Tatuaje Tabacos El Triunfador #1

This cigar just recently started hitting the market, and are quickly flying off cigar retailers shelves nationwide. These sticks came direct from the wonderful people at Bonita Smoke Shop, who are currently stocking the Triunfador as well as many other Tatuaje blends.

The Good Stuff: This is a re-release of Tatuaje’s old blend of El Triunfador. The only main differences are the new blend is released in 6 different sizes: The #1 which is a 6.5 x 42, the #2 which is a 5.5 x 52, the #3 which is a 5.62 x 46, the #4 which is a 4 x 48, the #5 which is a 4.4 x 42, and the #6which is a 7.5 x 38 vs the old blend (which will still be in production) only came in lancero form. And the wrapper, the old Triunfado blend was wrapped in broadleaf, where as in the new Triunfador blend, the cigar is wrapped in Habano.

Size: (#1) 6.5 x 45  –  Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano  -  Binder/Filler: Nicaraguan  -  Body: Mild/Medium

Tatuaje Tabacos El Triunfador #1

Prelight: Pete Johnson and Don Pepin are no strangers when it comes to excellect craftmanship in thier products, and The Triunfador is a great case study for that. The wrapper is extremly oily, silky smooth, and a very consistent rich brown topped off with the famous, rounded tripple cap. The #1 is a box-pressed cigar, but much like the La Riqueza the edges have quite a bit of roundess to them.  Although this vitola is very thin, the cigar is still very firm with little give when squeezed, not to mention I could find no soft spots what so ever on this stick. The band on the new El Truinfador is a simple, yet elegant red/white/and gold design, again resembling a scaled down version of Pete’s La Riqueza’s Band. The Triunfador gives off quite a bit of aroma, ranging from very sweet tobacco to an almost nutmeg that I can only hope carries through in the actual taste of the cigar. The cold draw produces a very similar taste to the aroma, sweetness, tobacco, and a hint of spice. I had no problems clipping this cigar using my Palio double bladed cutter.

Tatuaje Tabacos El Triunfador #1

First Smoke:Tatuaje’s Tabacos El Triunfador lit up instaneously under my triple flame butane torch. I was expecting to be hit with the burst of pepper that most Tatuaje cigars start out with, but instead I was greeted with an extreme sweetness. The main tastes overall where a mixutre of very sweet tobacco (gotta love that), nutmeg, and a nutty after taste. The Triunfador starts off very smooth, and you can almost tell right of the bat that this is going to be a very mild cigar. I actually smoked this one for the review first thing in the morning. I am not a morning smoker at all, which shows just how mild this cigar really is. The draw was effortless and plentyful, producing a thick, lingering cloud of dark-grey almost brown smoke. The Triunfador doesn’t give off very much stationary smoke at all, but what little smoke that resides is very light scented with sweet tobacco, bits of cocoa, and cedar. The burn line was razor thin, and dead even leaving behind a thick, solid, light grey/white ash. The ash held on for about an inch before tumbling into my ashtray.

Tatuaje Tabacos El Triunfador #1

Halfway There: I’m halfway into this Triunfador, and I am extremly impressed with how sweet, and smooth this cigar is. The sweetness is still present in full force, where as there has been off and on hints of pepper, mixed with lots of nutty aftertastes. There is also quite a bit of woodsy/cedar tastes making face in these complex mashup. The nutty after taste seems to be very prominent once I take a few sips of the water that I paired this cigar with. The burnline is still dead even, and I haven’t needed to touch this cigar up at all. One side note is the speed in which this cigar burns. This was a longer vitola, and it only took me about 25 minutes to get halfway through it. I am not the fastest smoker, but I am far from a slow one so just be prepared, this won’t be an all nighter.

Tatuaje Tabacos El Triunfador #1

Finish: As if the Triunfador didn’t already shine in the first 2 thirds, the last third put it over the top. The sweetness stayed strong from start to finish, the pepper taste had completely vanished after the second third only to be replaced with cedar and nut. The last third really layed down the cedar flavor matching it up with the sweet, sweet tobacco for a perfect pairing. I had absolutely no problems with draw or burn. There was no harshness, and I was honestly very surprised that the cigar did not burn very hot at all towards the nub. I was able to take this one down as far as I could hold it without burning my fingers. Smooth smoke from start to finish with no signs, at all, of any nicotine. All in all this cigar took about an hour to smoke.

Tatuaje Tabacos El Triunfador #1

Overview: Needless to say, I am all about this cigar right now. AWESOME flavor profile, just enough changeup to keep my attention, smooth from start to finish. The El Triunfador is a winner in my book. Pretty much my only gripe about this stick is the fact that it smoke so fast. If it would burn any slower though, I am sure there would be a bit of harshness built up so I am willing to give it a free pass on that one. I honestly think this cigar would appeal to anyone who enjoys smoking. Don’t pass this one up! Price point is about $7 – $9 a stick, and although you’ll tear through them quickly, I think its a great price for the product.

Tatuaje Tabacos El Triunfador #1

On a side note:If you are interested in the Triunfador, a good friend of ours Dan Reeve is actually on an adventure to smoke, and review each vitola in the new line. Head on over to his site ( http://crookedburn.blogspot.com/ ) for full coverage!

As stated before, this is a pre-release stick. I got my hands on a few via various packages from Pete Johnson, creator of Tatuaje Cigars.

The Good Stuff:I wasn’t able to gather much information about this cigar what-so-ever. Pete had made mention that the idea behind it, was to create a cigar from various crops in Nicaragua that will change dependant on the year. I wasn’t satisfied with only that information so I did a bit of digging and stumbled across a review done by Stogie Guys of the L’espirit. Here is some of the vast information they had:

“The idea behind this highly anticipated release borrows heavily from the wine industry. All of the tobacco, habano criollo, will be from the one farm in Esteli-making this a Nicaraguan puro—and each year will produce a different “vintage” to mirror the vintage concept in wines. The tobacco will be fermented but, unlike most cigars, it will be rolled without undergoing further aging in bales.

The L’esprit de La Verite is made from the same tobacco as La Verite and designed to be a sample to give a taste of the final La Verite release. Starting in July, futures will go on sale for La Verite at a 25% discount on the retail price, which is similar to the process used by winemakers.”

Usually I try not to “borrow” information from other review sites, nor ever look at similar reviews until mine is posted, but I didn’t want to leave you guys hanging and the Stogie Guys seemed to have the good. If you haven’t checked thier reviews out I suggest you do so. Probably the most information heavy reviews I have seen out there.

Prelight:The band on the L’esprit de Verite is unlike most bands bring produced by Tatuaje. It’s a crisp maroon band, much larger than the average Tatuaje band. The band has a nicely tucked embossed silver crest surrounding it, accompanied by the familiar Fleur De Lis Tatuaje is known for. The band also boasts very largely the year “2008″. Im not too sure if this is what the finalized band is going to look like but it’s pretty different, as well as interesting. The wrapper on the L’esprit de Verite is a very light complected chocolate brown. The wrapper is incredibly consistent in color with the exception of a small lighter brown portion of the cap. The L’esprit de Verite is a very well crafted cigar sporting no soft spots and just a few tiny veins. The wrapper on the body of the cigar smells very sweet and oaty, where as the foot gives off a very grassy scent mixed with honey and molasses.

First Smoke:The L’esprit de Verite lit up with no problems at all. The first initial flavors were that of spice and pepper. This was yet another cigar that hit me in the face with the quick and strong pepper flavor, then diminished. The flavors then leveled off and very grassy, bran, natural tobacco taste. The draw was effortless, and the smoke was thick and flavorful. The L’esprit de Verite gives off a ton of stationary smoke. I went in the sniff the smoke and was hit with strong pepper. Be careful retro-haling this cigar. The burnline was dead even and razor sharp. The ash left behind was incredible. It left a trail of bright white with no signs of flowering or flaking.

Halfway There:At the halfway point I encountered a very big change up in taste. The pepper and spice were no longer present and the main flavor was of  a smooth, creamy, sweet tobacco. I didn’t expect a cigar with this wrapper to produce as much flavor as this cigar did. The burnline create a slight wave, but nothing that I am too concerned about. The ash still held its ground well into the second half and finally gave way almost 2 inches into the cigar. On interesting note, the top half of the cigar’s ash produced an area that was a very dark grey. I’ve seen this often in criollo wrappers due to the oils, but never as spotty as this. An interesting note on that area though is it had a strange gash through the center of it. The wrapper didn’t portray any type of vein in that particular area, and once I passed it that “gash” is when I noticed the great flavor change up. the following are pictures I took of both sides of the ash. Just to give you an idea.

Finish:Judging by the kick this cigar gave me when I first started it up, I would have had no idea it would have finished so creamy and smooth. The pepper and spice never really came back, but the sweet natural tobacco taste you can expect from Tatuaje cigars only increased towards the end of this smoke. The main flavors outside of tobacco were honey, creamy chocolate, and oats. I felt a slight nicotine kick from this one, but nothing to worry about. It’s definitely @knightrid safe. All in all it took about and hour and a half to smoke down this robusto sized cigar.

Overview:I can’t really form a solid conclusion on this cigar due to it still being in pre-release form. But what I can tell you is that if this sample is any indicator of how amazing the final product will be, then Pete has produced yet another winner. The L’esprit de Verite is a well rounded, extremely well constructed cigar that would not only appeal to the avid cigar smoker, but even a new comer as well.

Tatuaje La Riqueza

 The Good Stuff: Sadly, I wasn’t able to dig up a lot of history or interesting facts on this cigar. Basically it’s exactly what you would expect from a Tatuaje. Produced in mid 2008, La Riqueza is another custom blend rolled by cigar master Jose Don Pepin Garcia at his factory in Nicaragua exclusively for Pete Johnson of Tatuaje cigars. Unlike other cigars produced by Tatuaje, La Riqueza is wrapped in a naturally dark  Connecticut Broadleaf that is actually produced by the Oliva Tobacco Company. Pete Johnson believes that this wrapper is amongst the most flavorful in the world, and it will be interesting to see what a Tauaje cigar tastes like with such a different take than what we are all used to.

Size: No. 2  — 5 1/2 x 52  – Wrapper :Connecticut Broadleaf  -  Binder/Filler: Nicaraguan  -  Body: Medium

Tatuaje La Riqueza

 Prelight:La Riqueza is a nice, thick, what I would call semi-boxpress. The body of the cigar is just a bit too rounded to actually label the Riqueza a normal boxpress in my book (technically it is a boxpress). The wrapper is a very rich and consistent dark brown with scattered lighter brown blemishes.  There are tons of little glimmery specs on the wrapper that just add to the overall oily appeal of this cigar. There are little to no veins visible, nor are there any soft spots or signs of misconstruction. La Riqueza carries the rounded triple cap that Pepin is known for. La Riqueza gives off a massive amount of aroma that can big picked up the second it comes out of its cellophane. The wrapper gives off a chocolatey walnut aroma where as the foot of the cigar boast a massive amount of chocolate and espresso with slight floral scents. The cold draw matches that of the aroma to a tee. Very chocolatey with hints of coffee, spice, and walnut.

Tatuaje La Riqueza

First Smoke: La Riqueza started out with a sharp blast of pepper that faded away almost instantaneously and seemed to only stick around long enough to tease, and tickle the tip of my tongue. The cigar has a very bold and complex flavor. It starts off very floral with burned wood mixed in, but then finishes very cleanly with an earthy/coffee/chocolate taste followed up with a nutty aftertaste. This is an extremely pleasant cigar. I’m usually not a big fan of medium bodied cigars, but La Riqueza packed enough flavor to keep me entertained for hours on end. The draw is a bit tight, but produces the expected amount of this greyish-brown smoke. La Riqueza gives off a bit more stationary smoke than the average cigar, but makes up for it by giving off a very floral and cedar aroma that wouldn’t bother any people sitting nearby. The burnline is razor thin and burning pretty consistent for the most part. There are a few small, innocent waves opening up to a well-packed medium grey ash. The cigar held a little over an inch and a half before the ash gave in.

Tatuaje La Riqueza

 Halfway There: I can’t get over how flavorful this cigar is. I’m assuming most of the blend is similar in containment to what you would expect from Tatuaje and the only main difference is the wrapper. In retrospect, it makes me appreciate the cigar that much more. It may be a bit too early to say this but this is an incredible tasting cigar. Halfway in and the flavors are still holding true. At this point I was able to pull a bit more spice out of the mixture, it almost tastes like nutmeg, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. The floral, chocolate, and nut flavors are all very present, where as the coffee has dissipated quite a bit since the first portion of this cigar. There is also a bit of fruit thrown in there. I hate to say this for fear of getting flamed. but this is the closest thing to an infused cigar I have ever had that wasn’t actually an infused cigar. It has a lot to do with the massive amount of flavor this cigar produces I’m sure. The burn line is continuing to develop without any flaws and the ash seems to only be getting stronger as the cigar progresses. 

Tatuaje La Riqueza

 Finish: La Riqueza finished just as smooth as it began with absolutely no signs of harshness at all. Towards the end of the cigar the coffee and chocolate flavors began to fade out and the floral and spice flavors took center stage. I still can’t quite place the exact taste but I picked up a bit of nutmeg and jasmine in there that’s for sure. I never once had any burn issues with this cigar, nor did I ever have to worry about the ash falling off prematurely. In it’s entirety La Riqueza took about an hour and a half to smoke. It probably would have lasted two hours but I just couldn’t put it down.

Tatuaje La Riqueza

 Overview: Honestly, this was hands down, one of the best cigars I have ever had. I’m not quite sure that it crests my top 5, but it is definitely up there. The only bad thing I can think of is the fact that I CANNOT get them locally. So if there is anyone out there with a few on hand, lets trade!

As far as value goes, these sticks are priced around the 7 – 8 dollar range which I personally think is a great price tag for such a great cigar.

I WILL have these again, if I can get my hands on them. And I honestly think anyone else out there should give La Riqueza a try if you can find them.

Tatuaje La Riqueza

 This Tatuaje La Riqueza was paired with an Avery Brewing “The Reverend” Belgium Style Quadruple Ale

Tatuaje La Riqueza