tsmckenney
Mick
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2007
- Messages
- 2,954
Tatuaje Reserva J21
Robusto, 5 x 50
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Looking down the barrel of my second-ever Tatuaje. The first is still my favorite cigar. The construction of this stick is not as smooth and without character as your typical Davidoff, this stick has lines and bumps. The smell of the tobacco is magnificent. It’s like putting your nose over a strawberry covered in chocolate, but I sure as hell hope it doesn’t taste fruity. Time to light up.
Smokers should also rank their cigars by how many matches it takes to light them. Which is a user ranking really. After disposing of my second match, I have the J21 lit correctly and am ready to start. The draw is good, maybe a little loose. The first puff is heavy with smoke and full-flavored. There’s a lot of spice and another flavor that appears to be sweet/flowery. I’ve heard the term ‘flowery’ used to describe cigars and I never ‘got’ that. This might be it. It’s like a clove cigarette taste. It’s not bad. I don’t prefer it to the creamy and unique Gurkha Shaggy I had earlier today, but it’s definitely got character.
Still working on the first third and I can really tell that this cigar is a bear. This is a full flavored, full strength cigar. Definitely from Nicaragua.
I wouldn’t say that this cigar falls short of the Tatuaje I smoked in January (of which I never bothered to note the type of Tat that was), but it definitely is a completely different cigar. There’s no creamy side to this baby. I should also note, I’m accompanying this cigar with an Ethiopian coffee with cream and sugar. And still, I don’t taste any cream.
Near the half-way marker and the J 21 is starting to chill a bit. I’m picking up a very slight acid taste. The flowery taste has become more subtle, and the stick now has a buttery undertone. These three characteristics are very enjoyable together and entirely unique. And although butter is a type of cream, I wouldn’t call it creamy. You might call me nuts for even mentioning this crap, but hey, I sat down to smoke and write. So, I’ll tell all.
Have I mentioned this is a strong cigar? The Gurkha I smoked earlier on an empty stomach didn’t even touch me. I’m coming off a prime rib dinner and still this sucker is going right for the stomach.
At the half-way marker, the flavors are all still the same, but everything has continued to mellow. Everything except the strength. If I was smoking this over the lunch hour and had to return to work, I would consider putting it down after a few more pulls.
During the 2nd half of this smoke, the cigar returned to its former state as the acidic, flower and butter flavors again began to pronounce themselves. I started to give it more space as the strength really began to kick my ass. With at least a third of the stick remaining, I had to put it down. This is definitely the strongest cigar I have smoked in many, many months.
Overall: I don’t really care too much about the appearance of a cigar. The draw, strength and flavor are far more important. The flavors I describe are strange, and again you might think I’m crazy, but it was a strange cigar. In a good way. Because of this I would give the cigar a high rating, I’m going to go with a 91. One extra point given for it’s strength. I should also mention that this cigar’s burn was inconsistent and required some manual correcting, but for the most part it corrected itself along the way.
If you’ve never tried one, I would highly recommend picking up a stick. I bought two, the second one I’m going to age for 6 mos or so.
ts
Robusto, 5 x 50
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Looking down the barrel of my second-ever Tatuaje. The first is still my favorite cigar. The construction of this stick is not as smooth and without character as your typical Davidoff, this stick has lines and bumps. The smell of the tobacco is magnificent. It’s like putting your nose over a strawberry covered in chocolate, but I sure as hell hope it doesn’t taste fruity. Time to light up.
Smokers should also rank their cigars by how many matches it takes to light them. Which is a user ranking really. After disposing of my second match, I have the J21 lit correctly and am ready to start. The draw is good, maybe a little loose. The first puff is heavy with smoke and full-flavored. There’s a lot of spice and another flavor that appears to be sweet/flowery. I’ve heard the term ‘flowery’ used to describe cigars and I never ‘got’ that. This might be it. It’s like a clove cigarette taste. It’s not bad. I don’t prefer it to the creamy and unique Gurkha Shaggy I had earlier today, but it’s definitely got character.
Still working on the first third and I can really tell that this cigar is a bear. This is a full flavored, full strength cigar. Definitely from Nicaragua.
I wouldn’t say that this cigar falls short of the Tatuaje I smoked in January (of which I never bothered to note the type of Tat that was), but it definitely is a completely different cigar. There’s no creamy side to this baby. I should also note, I’m accompanying this cigar with an Ethiopian coffee with cream and sugar. And still, I don’t taste any cream.
Near the half-way marker and the J 21 is starting to chill a bit. I’m picking up a very slight acid taste. The flowery taste has become more subtle, and the stick now has a buttery undertone. These three characteristics are very enjoyable together and entirely unique. And although butter is a type of cream, I wouldn’t call it creamy. You might call me nuts for even mentioning this crap, but hey, I sat down to smoke and write. So, I’ll tell all.
Have I mentioned this is a strong cigar? The Gurkha I smoked earlier on an empty stomach didn’t even touch me. I’m coming off a prime rib dinner and still this sucker is going right for the stomach.
At the half-way marker, the flavors are all still the same, but everything has continued to mellow. Everything except the strength. If I was smoking this over the lunch hour and had to return to work, I would consider putting it down after a few more pulls.
During the 2nd half of this smoke, the cigar returned to its former state as the acidic, flower and butter flavors again began to pronounce themselves. I started to give it more space as the strength really began to kick my ass. With at least a third of the stick remaining, I had to put it down. This is definitely the strongest cigar I have smoked in many, many months.
Overall: I don’t really care too much about the appearance of a cigar. The draw, strength and flavor are far more important. The flavors I describe are strange, and again you might think I’m crazy, but it was a strange cigar. In a good way. Because of this I would give the cigar a high rating, I’m going to go with a 91. One extra point given for it’s strength. I should also mention that this cigar’s burn was inconsistent and required some manual correcting, but for the most part it corrected itself along the way.
If you’ve never tried one, I would highly recommend picking up a stick. I bought two, the second one I’m going to age for 6 mos or so.
ts
