Tatuaje Havana Cazadores Sunday, Apr 27 2008

Country: USA
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan Long Filler
Size: Lonsdale 6^3/8 x 43 ring

The Tatuaje Havana Cazadores come in cedar cabinets of 25 and are packaged in the old Cuban style. They are packed wet and wrapped in foil with a yellow ribbon around the bundle. Here’s some pictures I took back when I bought them. You can click the pictures for an enlarged view.

This vitola is reported to be Pete Johnson’s vitola of choice and it also happens to be one of my favorites as well. I love Lonsdales. I think it is just possibly the best size for a cigar. When used with a good blend of tobaccos, the ring gauge and length lends itself to a wonderfully complex smoke with a near perfect duration, about an hour to 75 minutes. I have a hard time picking between this cigar and the Reserva SW as my favorite of the Brown Label line. When pressed I usually end up giving a slight edge to the Reserva SW only because I find it a little more complex.

Like almost all of the Tatuajes, it starts off with a full blast of pepper. Once you work your way into the smoke a bit, the pepper calms down a little. I find this stick to be the most “cubanesqe” of all the Tatuajes. It is a heavy, full bodied smoke with some serious strength. They are hard to take on an empty stomach. The smoke progresses nicely, first with black coffee flavors transitioning into a rich nutty/earthiness with brief flashes of cocoa. It picks up a lot near the end getting spicy and peppery again with notes of wood. It has black pepper on the finish throughout the smoke.

The burn goes crooked every once and while but if you’re paying attention, you can get it to correct itself. The draw is perfect and the ash is well formed. The thick white clouds of smoke produce a room bouquet is very reminiscent of that of a Cuban Montecristo. Tatuajes produce amazing aromas and this one may have the best aroma of all of them.

It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of Tatuajes and the Havana Cazadores are no exception. This is an exceptional cigar that I could be happy smoking everyday. I plan to make sure I never run out of these gems.

Rating - A

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Redux: Tatuaje Reserva SW Thursday, Feb 7 2008

Country: USA
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: Churchill 7.0″ x 47 ring

The Tatuaje Reserva SW just may be my favorite cigar bar none. When asked to make a list it always lands in the number one spot, but in my mind the lines on these sorts of things are a little less clear. The point is, I love this cigar and make a point to enjoy one on a regular basis. When I first struck up my blog’s relationship with my friends over at CigarsDirect.com I told them my favorite cigar was the Tatuaje Reserva SW. They asked for a list of my favorites so as is typically the case, the Reserva SW ended up in the number one slot. As a very generous thank you for the Reviews I’d be writing for them, they sent me a few of these gems to enjoy. I have posted a review of the SW in the past but honestly I didn’t give it the full attention to detail it deserved so as I went to grab one of the SWs that CigarsDirect.com sent me I knew it was time to revisit this stellar cigar here on the blog.

The Tatuaje Reserva SW is part of the Selección de Cazador line of Tatuajes, which is also commonly referred to as the Brown Label or Tatuaje Cabinet, and even sometimes as Tatuaje Miami. The Reserva extension of this line is a collection of super premium cigars. It is available in three vitolas. The robusto sized 5×50 Reserva J21, the “A” sized 9.25×47 Reserva A Uno, and the Churchill sized 7×47 Reserva SW. The SW is a not so subtle reference to Sir Winston Churchill who was particularly fond of the vitola that now bears his name. Of course like all Tatuajes, the SW is made in the traditional Cuban style with a triple cap by the master blender and cigar maker Don Pepin Garcia. The Reserva takes it’s Cubanesque styling a step further with the “Reserva” name and the black and gold Reserva band that very closely resembles the “Reserva” band used by some Cuban brands’ super premium line extensions. Pete Johnson is a huge fan of Cuban cigars and the Cuban cigar industry so a lot of what Tatuaje does is fashioned after the Cuban brands. The Reserva Line of Tatuajes tend to be a milder blend then the rest of the Brown label line but I find that they tend to be a bit more complex as a result.

Before getting down to business, I took a moment to admire the leathery brown wrapper. It had a slight oily sheen and a few thin but prominent veins running across it, giving it a slightly rustic look. The triple cap on the head clipped perfectly with my trusty Palio. A pre-light puff reveals a perfect draw and delivers a hint of black pepper to the toungue. I used my brand new ST Dupont X-tend lighter to put the cigar to flame. The Reserva SW starts off like most Tatuajes with Pepin Garcia’s trademark peppery start. It only takes a few good draws for this one to settle down. Noticeably mellower than the standard Brown Label Tats, for most of the 1st half it is a very smooth and creamy smoke. It has a very woody core with undertones of coffee and cream. The creaminess of the smoke has an almost buttery feel to it. The smoke is thick and slow to dissipate. Once you pass the halfway mark, the cigar begins to pick up a bit. It gets a bit more robust but never threatens to become what you’d call full bodied. The flavors got more earthy and leathery, less creamy, and the finish seemed to hang on longer but it never lost its smoothness. As I tried to nub it down to my fingers there was a return of the black pepper I experienced at the start of the smoke. It was there for about the last smokable inch of the cigar and may be attributable to tar buildup near the head. Construction was impeccable and the burn perfect. The ash was firm but a bit papery on the edges.

The Reserva SW is far and away my favorite Churchill and when pushed to name a number one overall favorite cigar, this one still manages to grab that title for me. With only one anomalous exception among the many I’ve smoked, I have never been anything short of wowed by this cigar. It is 2 hours of pure smoking pleasure. It’s smoothness couple with its impressive complexity suits my palate to a “T”.

Get yours at CigarsDirect.com: Tatuaje Reserva SW

Rating - A+

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Tatuaje Havana VI Nobles Saturday, Sep 22 2007

Country: Nicaragua
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: Robusto 5.0″x50 ring

I was going to smoke a Cuban this afternoon. I went into the winecoolerdor and pulled out the cedar tray I use to hold my Cuban singles and in there was a misfiled Tatuaje Havana VI Nobles. I thought it over for a second and I ended up grabbing the Tatuaje. Such is the nature of my sickness. The Nobles is even my least favorite vitola (not to suggest that I don’t like it) in the Havana VI line, but for some reason I felt almost compelled to smoke it. I’ve smoked a bunch of the Havana VI cigars but have never put together a review of any of them so I figured this would be a good one to write up.

The Havana VI line is supposedly made with the same tobacco as the regular Tatuaje line, but the blend is obviously different. These cigars tend to be more of a medium bodied smoke compared to the powerful full bodied regular Brown Label line. Another difference is that the Havana VI is rolled in Pepin Garcia’s Nicaraguan factory, Tabacalera Cubana, where the regular line is rolled in Miami in his El Rey de los Habanos factory. Having the Havana VI rolled in Nicaragua allows for greater production because the Nicaragua factory employs many more rollers and is capable of producing cigars at a much higher volume and at a lower cost. The Miami factory only employs about 12 rollers, all of them class 8 master rollers. The Havana VI, like the regular Tatuaje is named after one of Pete Johnson’s dogs. This line is named after his dog Havana and the first letter in the names of each of the vitolas can be used to spell out the dog’s name. Your can read more about this in my earlier post, Trivia: Tatuaje - La Seleccion de Cazador.

The Nobles is a good looking cigar with an oily, slightly veiny, chocolate brown wrapper. The pre-light aroma is a non-descprit tobacco aroma. My Palio made a perfect cut across an expertly applied triple cap. The initial draw delivered a predominatley woody/cedary flavor with a subtle floral undertone. The cigar felt solid and well packed and I found the draw to be spot on with just the right amount of resistance. It lit easily producing a lot of thick creamy smoke that had a subtle almost chocolate like aroma to it. Most notable was the lack of what has become a trademark of Pepin Garcia made cigars. The well know peppery start was not to be found here. It started off very smooth and almost mild. The smoke delivered a creamy, woody flavor which dominated the entire smoke and there was a distinct coffee bean flavor on the finish. I picked up the occasional faint note of cocoa but the flavors pretty much stayed consistent throughout. I have found the Nobles to be the most mild in the Havana VI line. Much more mild than the others like the Hermoso for example, which is my favorite size. The Nobles is also the most one dimensional size in the line lacking any real complexity, but the flavors it does deliver are very enjoyable. The burn was perfect and the ash was well formed and held firm, so from a construction stand point this cigar is excellent. Although this is by no means a bad cigar, it is actually quite good, it just doesn’t hold much for me and when I go for a Havana VI I will usually go for the Hermoso or Victorias as they have proven to be the most interesting and enjoyable sizes for me.

Rating - B

For other opinions on this cigar check out the links below.

The Keeper of the Flame - Havana VI Nobles

P.S. I promise my next review will not be a Tatuaje or Pepin cigar .

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Tatuaje Reserva “A” Uno 9.25″x 47 Wednesday, Sep 19 2007

Country: USA
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: “A” 9.25″x 47 ring

Well I decided to smoke another giant Tatuaje. I promise to smoke and review a cigar that isn’t a Tatuaje soon. I know I have been kind of a one trick pony lately with all these Tatuaje posts. I guess it is bordering on an unhealthy obsession. To follow up the RC233 I went with the slightly longer but much slimmer Reserva “A” Uno.

This long but slim cigar looked like it was going to take a long time to smoke and it did. Thankfully not nearly as long as a Tatuaje RC233 that I smoked recently. This one was about an hour and a half smoke. It’s a good looking cigar. A little bumpy and rustic looking but still a very good looking stick. I was a little careless pulling this from the humidor and to my horror I dropped the cigar. My heart sank as I picked it up and saw a break in the wrapper. But thankfully it turned out to be a fairly minor scar and it had zero effect on how the cigar smoked. You can kind of see the damage peeking out from the underside of the cigar in the picture.

It sports a triple cap like all of Pepins smokes and the head clipped nicely with my trusty Palio. The prelight draw was perfect and it gave an impression that I was about to smoke a powerful cigar. Well it was more of a medium bodied smoke. It lit nicely and the first 2 inches were dominated by that trademark Pepper that almost all of Pepin’s cigars seem to have. It is amazing the different flavor profiles he can create using just Nicaraguan tobacco and still he some home manges to have them all start out with that trade mark pepper. Once I got past the first two inches the cigar mellowed out considerably. It was a velvety smooth smoke. It was dominated with a creamy woody flavor with a slight hint of sweetness at times. As the smoke progressed I detected some caramel notes and some flashes of cedar. It picked up a little towards the end as it got a little peppery combined with a toasted tobacco flavor. Overall and very good and complex smoke. The burn was immaculate and the ash held firm but it was a little papery on the edges. A good smoke but not as robust as most of the Tatuaje line. Also a little pricey and a big commitment time wise. I enjoyed it and was glad I tried it but I won’t be reaching for this very often if at all. Mainly because of the size and also because some of the other vitolas in this line are bit fuller and are better smokes in my opinion. So I think the verdict on Giant Tatuajes is that they are good but not as stellar as some of the other vitolas. I only posted a review on the Regio and RC184 so far, but I would rate the Regio, RC184, Noella, Tanios, and the Havana Cazadores better than these giant vitolas. Of course I reviewed the Reserva SW as well, which if I had to pick a favorite, the Reserva SW would be it. Be sure to try the “A” Uno at least once though. It’s worth it.

Rating - B+

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Tatuaje RC233 Wednesday, Sep 5 2007

Country: USA
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: Figuardo 9.125″x55 ring

So I’m probably building myself a bit of a reputation for being a Tatuaje “Homer” and I won’t deny it. They are fantastic cigars and even the cheapest of the line, the white banded P series is pretty darn good for a mixed filler yard ‘gar. Tatuajes have been dominating my smoking rotation as of late which is why they also have been dominating my recent reviews as well. So keeping with that theme here is yet another Tatuaje review. This time I put an RC233 to flame.

I spent the better part of Saturday reorganizing my new garage. I had two reasons for doing so. Number one, I needed to make room to move even more junk from storage to my garage, and number two it was time to get the man room setup. The garage is my room, the “man room” if you will. It is a great place of refuge from the chaos that goes on inside the house with a wife, two small children, a dog, and a bird. So I needed to clean up the garage and get my new (but old) 42 inch rear projection TV and sitting area setup in the garage. After all it was opening day of the college football season and if ever there was a deadline to have your man room ready, that would be the day. By the afternoon everything was set and I was chilling out watching football. Fast forward to the end of the greatest football game of all time as my alma mater, Appalachian State University (2-time defending 1-AA National Champions) put the beat-down on big bad Blue in the Big House!!!! I was jumping through the roof! I’m still riding that high today. I wanted to smoke the biggest darn stogie in my possession to celebrate. None bigger than the RC233.

 

So off to the humidor I go and I pull out the 9+ inch foil wrapped perfecto. This is a good looking beast of a cigar. The size of it is a little intimidating and I know I’m settling in for 2 two and half hours or more with this bad boy. I explained the name of the Tatuaje RC’s a bit in my post about the RC184, but for a quick recap, the RC stands for “Retro Cuban” and the 233 represents the cigars length in millimeters. The RCs are limited in production making them kind of tough to find so when you come across one grab it if you ever intend to try them. Given the heft of the RC184 I expected its bigger brother to feel even heavier in the hand but was surprised that it didn’t. It seemed a little light for its size to me. A google image search located this handy picture showing the two RC’s side by side.

The head clipped nicely with my Palio. Like most perfectos getting it lit was a bit tricky. You need to get the burn up past the taper at the foot before the draw opens up enough to keep from popping a blood vessel while taking a draw. Once I got it going the draw was good but a little on the light side. I don’t know what Pepin does to his cigars that gives almost every one of them that trademark pepper right at the start but it was present on this cigar as well. Once I got a little over an inch or so into it the cigar mellowed dramatically. This is the mildest Tatuaje I have smoked so far and I’ve smoked many of them. The flavors were predominately coffee and cedar. I kept hoping for more flavors to develop or for the cigar to change things up a bit, but alas it did not. I have to admit I was a little disappointed. The flavors were quite good on this medium bodied smoke, but the cigar was a bit one dimensional. That’s not good for a cigar that boasts such a long length. There was still almost four inches left on the cigar when I found myself losing interest in it. I had gotten all I was going to get out of it and there was still about 45 minutes of smoking left on it. I persevered through the rest of the smoke but began paying far more attention to the football game then I did the cigar. It was a good cigar with superb construction, a good even burn , and good(albeit one dimensional) flavors but far too long and far too expensive for the experience it delivers. This is the 1st time I’ve found myself disappointed with a Tatuaje. I was especially surprised by this since the RC184 was an absolutely stellar cigar. Maybe it was a fluke, maybe not. I have two more in the humi and I’ll give it another shot the next time I’m in the mood for a two and a half hour smoke.

Rating - B

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Tatuaje RC184 Thursday, Jun 21 2007

Country: USA
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: Figuardo 7.25″x57 ring

Picked up a box of these recently. I posted pictures in a previous post. Tatuajes are hands down my favorite cigars so when I ran across these hard to find beauties I had to pull the trigger on them. The presentation on these is very cool. Pete Johnson loves cigars and has a lot of respect and love for the history of Cuban cigars, and as a tribute he designed the packaging and presentation of this cigar in a “Retro Cuban” style hearkening back to the old style foil-wrapped Cuban perfecto cigars. In fact the RC in the name stands for Retro Cuban. The 184 is the cigars length in millimeters.

The aroma of these cigars is just amazing. I find it hard to describe but it is the richest most decadent aroma I have ever smelled from a cigar. This hefty monster has some weight to it and it feels good in your hand. It’s packed full of tobacco, firm with no soft spots. It lit easily which was surprising to me. I usually find perfectos a bit tough to get going. It started off surprisingly mellow lacking the trade mark pepper that is so common in cigars made by Pepin Garcia. The flavors of this complex cigar are rich and pronounced. It started off with lots of spice and leather. Once the draw opened up a bit the cigar picked up and it developed earthy notes with cocoa and nuts. The draw was perfect and I was surprised again, this time by the burn. It managed to stay straight better than most other perfectos I’ve smoked. The ash was firm and held on forever. As I neared the end of this two plus hour smoke it picked up in intensity and got a little peppery and leathery. The flavors were bold and full but it didn’t have the same punch, or buzz factor that a lot of the other Tatuajes have. That isn’t a bad thing seeing how large the cigar is. If it was as strong as a Cojonu or a Noella it would be hard to finish it I think. The RC184 has earned itself a spot very near the top of my list of all time favorites. It’s complex, delicious and a joy to smoke.

Rating - A+

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Tatuaje Reserva SW Thursday, Mar 22 2007

Country: USA
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: Churchill 7.0″x47 ring

Tatuaje has become my favorite marca hands down and this cigar only reinforced that opinion. It is big stick with an oily, leathery, brown wrapper. There were small veins throughout and it was a little bumpy giving it a slightly rustic look. It had an expertly applied triple cap that clipped perfectly. It was well filled with no sign of any rib veins in the filler at the head or foot. The pre-light draw was firm with just the right amount of resistance. Very peppery at the start, it mellowed quickly to a nice woody core and vanilla notes with a nice earthy finish. I’d describe it as medium to full bodied, not as robust as the Regio or Noella. Half way through the vanilla disappeared and it got buttery/creamy with cocoa notes. The last third was the smoothest dominated by wood and leather. A fantastic and complex smoke start to finish. If it wasn’t for the price I could smoke this every day.

The burn was nice and even. The only thing I can say bad about this cigar is the ash. It was flaky and didn’t hold as well as I have come accustom to with other Tatuajes.

Rating - A+

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Cabaiguan Robusto Extra Tuesday, Mar 20 2007

Country: USA
Wrapper: Connecticut Seed Shade Grown Ecuadorian
Filler: Nicaragua
Size: Robusto Extra 5.25″x50 ring

Yet another cigar from the Maestro Tobaquero Jose “Pepin” Garcia. He rolls this one in his Miami factory for Pete Johnson just as he does the Tatuajes. This cigar more closely resembles a Cuban cigar than just about any other non-Cuban cigar I have ever seen. It is a work of art. The wrapper is a gorgeous. A rich tan color with the look of expensive leather. The are very few veins and the ones you do see are tiny. It even has a little puckered vein running down one side that I’ve seen on almost every Cuban cigar I’ve come across. And of course like all of his cigars this one is sporting a handsome triple cap. The cigar is beautiful. I even love the band. I’m a minimalist when it comes to bands which is why I am such a fan of the Tatuaje bands. As you can see above, this one is beautifully simple as well.

The cigar is well filled and the cap clipped perfectly with my Palio. The were no signs of rib veins anywhere in the head or foot and the bunch looked perfect. The foot toasted evenly and easily as if it knew that this was it’s purpose in life. The draw was pleasant and it produced a lot of creamy white smoke with a rich aroma. At first it tasted peppery which seems to be a trademark of Pepin’s cigars. The pepper quickly mellowed to just a hint and a woody/cedar flavor took over. The flavors were crisp and light on the palate but assertive and it had a long spicy finish. It started to develop a slight sweetness about half way through that was very pleasant but didn’t last long. The pepper started to pickup again a bit in the last 3rd and as I neared the end of the smoke it mellowed out again. It was an amazingly smooth smoke. The ash was perfect, marbled in white, gray, and black. The burn was a little crooked but by rotating the cigar as I smoked I kept it from becoming a problem.

This cigar is a prototype for how a cigar can be full of flavor without being a “strong” or “full bodied” cigar. This cigar was fantastic and ranks among my recent favorites. I will definitely be hunting down some more of these. I can see these quickly finding a spot on my list of box worthy cigars.

Rating - A

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Tatuaje Regios 5.5×50 Friday, Mar 31 2006

Country: USA
Wrapper: 1st Generation Cuban Seed Grown in Nicaragua
Filler: 1st Generation Cuban Seed Grown in Nicaragua
Size: 5.5″x50 ring
(for a detailed description of the points system I use please click here.)

The Tatuaje is a fantastic, and beautiful cigar that can be kind of hard to find. Tatuaje is a US cigar manufacturer and these cigars are produced in limited quantities. I understand they are rolled in the same factory as the Padillas down in Miami.

Construction - 9/10
This cigar is beautiful. It has a rich brown wrapper with a little tooth. What little veins it does have are very small and it is wrapped around the cigar perfectly. The cigar is well filled with no soft spots and has a very well done triple cap in the Cuban style. The band is remarkable in its simplicity. It is just a thin straight band of brown paper that says Tatuaje on it flanked by white flor de lis. The band is very classy.

Flavor - 18/20
A delicious full flavored cigar. It started off peppery but that soon gave way to a rich earthy flavor with notes of leather and coffee. The pepper was always there in the background though. The flavor stayed pretty consistent through the whole smoke until the very end where the peppery flavor started to take over again. I smoked this thing until my fingers were burning. If I had a roach clip, I would have probably used it so I could keep going.

Smoking Characteristics - 8/10
The cap clipped cleanly and the draw was sublime. That perfect spot between an easy and medium draw. It burned evenly from the initial light until I had to put it down due to my burning finger tips. It had a nice buzz factor as well. Nothing like what you might get from a Camacho Corojo, but you could definitely feel the effects of this cigar. My only disappointment with this cigar was the ash. It was a little papery on the edges and it did not hold as firmly as I expected from such a well made cigar. It held ok, but there are a lot of cigars whose ash holds firmer than this did.

Price - 4/5
A bit on the pricey side the Tatuaje line appears to start at $9 and change, but given how good this cigar is, I think it’s money well spent.

The Math
9+18+8+4=39\4.5=8.66*10=86.6

Score=86.6

I thoroughly enjoyed this cigar and recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good full flavored smoke. The trick is, you have to find one first. I hope that at some point these cigars become more widely available. I have to make a trip down to South Carolina to get them myself.

Update: My local got some of the brown labels in and I got a box. Hurray!

Also related: La Seleccion de Cazador

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