Cigar Review: Tatuaje Serie P2

Hello all, well yesterday was a bit of a stressful day so after a hard days work, I headed down to Edwards Pipe and Tobacco in wonderful Fort Collins, and after a long decision making period, hard to do with only a $5 bill and a bunch of change to total $6.40, options are kinda small on a good, de-stressing smoke. So, I finally decided on a Tatuaje Serie P2 cigar, they were out of P3's, the toro being my favorite size.

Now, I know my previous blog regarding the Tatuaje Red Label Havana VI, was not sterling, but I figured since now the "hub-bub" regarding Tatuaje seems to be escalating, I figure I'd investigate a little more. Boy was I glad I did! The construction on this cigar was flawless! Beautiful lines, wonderful reddish-brown color, with a hint of vein in a wrapper that held the wonders inside! It was the perfect amount of tension of wrapper and binder over the filler creating a very nice draw. Not too firm and not too airy. Cutter cut clean with no debris and the wrapper stayed quite nicely. As the cigar burned it started to go a bit 'wonky', but then evened out just before the first 1/4 mark. The ash however was an unremarkable color and would not cling long, the longest I was able to get the ash to cling was just about one inch. The only bad note I'd have to say regarding construction was within the last inch and a half, the wrapper began to unravel and the stub became very squishy to hold.

Now, the real treat came when lighting it. As soon as flame met cigar my tongue was inundated with a wonderful sweet, spiced peppers flavor! I mean this was fantastic! This flavor remained almost throughout the whole cigar. About halfway through the spice bit a little more and the sweetness mellowed out and a third flavor gave character, but I could not say with certainty what it was. I want to say almost like a chocolaty coffee, but not quite. Towards the end the spice picked up a touch more and became a bit bitter, but that may have to do with the previous sweetness of the cigar not being as strong now. After all was said and done, this did not leave a foul flavor in my mouth and my overall experience with this cigar, has shown me why Tatuaje was just ranked the most popular and sought after brand by Cigar Aficionado.

Cigar Review: Tatuaje Havana VI Torpedo

So I have heard all the rage now about Tatuaje and since it is coming from one of the industries greatest cigar makers, Don Jose Pepin, it should live up to some nice hype. So I went down and picked up a Red Label Havana VI Torpedo.

Immediately I was impressed by its look. For a $5 stick, it looked very well constructed, smooth even colored wrapper, nice cap and a simple, yet elegant label. This is a Nicaragua puro (all Nicaraguan leaf, wrapper, binder and filler) To the hand it seemed just the right amount of soft, springy leaf filler in a perfect wrap. To light it didn't take much effort and had a near perfect draw. As it burned it created quite a nice even, white ash, although about 1/3 of the way into it, I had problems with an uneven burn, and starting around the 2/3 mark it started wanting to be a quick burn, forcing someone as long-winded as myself in conversation, to pay more attention to how often I'm pulling from the cigar requiring a re-light once. But overall I'd say this was a pretty fine smoke.

The flavor that first caught my attention within the first few draws was distinctly woody, I'd almost go as far to describe it as mesquite but not quite. but mellows out to just a wooded flavor with a hint of nut. Later, about 1/3 to halfway through there was a hint of a spice I couldnt quite place, my friend experinced the same at the 1/3 mark, it was almost like a teasing hint of anise on the back of my tongue, just poking every now and then which I found enjoyable. By the end I found that this had a fairly consistent character and good dense smoke. I paired this with a medium coffee and found that to be a pretty comfortable after dinner match.