La Mission du L'Atelier

Steeped in classic wine and cigar traditions, L’Atelier Imports can be thought of as a workshop of sorts for Pete Johnson, who is best known as the owner of Tatuaje Cigars. In fact, the brand's name itself translates from French to mean exactly that: The Workshop. It is here that Pete showcases a different side of his cigar-blending personality, tinkering with unique recipes and allowing his love for wine culture to come into play.

This is best evidenced by a cigar known as La Mission du L’Atelier, a San Andrés-wrapped maduro that was inspired by the famed Château La Mission Haut-Brion winery in the Pessac-Léognan region of France. As the winery is known for its full-bodied style, so too is the now-acclaimed La Mission du L’Atelier cigar. Porting over one of Pete's favorite wines into the realm of cigars, he opted for an all-Nicaraguan binder/filler, including L’Atelier's signature usage of the rare Sancti Spíritus hybrid varietal. This combination is wrapped in a dark and oily Mexican San Andrés wrapper, box-pressed, and finished with a fan-tail cap. The end result is a masterful smoking experience that has since become perhaps the most acclaimed offering from L’Atelier, offering a medium-full body and a decadent profile of dark chocolate, anise, freshly roasted coffee beans, rich earth, and sweet toffee candy.