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- Jan 31, 2005
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Small smokes are something I've always been interested in for various reasons. Biggest reason is time. Can't always devote an hour to a great smoke, but the challenge seems to be to find smaller vitolas that deliver solid taste. One such smoke I really liked is the Tatuaje Cohete. These hit my radar years ago. The first run of El Cohete (4" x 50) was produced for Tower Cigars. It was packed in cabinets of 25, each numbered, dated and signed by Pete Johnson. There were only 50 such cabinets available. It was made in Pepin Garcia's Miami factory. They sold out faster than cheap beer at a chili feed. In 2008 they did a second run of 100 boxes, and I scored 'several' (OK, three.... 
). I recall absolutely plowing through the first two boxes when a little voice in my head said "...bro, you should put a box away and save it for later...". Well, what better way to kick off my reviews of small cigars than to dig out the box and enjoy..!! So, after digging for a while, I found the treasure.
Here's the goods:
Note that the box is stamped "Tower 2006" which was the first production run. I'm quite sure I got these from the second run, in 2008. Bottom showing the production date of February 08 and my handwritten humi date.
...and here's what was inside. That, my friends, is what real plume looks like....
I broke these out a week ago, and have been spoiling myself by smoking one every day or two. Just had one this AM with a French Press of some Killer Beans coffee, and it was fantastic.
These have well constructed caps and punch wonderfully clean with my Xikar punch. Draw is almost perfect...nicely open, but just the right amount of resistance. And the pre-light tastes remind me of why the original Tatuaje Unico series was so well received. Some leather, clearly nicely blended tobacco...just fantastic. Putting the torch to the foot for a quick toast, then full speed ahead into lighting the foot evenly.
One 'trick' to remember with these smaller guys is that they benefit greatly from a gentle, smooth draw on the smoke. I tend to smoke too fast much of the time, and if you 'power hork' on these (or any smaller vitola) they'll remind you with hot smoke, and generally bitter flavors. Note to self....enjoy the stick, dammit, there are only so many of these..... :whistling:
And, they are easy to enjoy. First light gives off dense clouds of wonderfully fragrant smoke that continue until the end. The first third or so is amazingly mild, amazingly creamy. No spice to speak of, but the taste....the taste is that of fantastically blended tobacco. Very simple, but very wonderful. Reminded me quite a bit of a Padron 64 natural, but not quite...hard to pin it down exactly. Clearly the long nap did something special to these sticks. So mild, so nice. Very classic Unico flavor, but with quite a bit of added smoothness, added subtlety. Second third and the spice begins to pick it up a bit, which is where we leave the Padron-like profile behind. But, it's not like most of Pepin's Nicaraguan smokes. If the classic Pepin spicy Nicaraguan smoke is spicy like black pepper, these are spicy like cinnamon. Really subtle, really interesting. Last third showed up even more spice, almost like a transition from cinnamon to white pepper. Just a lovely gradual progression from creamy and mild, to more and more spice. But, at no time did the spice take over and mask the tobacco blend. Not a huge amount of complexity, but it really isn't needed here, IMHO. This stick developed a nice increase in spice and taste and subtle complexity from first light to nub. Wonderfully blended tobacco...that's the predominant taste, with just enough spice to keep it very interesting. Oh, and by the last third, I was gently reminded I was smoking a cigar with a noticeable rush of nicotine....not overwhelming, but maybe not for someone new to this game, or someone on an empty stomach. Personally, I've trained heavily with Nicaraguan nicotine bombs, so I was able to hang in there and finish this off with a smile on my face.... :laugh:
Is this the 'perfect' small smoke? Man, it's a good one. These little guys deliver all the good things that you'd want to have in a cigar, in a 30-40 minute package. I promise to savor and enjoy each and every one of these, you can count on that...!!... :thumbs:
The good news is that this smoke is returning to Tower Cigars. I believe you can still reserve a box but I don't know that for sure. My guess is that they will go quickly. Yes, I have 'some more' on reserve..... :love:
This is only the first of my small smoke reviews; hope you guys liked it. I'll get to the next victim next weekend, if all goes well. Comments are welcome.
Best Regards - B.B.S.
). I recall absolutely plowing through the first two boxes when a little voice in my head said "...bro, you should put a box away and save it for later...". Well, what better way to kick off my reviews of small cigars than to dig out the box and enjoy..!! So, after digging for a while, I found the treasure.Here's the goods:
Note that the box is stamped "Tower 2006" which was the first production run. I'm quite sure I got these from the second run, in 2008. Bottom showing the production date of February 08 and my handwritten humi date.
...and here's what was inside. That, my friends, is what real plume looks like....
I broke these out a week ago, and have been spoiling myself by smoking one every day or two. Just had one this AM with a French Press of some Killer Beans coffee, and it was fantastic.
These have well constructed caps and punch wonderfully clean with my Xikar punch. Draw is almost perfect...nicely open, but just the right amount of resistance. And the pre-light tastes remind me of why the original Tatuaje Unico series was so well received. Some leather, clearly nicely blended tobacco...just fantastic. Putting the torch to the foot for a quick toast, then full speed ahead into lighting the foot evenly.
One 'trick' to remember with these smaller guys is that they benefit greatly from a gentle, smooth draw on the smoke. I tend to smoke too fast much of the time, and if you 'power hork' on these (or any smaller vitola) they'll remind you with hot smoke, and generally bitter flavors. Note to self....enjoy the stick, dammit, there are only so many of these..... :whistling:
And, they are easy to enjoy. First light gives off dense clouds of wonderfully fragrant smoke that continue until the end. The first third or so is amazingly mild, amazingly creamy. No spice to speak of, but the taste....the taste is that of fantastically blended tobacco. Very simple, but very wonderful. Reminded me quite a bit of a Padron 64 natural, but not quite...hard to pin it down exactly. Clearly the long nap did something special to these sticks. So mild, so nice. Very classic Unico flavor, but with quite a bit of added smoothness, added subtlety. Second third and the spice begins to pick it up a bit, which is where we leave the Padron-like profile behind. But, it's not like most of Pepin's Nicaraguan smokes. If the classic Pepin spicy Nicaraguan smoke is spicy like black pepper, these are spicy like cinnamon. Really subtle, really interesting. Last third showed up even more spice, almost like a transition from cinnamon to white pepper. Just a lovely gradual progression from creamy and mild, to more and more spice. But, at no time did the spice take over and mask the tobacco blend. Not a huge amount of complexity, but it really isn't needed here, IMHO. This stick developed a nice increase in spice and taste and subtle complexity from first light to nub. Wonderfully blended tobacco...that's the predominant taste, with just enough spice to keep it very interesting. Oh, and by the last third, I was gently reminded I was smoking a cigar with a noticeable rush of nicotine....not overwhelming, but maybe not for someone new to this game, or someone on an empty stomach. Personally, I've trained heavily with Nicaraguan nicotine bombs, so I was able to hang in there and finish this off with a smile on my face.... :laugh:
Is this the 'perfect' small smoke? Man, it's a good one. These little guys deliver all the good things that you'd want to have in a cigar, in a 30-40 minute package. I promise to savor and enjoy each and every one of these, you can count on that...!!... :thumbs:
The good news is that this smoke is returning to Tower Cigars. I believe you can still reserve a box but I don't know that for sure. My guess is that they will go quickly. Yes, I have 'some more' on reserve..... :love:
This is only the first of my small smoke reviews; hope you guys liked it. I'll get to the next victim next weekend, if all goes well. Comments are welcome.
Best Regards - B.B.S.
