La Galera Limited Edition

This section was created when the first limited "Year of" cigar from La Galera was launched in 2025. More are likely to follow in the coming years – these wouldn't have fit properly into the classic lines of La Galera cigars.

La Galera “Year of” Editions: Limited Series With Collector Potential

Jochi Blanco is the founder and owner of this brand and certainly no unknown in the cigar industry. With his Tabacalera La Palma in the Dominican Republic, he has been a renowned and respected producer of premium cigars for decades. At first, he mainly operated as a contract manufacturer and had no brands of his own to offer. In collaboration with Rafael Nodal, he created, among others, the Aging Room cigars and Swag cigars in 2010, which sold quite successfully. Rafael has since moved on and is now with Altadis USA, and of the Aging Room cigars, only one line remains: the Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua, which even gained attention in 2019 with a “Best Cigar of the Year” rating by Cigar Aficionado. Long story short: Jochi truly knows his craft and wanted to finally launch completely independent series for which he alone bears responsibility and from which he alone can profit financially. Which is only fair, considering he personally blended and created the exceptional La Galera cigars that followed!

Jochi Blanco and Tabacalera La Palma: From Contract Manufacturer to Independent Cigar Brand

Since 2016, he’s been pursuing his passion project on his own – this vertical integration also reflects a deeply rooted cigar culture from Tamboril, the Dominican epicenter of cigar production. The brand name might sound a bit “wild” at first, as it literally means “galley” in German. In Spanish, or more precisely in the cigar industry, it refers to the place where the actual rolling of the cigars takes place. The rollers are thus the proverbial “slaves” who, like in ancient Roman galleys, diligently work away. The first two series were Corojo and Connecticut. The former is bolder and spicier, while the latter is milder and creamier. By now, he offers significantly more series – the concept has proven to be a great success! Interestingly, the Plasencia family with their Plasencia cigars pursued a similar strategy around the same time, aiming to be much more visible under their own name as well.

From Woermann to Vandermarliere: New Paths for La Galera in Germany

The original importer in Germany was the cigar house Woermann. Due to the next generation of the Woermann family showing no interest in the cigar business, the company was sold in 2022 to the Belgian family-owned business Vandermarliere, which now also handles distribution. VCF (Vandermarliere Cigar Family) also distributes, among others, AJ Fernandez cigars and Nicarao cigars.