through the first couple of puffs, so a clipped a bit more off the head. This improved the draw a bit, though it was still tighter than I would have liked. I didn’t want to risk unraveling the wrapper, so I decided not to cut any more, and hope that the draw would improve on its own, or with a bit of squeeze-rolling.

The flavor was very chocolatey, with a very nice red pepper kick. The was a sweet, earthy, cookie-like taste on the finish, beneath the peppery burn.

At close to an inch in, the stick developed a much stronger chocolate cookie flavor. The smoke was creamy and impeccably smooth.

The draw remained damn tight. An inspection of the head revealed at least nine stems, with three of them being very thick, at least 2 mm in diameter. The ash fell off early, at about 3/4″.

Second third

The draw remained tight, forcing me to take two hard draws each time to get a mouthful of smoke. The flavor, however, continued to be delicious. A strong earthy, even leathery taste joined the chocolate cookie and red pepper.

The retrohale was a glorious blend of red pepper and Asian spices, with a creamy chocolate backing. The pepper began to fade as the earthiness took over.

The ash held on considerably longer this time.

Finally, after the second ashing, the draw opened up to medium-tight, and I began to really appreciate this cigar. A rich earthy, coffee flavor dominated at about the halfway point.

Final third

That rich, earthy flavor was still firmly in charge. It was wonderful, and a little hard to describe. The pepper had all but disappeared at this point, but you won’t hear any complaints from me. The retrohale was still full of Asian spices and earth.

The first band came off, and the smoke was earthy, creamy, and ultra-smooth. The flavors were extremely rich and satisfying. By this point, the draw had opened up fully to a medium-smooth.

The burn got a little wobbly at the very end, but I kept going until I burned my fingers.

Notes

Draw: Extremely tight, then tight, then medium

Extremely tight, then tight, then medium





Body: Medium-full

Medium-full





Primary Flavors: Earth, coffee

Earth, coffee





Smoke Output: Medium-full

Medium-full





Smoke Time: 2 hours

Overall

The tight draw at the beginning had me a little worried, but otherwise this was an absolutely amazing smoke. Even with the tight first third, this stick blew me away with its quality. It lands on my scale somewhere between “love” and “adore”, but with the assumption that the draw issue is not a regular problem, I’m going to tip it toward adore. The flavor was absolutely mesmerizing. When (not “if”) I have a few more, I could bump it down to “love” if the tight draw is a common occurrence.

Rating