Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: 5.375 x 42 “Perfecto- Bella Encre”
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $10.50

I was at my local B & M this weekend and saw something that caught my eye. A Tatuaje I had never seen before. The surprising thing is that there is no such thing as a cutting edge cigar store; like in Miami or New York. Everything is old school here. Like shopping a Thompson catalog. Lots of Patel, RYJ, Punch, and Macanudos. It’s very depressing. On top of that, most people running the Milwaukee stores don’t know much about cigars.

So I grabbed a few of these sticks. They had two sizes. The Perfecto and the Robusto. And both were $10.50 each beating the online curve by 50 cents each.

I’ve researched the hell out of these cigars and came up with a lot of conflicting information. So rather then have to retract something that’s wrong, I am going to say very little. A new high for me. This is another collaboration between Pete Johnson and Pepin Garcia; made at the My Father factory in Esteli, instead of Miami, where the usual brown labels are put together. This cigar is basically the brown label with a different commemorative label. And the box is different with some gold foil protecting the interior of the box.

The cigar is pleasant in its simplicity. The cigar band is not the usual rectangular type, but rather, a brown oval with gold lettering. On each side of the band, it says: “Seleccion de Cazador,” referred to as the ‘Cabinet Selection,’ or the everyday Brown Label

Atlantic Cigar had a sale going for its VIP members, of which I am a member. Its $60 a year and you can get some smashing discounts on cigars. The annual fee can pay for itself in one or two purchases.

So instead of paying $10.50 for the Perfecto, I paid a little over $5 each in a 5 pack. The sale started minutes ago and already many of the sizes are gone. My 5 pack said it had two units left. After my purchase, one.

On to the cigar. Construction is very good. The dark chocolate brown, oily wrapper, is gorgeous and shimmers in the sunlight. The seams are invisible and there are lots of spider veins. There is indeed a triple cap in place. The cigar is the perfect piece of solid vs. soft. Just the right amount of give. The Perfecto shape is flawless. A real work of art. The other cigars are advertised to have a closed foot. For some reason, the Perfecto does not.

I clip the cap and find aromas that includes loads of dark cocoa, deep and dark espresso, cedar, leather and wood, and dried apricot. With hints of citrus.
Time to light up.

Right of the bat, the cigar is delicious. When it comes to Tatuaje, is there any other status than delicious? The draw is perfect. The cocoa comes to fruition from aroma to flavor. A dark, baking cocoa flavor. And a nice cup of cappuccino. A slight creaminess that transforms the coffee from espresso to the above.

And then the spiciness hits. So far it is not overpowering as I expected. But I wait and here it comes. A pie in the face of hot pepper. The two prior sticks I smoked had razor sharp burn lines. This one? A wavy line, of course.

The strength hits the high end of medium right away. The earthiness and balance are immediately noticeable.
So far, the fruitiness and citrus do not make it from aroma to flavor but I am less than an inch into the cigar. Time to expand.

BTW- These cigars are sold without cellos. So the cigar I am reviewing today has only 5 days humi time.

Halfway through the first third, a bucket of creaminess piles on top of the other flavors bringing out the sweetness.
The flavors find themselves becoming very subtle. The balance is perfect now. There is spice, dark cocoa, coffee, leather, creaminess, and sweetness. A lovely combination. The power of the cigar tamps down a bit to more of a classic medium. I don’t know why it had a surge of power earlier on.

This is a damn fine cigar. My main criticism is the price point. In fact, the whole line is too expensive. I can’t count how many good $7 cigars I’ve smoked that are every bit as good as this stick. I don’t care if Johnson has to hang upside down, naked, in front of Garcia to get these things made, the price point is exorbitant. Thereby, making this cigar unavailable to huge number of cigar smokers. And if they do purchase a Tatuaje, they buy a couple sticks or a 5 pack. $200 for a box is too much.
I paid almost $11 for my sticks and my wallet is pinched. I could have bought two good $6 cigars for the price of one Tatuaje.

The first third ends pleasantly. Nothing extraordinary has happened other than the cigar is indeed delicious. But strangely, it has not become a flavor bomb. The existing flavors are subdued and nuanced. The finish is not very long. The spice is the only element to have that long finish we desire in a good cigar. Balance is good. But not outstanding.

The second third begins with more of the same. There is no change in the flavor profile. And yes, I know I did not give this cigar a fair chance by aging it for a couple months, or longer, in my humidor. But I figure that a cigar produced without a cello has plenty of time to age properly.

At the halfway point, there is no change. It continues on its pleasant journey. I did buy a 5 pack from Atlantic and I will allow them to age for a while. And if there is any significant difference, I will come back to this review and write an amendment.

The cap does a nice job of hanging tough. No loose tobacco to lip ratio.

Just past the halfway point, the cigar blooms and blossoms. Flavors that were dormant rise like a phoenix.

I guess I am jaded. I smoked, and reviewed, the La Jugada Habano last week and the cigar, on the second day of humidor time, exploded with flavor at the first half inch. It was a flavor bomb for the entire length of the cigar. And its price point was only around $7. Now if Moya Ruiz can make a cigar, that I would take over the 10th Anniversary, why can’t Johnson and Garcia do the same? This is marketing on a giant scale. You can read my review of the La Jugada Habano here.

The last third begins with a celebration of flavor. The citrus has made its debut. Creaminess, cocoa, coffee, cedar, sweetness and leather now shine like a Miami summer day.

While in my B & M, I wanted to buy the Tatuaje Cojonu. But they were $13.50. That’s nuts. It’s an excellent cigar for the well to do. While most of us are still reeling from the crash of the economy.

I remove the wrapper. And the same thing happens as the first two I smoked. Too much glue which forced me to rip them off making shreds of the band.

So this time is the same. I forgo trying to force it off and go straight to my very sharp knife I keep for just this thing. And of course, I knick the wrapper in doing so.

Creaminess leads the charge with the cocoa right behind. Leather is very strong, as well. The lemon zest adds a nice tanginess to offset the sweetness.

The strength is at high medium. The char line has been pretty good and hasn’t needed a touch up; but continues to be a bit wavy. The spiciness has moved down the chain of flavors.

The balance is perfect and now there is a very long finish on the cigar. There is an underlying flavor I can’t identify yet. It is something like earthiness, but not really. I am forced to smack my lips like a chimp in order to discover that flavor. It’s black cherry. A common flavor to Nicaraguan blends.

For such a small cigar, it has a very long burn. I started this review 90 minutes ago. And lit up 75 minutes ago. Clearly, the stick is jam packed with tobacco.

The last couple of inches are about flavor and finesse. It is on the low side of being a flavor bomb. I can feel the nicotine now. My vision becomes blurry and I can feel it in my gut. I’m glad that the whole cigar was not like this. I like full bodied cigars but not if they send me to the moon early on.
I am conflicted about this cigar. It is very flavorful once it passes the halfway mark. It is enjoyable. But I keep thinking about the price. Is it worth $11? No. It should be in the $7-$8 range.

I checked around and Atlantic Cigar definitely has the best prices. I went to New Havana Cigars and they are charging high retail. That $11 range.

Atlantic is selling them at a more reasonable price of $7-$9..where it should be. And if you join their VIP Club, they are even cheaper. I can’t tell you how much cheaper because I did that once and Atlantic slapped my hand for divulging this. My purchasing habits run between Atlantic and Cbid. The only problem with Cbid is that there are too many idiots bidding too much on some cigars ruining it for the rest of us. You know what I mean.

My recommendation is to try this cigar and make your own assessment. But shop around. Prices are all over the place. I paid half for a 5 pack on Atlantic as opposed to what I paid at my B & M, or saw on other online stores. Normally, Pete Johnson cigars are price regulated. And if you undersell his MSRP, you risk the chance, as a seller, of losing his business. I’ve heard that story many, many times.

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS