So... I've had a couple of Tatuaje smokes before, but they were from the Reserva line, so I'd always figured I'd been spoilt with the choice of leaves. Then, I received a couple of these 7"x38 nice looking sticks from Svillekid (much like the Oliva lancero I reviewed a couple of days ago).
The smell is awesome. While it's not identical to a Cuban in smell, it is distinctly more Cuban than I seem to get from other NC cigars. It's got a really nice leathery-tobacco smell to it, with a kind of summer sun dried dirt somewhere. That might be my walking shoes though. Clipped the cap, and the draw is like a melting milkshake through a straw. Tastes kindla like leather and chocolate-free chocolate mousse. Which makes
NO sense when I write it, but damn you, that's what I thought.
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Getting into the first third of this smoke, I'm still getting a really nice, leather, this odd, but not unpleasant, mousse thing, and a good undertone of a nice wood. It's a monster in the smoke department, and with walking the dogs, sometimes it's like I'm in my own personal fog. The sunlight coming through the trees plays beautifully on the smoke as it curls away.
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The ash is clinging on like an asylum seeker underneath a speeding truck. It takes me accidentally knocking it on a tree to dislodge it. Also, I don't know why, but the smoke from this cigar is really intriguing one of my dogs. The woody flavour is beginning to push it's way into the mix, and the non-chocolate chocolate mousse it fading, and just becoming a mousse like texture to the smoke... a bit to thick to be instantly creamy, but melts nicely on the tongue.
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As the profile works on, I start to find that summer sun-dried dirt taste I was talking about... it's not bad, just... well... I don't know exactly how to describe it. It's not bitter, it's not nasty, it's not sweet... it's... well, like the smell of summer sun dried dirt. I'm enjoying it's appearance though. I suppose it's kinda coming out of the leather flavours.
My regular 'herfing partners' in 'Oh my God, there goes a squirrel' shocker
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So, I'm coming to the end, and the mousse feeling is wearing off, and a nice, rich wood and leather is dancing lightly over my tongue. I've been smoking this stick hard, and toward the end the stick begins to get a loose, but not so much it's too hot, until maybe the last half inch or so.
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Did I enjoy this smoke? It made me drool. literally. in a good way, like a decent steak. Much like the Oliva V I had the other day, this cigar wasn't overly complex, but did present a good challenge with the general mix, good enough that I didn't loose interest! I did, er, misplace a dog, while pondering the mousse conundrum. But it was only for about 2 minutes.
It was really well made, the flavours changed around a bit, and it gave me that weird mousse feeling I told you about. I would certainly make these a regular smoke, so I may have to see if my B&M can order some in, and how much they would be.
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+3 for the beard
Nice review and pics! Yea, I love this cigar. It's probably the least strong of the brown labels, and to me has kind of a cereal and toasted bread flavor to it, making it a perfect breakfast cigar for me when I want something not too strong but really flavorful (others in that category are the My Father, El Triunfador lancero--both versions).
And I agree that these things smell Cuban, in many ways taste that way too--better than most I've had, in fact.
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