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This Tatuaje is a Nicaraguan Puro and is Pete’s idea to try a little something new. Every piece of tobacco in this cigar comes from the same crop and same farm.  They will be released every year and are limited in quantity at about 1000 boxes a year. He is also introduces and “futures” pricing system on these, which means if you don’t buy them up front and early you are going to be paying out the ass for them in the future.

Wrapper: Habano Criollo (Nicaragua)

Binder: Nicaraguan

Filler: Nicaraguan

Body: Medium

Size: 5×50

Price: $20

Pre Light

This cigar has a flawless light brown wrapper with no visible flaws. The cold aroma on this smoke was of sweet barnyard and hints of pepper which shouldn’t shock anyone considering it is a Pete Johnson product. It has a perfectly applied triple cap which is easily removed with my Palio cutter. The cold draw is very easy with a load of pepper. So let’s light this puppy up!

First Third

As normal with a Pete Johnson cigar when you light it up you are automatically hit with a lot of pepper. But it quickly falls to the background with notes of wood and coffee coming to the forefront. The burn seems to be a little crooked,  but we will see how that turns out.

Second Third

As we come into the halfway point of the cigar the burn has become a real distraction with constant touch ups. The same wood notes are still there with some sweet chocolate coming and going. The ash holds on for a while with no flakeyness (if that is even a word).  The room aroma is nice and it puts off a lot of white creamy smoke. Do not I repeat DO NOT try and retrohale with this cigar unless you feel like crying.

Final Third

The flavors stayed the same throughout the final third of the cigar but I would consider that since the whole cigar came from the same farm in Esteli getting variance in flavor is going to be the main obstacle in this endeavor.

Overall

I appreciate the idea of futures and wouldn’t mind paying the original price. But after the price shoots up to $20 I don’t think they are worth that hefty price tag. Out of the 5 I smoked for this review every one of them had burn problems and after the third cigar it just became irritating. I know the 2009 vintage is available for pre order and if you are interested in purchasing I would do it early before the price jumps.

Keep em burnin’

Griff

This entry was posted on May 16, 2011 at 12:01 AM and is filed under Cigar Reviews . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.