La Galera 90th Anniversary Nanán

There is an abundance of personalities within this cottage industry, but to me, José Arnaldo Blanco III is one that stands out a bit more than others.

I think a lot of it is because, unlike many of his peers, Jochy—as he is known—is much quieter. Not necessarily audibly quieter, rather, he’s not marketing himself to the same levels that many others do. To his peers, I gather that his authenticity and honesty are the traits that are admired much more. With Jochy, there’s seemingly very little, if any, b.s.

For example, this year marks the 90th anniversary of the registration of Tabacalera Palma, Blanco’s factory operation in the Dominican Republic. And so to go along with the new blend created for the anniversary, Blanco brought along a certificate from 1942 showing that the first factory was registered that year.

To be clear, that factory is not the current factory, or factories, plural. The company now has two factories in the Dominican Republic: the one it had been using and then a new one that opened in late 2024, located just next door. My understanding is that cigars are still being rolled in both, though the handmade cigars are being made exclusively in the new one.

The new line, named the La Galera 90th Anniversary, marks another major development for the company: it’s its first Dominican puro. As just about any Dominican cigar company will tell you, growing wrapper in the country is difficult. While most major Dominican factories have made at least one cigar with a wrapper from the island, it’s nowhere near as common as it is for the Central American factories.

As for the blend, it’s made entirely of tobaccos grown by Tabacalera Palma, capped off by a corojo wrapper from the Jacagua farm I’ve visited a few times.

It’s offered in two vitolas:

• La Galera 90th Anniversary Lector (5 5/8 x 54) — $18.06 (Box of 18, $325)
• La Galera 90th Anniversary Nanán (6 3/4 x 44/58) — $27.22 (Box of 9, $245)

Both vitolas are box-pressed, though the Lector is a pretty standard box-pressed double robusto, while the Nanán is anything but standard. It’s a square-pressed salomón, meaning that each of the four panels is roughly equal, but with round curves at both the top and bottom. Blanco said the Nanán is all new-vitola for the company.

Those small gold circles are made to mimic the look of a cigar mold.

• Cigar Reviewed: La Galera 90th Anniversary Nanán
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: Tabacalera Palma
• Wrapper: Dominican Republic (Corojo, Jacagua)
• Binder: Dominican Republic (Piloto Cubano, Gurabo)
• Filler: Dominican Republic (Corojo Ligero Jacagua, Criollo 98 Ligero La Canela, Criollo 98 Seco Gurabo & Piloto Cubano Seco La Canela)
• Length: 6 3/4 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 48/62
• Shape: Salomón
• MSRP: $27.22 (Box of 9, $244.98)
• Release Date: Aug. 7, 2026
• Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

The shape of the Nanán is unique, though perhaps not revolutionary. In many ways, it reminds me of a salomónes version of Arturo Fuente’s Shark, a hybrid round and box-pressed torpedo vitola, something that becomes easier to see once this cigar is smoked down a bit. I suspect that due to the unique shape, the cigars feel denser than average. Given this is the first Dominican puro from La Galera, I’m more interested in the Dominican wrapper. Again, I think the unique shape has an effect, as some of the veins are probably thicker due to the press. That said, the wrapper looks pretty good with an even milk chocolate color, an average amount of oils, and some areas where the veins aren’t as prominent. The aroma from the wrapper is medium-full with minerals, woodiness and paste from the first cigar, but more of a watered-down lemonade smell from the other two. Given the small opening, I don’t get anything different from the feet. Cold draws are medium-full with a mixture of drier breads—plain cracker, graham cracker, or granola—and some other sweetness that ranges from cantaloupe rind, raisins and milk chocolate. Each cigar has some pond water-like flavor, while there’s just a touch of a chili burn on the second, the only pepper on the cold draws.

None of the cold draws gave me any concerns about how the draws will be once the cigars are lit, but none of the cigars deliver much smoke on the first puff. What’s present is medium-full with woodiness, bread and earth; the second cigar is grittier, while the third cigar has touches of milk chocolate and berries, but it takes a bit for each cigar to get going. Once the bottom end of the La Galera 90th Anniversary Nanán has been burnt through, the flavors become easier to identify. The core is a pedestrian mixture of wood and earth leading some creaminess, nuttiness and milk chocolate. Each cigar has some mild meatiness, most distinct as processed turkey in the third cigar. The finish gets toastier and adds some herbs, though it’s not all that exciting. Retrohales of the first two cigars have nuttiness, soggy pizza crust, toastiness and some mild pepper. The third cigar has a very mild mixture of Sprite and pencil lead, though it’s overwhelmed quickly by the dry earth. The finishes are more interesting: the second cigar has a dry creaminess that reminds me a bit like a cheese, while the third cigar has nuttiness, creaminess and a sharp green pepper. Flavor is medium-full, body is medium-plus or medium-full, and strength is medium. Both the first and second cigars develop some cracks above the burn line but below the bands, but neither cigar seems affected. Otherwise, construction is great.

By the midpoint of the cigar, I’m having much greater success finding some of the unique aspects of the La Galera 90th Anniversary. If the main flavors are a 7/10 intensity-wise, the unique flavors are closer to 2/10, oftentimes appearing as the stronger earth, nuts and wood flavors begin to fade. On the first cigar, there’s some hard pretzel and creamy potato starch, on the second cigar there’s some dark soy sauce, while the third cigar consistently has pistachios. The finish gets a bit drier thanks to some minerals, but the third cigar shines with salty pistachios and some mild raspberry. Retrohales add some bread flavors: plain bagel in the first, soggy pizza dough and later glazed donut in the second, and more of a generic dough in the third. I enjoy the second cigar’s retrohale the most as there’s also some Liquid Smoke, toasted paprika and lime. For the most part, the finish turns things toastier with requisite black pepper in tow. The third cigar gets the award for my favorite retrohale finish, as there’s a five-minute stretch where what’s left on my palate tastes like how a lime donut might taste, again quite subtle. Flavor is close to full, body is medium-plus and strength is medium-full. Construction remains very good, with the only note being that I wish the first cigar’s draw were a tad more open.

Not 10 minutes after I type that note about the draw, I feel it opening up. While that’s good news, I notice the temperature of the smoke has gone from slightly cooler than average to slightly warmer than average. I don’t think that’s helping the flavor profile, which really leans into starches—plain rice, plain potato chips—and woodiness, joined by some acorns and a hint of sweetness. Retrohaling intensifies all of those flavors, while also bringing out some nuttiness, saltiness and, in the case of the third cigar, some surprising floral flavors. The finishes are all over the place: minerals, pencil lead and salt for the first cigar; potato chips and black pepper for the second; while the third cigar is a bit of a hybrid of those two but with some added sour cream. Flavor is medium-full or full, body is medium-full and strength is medium for two cigars but full for the second. Construction finishes excellently, achieving the maximum points for the review.

Final Notes

• José Arnaldo Blanco II opened his first factory in 1925, meaning that if Jochy Blanco wanted to, he could have claimed this as the 101st anniversary of the company. However, La Galera has long used 1936 as the company’s founding year.
• Nanán was the nickname of Jochy’s father. Recently, the company posted a video with employees talking about him.
• While this is the first Dominican puro from the company, it’s not the first blend to use a Dominican wrapper. The Rough Rider Candela, another La Galera line, uses a candela wrapper from the Jacagua farm. However, the rest of the blend includes tobaccos from other countries.
• I imagine that some don’t really count candela when it comes to “growing wrapper in the DR” as the curing process for candela is a lot easier compared to the more common wrapper options.
• While I enjoy looking at both this shape and Arturo Fuente’s Shark, I’d rather just smoke a round version. For whatever reason, the hybrid round and box-pressed cigars feel weird in my mouth.
• The lower half of each cigar had a pretty normal firmness. However, it just got denser and the parts above the band were, especially on the first cigar, concerningly hard.
• Speaking of the first cigar, I was super impressed with the ash, which looked like a stack of square-shaped dimes.
• In the middle of the year, we upgraded our cameras. While the old ones aren’t bad, I’m regularly amazed by the detail the new sensors pick up. In this case, it was cool to see the rows of green lines in the secondary band. I can see it with my eye, but it wasn’t obvious until I took the pictures.
• La Galera’s main bands are made by Vrijdag, the same company that makes the bands used for OpusX, Perdomo and a lot of Habanos S.A.’s portfolio.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel. 

• The box lists these cigars as 6 3/4 x 48/62 perfectos. The cigars I smoked were 6 1/2 inches long and just under 70-ring gauge at the thickest point.
• Final smoking time ranged from two hours and 50 minutes to three hours and 20 minutes. It’s a big cigar with lots of tobacco.

Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. Previously, I started TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors blogs of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry since 2010, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. Beyond writing, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff from weighing cigars to coordinating the tech. Outside of work, I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.