While some of the cigars made for the Tobacconists Association of America don’t get very much buzz, leave it to Pete Johnson to suddenly charge that. The Tatuaje TAA Exclusive is getting rave reviews nationally & is currently flying off our shelves.
The Tatuaje TAA Exclusive arrived at our store in mid-September, and our customer feedback on these fine cigars is already strong. The cigar is 5 5/8” long with a 54 ring gauge – it’s box pressed and features a closed foot, with wrapper leaf covering the bottom of the cigar. The cigar is available in boxes of 20.
Review:
The pre-light aroma on this cigar is warm with spicy, meaty notes, and a bit of hickory wood in it. The cold draw was spot on, showing robust tobacco flavors and a bit of spice. The cigar is a beauty – a nice box press, dark brown wrapper with a bit of crystallization on it and the covered foot make it an eye-pleaser. The TAA logo on the band doesn’t do anything to detract from it either.
Once lit, there’s a good amount of pepper out of the gate, with what toes the line of almost being a bit of a bitter, sour note. It’s a nice strong beginning, similar to many Pepin made cigars with the pepper, spice and fuller body serving up the opening volley.
The smoke in the first third has both strength and smoothness to it – the palate isn’t overwhelmed by pepper, but rather dominated by a strong robust quality. There’s almost an anticipation for some huge spice blast that will just light up the palate, but short of the beginning, it doesn’t happen in the first third, though it starts to feel like it could kick up in the transition from first to second thirds.
Moving into the second third, there are some bigger notes of pepper and spice that come out and then retreat just a bit, which seems to be the protocol the rest of the way. The flavor and body never back off completely; instead they go through steady progressions of building up, dropping the RPMs down with a gear shift, then building back up, only to repeat.
The cigar closes with a strong yet smooth finish, easily cruising along in a higher gear that brings more tobacco flavors that are enhanced by a kick of pepper and spice.
If you’ve had the Tatuaje Black before, you’ll have a pretty good feel for what this cigar will deliver, though at times it seems to be both a bit stronger and a bit milder than the smaller ring gauges. The bigger ring gauge seems to afford it a bit more opportunity to develop its flavors, building and then backing off in fairly regular intervals.
The cigar is currently available only at TAA-member stores, including Palm Desert Tobacco. Our final verdict: A four-star cigar, we give it an easy 93 points out of 100.760-340-1954
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