Tatuaje Fausto Cigar Review
When I first heard about this cigar I was psyched because I never got to try the Tatuaje T110, which the Tatuaje Fausto is based off of. Or maybe it’s not the exact same blend, I’m not sure. But that doesn’t matter. What does matter is that if you like strength in your cigars then this cigar is something that you have to try.
But what about that name? Evidently, it means “fortunate” or “good luck” and is used as a name for males. Alright, that’s somewhat interesting and makes sense as a name for a cigar. But then I thought back to my childhood education and a dog named Wishbone. Faust was the character, played by a wonderfully gifted Jack Russel Terrier with more acting chops than most actors today, who even though he was brilliant and had lots of good things in life was still not content with his lot in life and made a deal with the Devil. In exchange for his soul the Devil was suppose to give him whatever he wanted in life.
The version that the Wishbone producers deemed suitable for us children to see has the girl whom Faust corrupted in his 24 year long hedonistic streak winning Faust’s soul over to the side of the Angels and saving the man, who destroyed her life, from eternal damnation. Touching, for sure. But as is the case with many stories that get revised (can’t you imagine the story of the Three Little Pigs being butchered so horribly that the ending is changed so that the pigs and the Big Bad Wolf go into the construction business together?) it gets revised in such a way that there’s a happy ending. The original Faust stories have that bastard Fausto serving out eternity as the Devil’s servant.
I think it was the original story that this cigar is suppose to represent. Without giving too much of my review away this cigar is very full bodied and makes you wonder if you had asked for too much of a good thing with it. Shouldn’t it be enough to smoke a cigar that just tastes amazing? Why do we have to always yearn for something more? Because, as was the case with the sinful yearnings of Faust, it’s better to walk on the dark side than to be dissatisfied with our current lots, even if they are enviable.
Honestly, I’m not sure that any of that prelude to a review matters but it makes the cigar more interesting… to me at least. By itself, this cigar looks very well made with its dark brown wrapper that has a dull, oily sheen that makes you think this cigar might actually play nice. The wrapper is rather veiny but none of the veins are very pronounced. Evenly packed the cigar gives a little to the touch. Beyond all the other characteristics of this cigar the first thing you will notice is that it smells aggressive. Fiery tobacco smells make a preemptive assault in your nose before you even get the chance to cut the cigar. It’s an experience, that’s for sure.
Cigar Stats
Length: 5 ½″
Ring Gauge: 52
Wrapper: Habano Ecuador
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price:$185.00/Box of 25 | $39.00/Pack of 5
Mephistopheles takes you to the Flames!
When I first smoked some of these cigars I liked them but I wasn’t overly impressed with them. They were impressive, for sure but as some time passed they got better. The one that I am smoking now has been resting in my humidor for five or six months now. It’s well worth the wait.
The flavors are just so strong and evocative. This is like the Booker’s of the cigar world: wildly strong but with flavor. There’s spice and wheat and oak. But it’s hard to get past the fire hose intensity of this cigar. Part of me absolutely loves this cigar right now. Another part of me realizes that this cigar is meant for a very specific niche of the cigar smoking market.
During the second half this cherry flavor starts to come through on occasion. Burnt cashew is another flavor I am able to pick up. Mainly, the flavors still revolve around those flavors I mentioned during the first third except for the spice, it has slacked off.
What I like the most about this cigar is that the flavors are dry and alive. In the final third bread comes through. It’s a nice way to end the cigar actually. While it is still a legitimately full bodied cigar the flavors have been complex and there has been a good deal of evolution in the flavor profile as well. Even if the flavors had remained constant from the first third to its conclusion this would have been a great cigar. With all the changes in the flavors and the fact that it had a decent burn, requiring only a couple of minor touch ups, and an excellent draw this cigar is a keeper.
93 points
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hopefully you are all having a great Thanksgiving. If not watch this clip from a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and you’ll get to see Linus wax poetic about Thanksgiving. Nothing like know-it-all kids on TV, right?
Oh, and the best part is Snoopy. Enjoy!
Padron 1964 Anniversary Series Cigar Rights of America Cigar Review
Like that ring in that book by Tolkien this cigar had been lost for years in my humidor. Resting safely in the bottom of a humidor, long forgotten by time this dazzlingly beautiful cigar has been preparing for this moment when it will get the torch to its feetses (it’s from Lord of the Rings; I think it was Gollum who used that term).
It is a little ragged by the cap, the wrapper is torn a little, but that is probably due to the fact that it’s been hiding for so long. The wrapper itself is an amazing deep dark brown and it is absolutely glistening with oils; it kind of reminds me of one of those penguins in a Dawn commercial getting oil wiped off of it.
As you probably noticed by the title of this review this is one of those Cigar Rights of America cigars from one of their earlier taster packs (maybe the first one, can’t remember). For the last couple of years these guys have been doing some good things to fight back against over-regulation of the cigar industry. If you can you should seriously consider donating some money to them or buying one of their holiday samplers (oops, already sold out).
I cut it, take a prelight draw, which is nice and open, then light it. It’s great from the start with strong willed spice that takes off like a rocket booster and a combination of hickory, hay and meat keeps this cigar in orbit. To me, it seems like this cigar is vacillating between a spicy and an earthy flavor profile. Basically, the smoke comes in spicy and the lingering flavors are those earthy flavors.
There is this almost minty flavor lurking in the background at around the transition into the second third. I’m not quite sure if it’s really there or if it is some phantom flavor. Is there such a thing as phantom flavors?
Ghost flavors probably aren’t real but that minty flavor mellows during the second third into vanilla. It’s not one of the top three flavors but it’s easily recognizable. The spice, which was very strong in the early goings, has relented some of its strength but not its force of flavor. Other flavors worth noting include oak and cream. This cigar is shaping up to be more like a crisp violin solo than a powerful, resonating tuba.
Sometimes I think about which cigars fit with which fictional character. For example, Seth Bullock from Deadwood would smoke a Joya de Nicaragua Fuerte Serie B because it’s a solid smoke with some good heft but without any pomp or grandstanding. Swearengen, on the other hand, would smoke some very expensive cigar even if it tasted like a wet dog just because it cost a lot. This cigar, the Padron 1964, would be smoked by someone like Peter O’Toole’s T.E. Lawrence, someone with great taste and an eye for a true gem.
While I have been going off on musical and fictionalized historical characters and their hypothetical cigars of choice this cigar’s flavors have been receding into the background. It’s a shame that they had to go this way when this cigar started out so well. Maybe this is a product of over-aging this cigar; I don’t know for sure but that would be my bet. Still, this cigar was awesome for the first two thirds and for a little ways into the final third. That is more than can be said about most other cigars.
Now, if you have read some of my previous reviews of these Cigar Rights of America cigars you know that I will not be giving this cigar a score. I think that’s fair for two reasons: first, we don’t know if this cigar is ever going to be made again in this vitola and second, the purpose of these cigars isn’t to grade them, they are meant to support the cigar smoking cause. So, even though I truly enjoyed this medium-full bodied cigar with a ton of flavor and a good draw and burn there will be no 92 point score to go along with it.
Black Pedro Cigar Review
I received samples from Felipe Gregorio; all reviews are my own.
Is this cigar somehow related to the Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite? But the Pedro in that movie wasn’t black so I’m guessing that there’s something else going on here, maybe a comment from someone in the know would help elucidate the etymology of this brand of tasty cigars.
The cigar is a good looking specimen. This particular cigar, named “Gitano” is a 6″ x 54 torpedo, which is part good and bad for me. Personally, I love torpedoes. For whatever reason, probably due to the fact that since torpedoes are more difficult to roll more experienced torcedores roll them, I have had a better smoking history with this vitola. On the other hand, the ring gauge is on the big side for me now. Earlier on in my smoking career (Really? A career?) I liked the bigger ring gauge smokes but now I find myself going for thinner cigars.
Evenly packed with some stretch marks around the veins this dark, dusty brown maduro wrapper gives off a rustic impression as if embodying the hard scrabble lifestyle that many people in the cigar industry come from. It is a bit hard to the touch but there are some oils on the wrapper and the wrapper itself feels a little rough.
Cigar Stats
Length: 6″
Ring Gauge: 54
Wrapper: Sumatra Ecuador
Binder: Dark Nicaragua Habano
Filler: Corojo Dominican & Nicaragua Habana 92
Price: One of each four sizes + 2 others for $27.00
Pulling John Flame!
When I looked at these cigars the first time and saw the ominous name – “Black Pedro” – I thought “uh oh, this is going to be one of those kick you in the teeth kind of cigars.” But that isn’t the case. It actually has some refinement to it, some nuance. Black pepper may be the leading flavor here but the smoke also has a creamy feel to it and there are other moderating flavors to notice like tobacco and coffee with cream. Black pepper really is the leading force in this cigar though and I’m thankful for that. It may be a bracing flavor for some but I like it… a lot.
Entering the second third I thought that there was going to be some flagging of the black pepper flavor but there was no such thing. It’s quite astonishing that something so simple, black pepper, could be so enjoyable but that is where I’m at. Black pepper isn’t the only flavor I have observed. There are also flavors in the nut spectrum and creamy coffee. Very good mix of flavors but without a lot of complexity and, so far, no evolution in flavors.
One of the things that separates the good from the great cigars for me is how the flavors manifest themselves. With great cigars the flavors are strong and clean and those little flavor molecules permeate around every taste bud wrapping them in a tasty cocoon. This is one of those cigars.
Unfortunately, as is sometimes the case when there is one predominant flavor, even when that flavor is a great example of its archetype, it can become too overpowering by drowning out the other flavors. That happened with this cigar a little ways into the final third. My cocooned taste buds have become numb to all the other flavors and has decreased my enjoyment of this cigar a little bit.
Overall, I can safely say that I have enjoyed this medium-full bodied cigar with its good draw and burn, which only required minor course corrections a couple of times. If there had been a little more complexity and evolution to the flavor profile this would have been an amazing cigar. As it stands it is still a great cigar because it is one of the best examples of black pepper that I have had in a long time and there was enough complexity in the early goings of this cigar to make it interesting. If you can find some then do yourself a favor and pick a couple up.
91 points
Don Pepin Garcia Series JJ Maduro Short Cigar Review
I received this cigar as a sample from Cigars Direct; my reviews are my own.
Wrapper: Nicaraguan | Binder: Nicaraguan | Filler: Nicaraguan | Box of 24: $100.00 | 5 Pack: $24.00 | Robusto | 5″ x 50
0/3: To me, Don Pepin Garcia is the Samuel L. Jackson of the cigar industry. You know that he is great but he doesn’t get the credit that he deserves from some people. Don Pepin Garcia makes some delicious cigars and the DPG Series JJ Natural is one of them. But what about this cigar?
Well, it feels tightly packed and it looks good enough with only a couple of largish veins marring the appearance of the wrapper. A fair amount of oils gives the dark brown wrapper a nice sheen. The triple cap (just like the Cubans do it!) looks solid.
1/3: I like puros not because I’m some sort of tobacco supremacist – far from it – but because it gives you a better idea about how the tobacco from a certain area will normally taste. Sure, I know, there are many variations within countries and the kind of tobacco leafs you get from one farm can be significantly different than the leafs from another farm a few miles away. But, still, I think that there are some trademark differences between countries; like with this Nicaraguan puro with its bold spicy notes that relentlessly remind the nerve endings in my nasal passages that they recently blew by.
There are also notes of nutmeg, barley and maple. The first parts of the beginning third were amazing but it begins to slide backwards a bit by the end of the first third.
2/3: Even though it has regressed somewhat from the beginning the plateau from which it started was very high. Spice is still the main flavor but now the biggest supporting flavor is a sweet floral flavor. And then at about the halfway mark my enjoyment of the cigar picks up again.
Deep, soulful flavors centering around maple with a fringe of spiciness that sticks around all over. It has a lot of complexity to it – other flavors include floral notes, earthiness and cocoa – and the flavors work extremely well with each other.
3/3: And there is a change back towards that floral flavor, which, while disappointing, still isn’t a bad flavor. But that floral flavor is not all there is. There is mesquite, which is not a flavor I get all that often. It doesn’t end amazingly though, with the flavors dying somewhat.
4/3: “Perplexing” is the best word to describe this cigar. One moment I am in love with it and the next I am confused. Alternating between the great and the merely good is something that I have not encountered too much but, still, this medium bodied cigar with a good draw and burn is a cigar that you should try. Personally, I think the version with the natural wrapper has the edge.
3.5 points
