Alright, Inmates, please be gentle, as this is my first review...
I have been hanging onto this one for a while, since I knew just how hard it would be to replace, but tonight I just couldn't help myself.
Appearance: This is a gorgeous stick. Great looking wrapper, firm, with no soft spots or knots inside(god i hate plugs), and that perfect knockoff of the CC RE band on it.
Cut and Prelight Draw: I cut it with my new Palio(gift from a very generous friend) and it cut well, leaving me with a perfect prelight draw. The taste was citrusy with a definite sweetness, but nothing was particularly overwhelming in it. Great rich tobacco taste.
First Third: Very nice spiciness to it, along with the citrus and sweetness as well. It lit well, but wasn't producing a ton of smoke. The overwhelming flavor here is just rich, full bodied tobacco, and I really have to search for anything else. Still, very enjoyable, and it burns very evenly.
Second Third: The smoke has opened up, and I am now able to produce nice, dense clouds of fragrant smoke(my gift to the other patrons of the coffee shop), which makes me happy. I love a good smokestack of a cigar. The sweetness wanes, and spice takes over a bit, but I still can't put my finger on quite what it is. It is like a mix of nutmeg, cinnamon, and pepper, with a little cayenne on the tail end of it. This is accompanied by a slight woodiness, which mellows the spice a bit. Very nice, in spite of a bit of an uneven burn to it.
Final Third: The spice fades, and the sweet, rich tobacco taste comes back in full force, with a bit of a bitter cocoa taste to it. The burn never quite evened out, despite my best efforts, but it didn't get anywhere near bad enough to affect my enjoyment of it. I took this one down to the last inch.
Overall Impression: A great stick, although, to be honest, my opinion could have been impacted a bit by the cache it has due to its rarity. As a matter of fact, that very rarity would make me inclined to take off a point or two, just because, well, once it was done, I couldn't help but be a little frustrated at the prospect of trying to procure another! Nonetheless, this is a very nice, complex, sophisticated stick. Definitely a step up from the rest of the Havana line(I would call this the most developed and refined of the bunch). I do love me some Tatuajes, and this one just reaffirms that opinion.
Overall Score: 93/100
::Sorry for the lack of pics. I tried, but my camera just wasnt up to the task, and they came out blurry::
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