L’Atelier Côte d’Or ‘19

By Tony Casas | September 2, 2025

This week is starting off with a banger. Today I am looking at the L’Atelier Côte d’Or ‘19, a cigar I can’t get enough of.

The Good Stuff:

Originally released in 2015 the L’Atelier Côte d’Or immediately gained attention by featuring the rare Pelo de Oro tobacco which is grown exclusively on the Garcia family tobacco farms in Nicaragua. The tobacco is extremely difficult to grown, very easily gets damaged, and yields very little usable tobacco which makes it so scarce. The L’Atelier Côte d’Or ‘19. Is a new 6 x 50 format which was showcased at this year’s PCA convention. The blend features an Ecuadorian Sancti Spiritus wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos from Nicaragua which feature the Pelo de Oro tobacco. Manufactured at the My Father factory in Nicaragua, this version comes packaged in boxes of 10 and runs $18 per cigar.

• Size: 6 x 50
• Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sancti Spiritus
• Binder: Nicaraguan
• Filler: Nicaraguan
• Body: Full
• Strength: Medium
• Price: $18

Prelight:

The L’Atelier Côte d’Or ‘19 Starts out with a very dark, inconsistent wrapper with areas of orangish-brown, dark brown, and lighter brown spots. The wrapper’s texture if very toothy and grittier with a whole mess of oils coating it. The wrapper is laid over itself properly with only mild separation. There are a few medium sized veins running through the cigar’s body leading up to the the cigar’s round, triple-wrapped cap. The cigar is finished with the gold and mantilla band we have come to expect with the L’Atelier Côte d’Or brand as well as an added white foot ribbon.

The wrapper on the L’Atelier Côte d’Or ‘19 gives off some nice chocolate aroma while the foot of the cigar is way more earthy with spice and barnyard. The cap cut clean and easily. The cold draw produces notes of cocoa, natural tobacco and strong woodsy flavors.

First Third:

The L’Atelier Côte d’Or ‘19 starts out with a whole ton of cayenne pepper that I wasn’t expecting which lasted for quite a few of the first few puffs before settling down and allowing the cigar to release some really strong cedar and dark chocolate flavors and mix in perfectly with some light vanilla, toffee, and soft spice on the finish. The draw is as perfect as it gets as it releases a ton of smoke with every dray which hangs out for quite some time before dissipating while the cigar releases a good amount of stationary smoke while it rests in my ashtray. The soft-box press is extremely comfortable both in mount and hand. The burn line is sharp, but slightly wavy as it leads behind a trail of flaky, white ash which held on for a little over three quarters an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

This L’Atelier Côte d’Or ‘19 Is just kicking out all the flavor! There is a ton of dark chocolate and cedar leading the charge backed by notes of black cherry, toffee, vanilla and spice over a great earthiness and musk. I am really into this flavor profile. The retrohale really brings out the cherry and I find myself going back to it often. The burn line is still slightly wavy, but hasn’t needed any additional attention from my torch yet. I close out the second third with only very little in terms of a nicotine kick.

Finish:

The L’Atelier Côte d’Or ‘19 finished much more strong and more bold. The cedar is dominating now with the dark chocolate and black cherry taking the backing spot with still tons of toffee and spice underneath ear with a very earthy and musky finish. The L’Atelier Côte d’Or ‘19 took a little over an hour and a half to smoke, and I took it down to the very nub. There was no harshness, no extra heat, and no sap. I also closed out with a surprisingly low amount of nicotine. I never once had to touch up, or relight the cigar even with the burn line being a bit wavy.

Overview:

To say the L’Atelier Côte d’Or ‘19 is a good cigar is an understatement. Hell, to say that it’s a great cigar is still an understatement. The blend has always been fantastic and the toro format is phenomenal. From start to finish the complex flavors were bold and enjoyable. Outside of some slight waves the cigar burned perfectly from start to finish. The price, while is a bit on the high end, is expected for a cigar that utilizes such rare tobacco. There really isn’t anything to fault here. This cigar can easily make its way into the top cigars I’ve smoked all year.