The Good Stuff:

Taking a different approach to packaging, these shop exclusive cigars have a unique process. This is taken from the Fox Cigar Bar website:

The Tatuaje Wet Pack series of cigars is a limited-edition release from Pete Johnson that is packaged in gold foil backed by wax paper as soon as they come off the rolling table.  

Bundling / packaging the cigars “wet”, instead of allowing them to age and stabilize in a resting room, slows the fermentation process (since ammonia can not dissipate as quickly) and the tobaccos will start aging as one unit.  It is said that this process will capture more oils and enhance the aroma, create a more distinctive flavor profile and is better suited for long-term aging.

The Tatuaje Unicos Wet Pack from Fox Cigars features a Nicaraguan Habano wrapper over Nicaraguan binders and fillers. The cigar is offered in a single 6 1/8 x 52 torpedo format which comes packaged in gold wrapped packs of 25 running $25 a stick. You can only get this format/blend at Fox Cigar bar. You can order them directly from Fox with free shipping.

• Size: 6 1/8 x 52
• Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano
• Binder Nicaraguan
• Filler: Nicaraguan
• Body: Full
• Strength: Medium/Full
• Price: $12
• Pairing: Bottle Logic Fundamental Observation 2019 (Imperial Stout 13.2% ABV)

Prelight:

The Tatuaje Unicos Wet Pack starts out with a stunning, incredible consistent dark brown wrapper. If the wrapper was any darker it would be back. The wrapper features a few smaller veins, some nice, gritty tooth as well as a ton of oils which rub off on my finger tips as I inspect the cigar. The wrapper itself feels very dense and hard while the cigar itself feels very nicely packed with only a few softer spots around the foot of the cigar. Polishing off the cigar is a pointy, tapered, triple-wrapped torpedo cap.

The wrapper on the Tatuaje Unicos Wet Pack gives off a ton of spice, cedar, and sweetness while the foot of the cigar is a bit more musky with notes of sandalwood, cherry, and earthiness. The cap Cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The Cold draw produces a ton of spice, dark chocolate, and oak. 

First Third:

The Tatuaje Unicos Wet Pack starts out with a very mild blast of black pepper which completely drops out of the experience after the first few puffs leaving you with loads of bold dark chocolate, brown sugar, vanilla, and spice along with soft notes of spruce, pecan, and earthiness. The draw is a bit tight at first, but as I got past the first third it began to open up quite nicely. The burn line is dead even leaving behind a trail of medium and dark gray ash which held on for almost an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Tatuaje Unicos Wet Pack and this cigar is continuing to pour on the flavors. Still lead by dark chocolate, vanilla and spice, the other flavors have began to balance out with light notes of spruce, pecan, and even a great black licorice flavor that pops in and out of the experience. The retrohale brings out a lot of the spice as well as the sweetness and I find myself doing it quite often. I close out the second third with no since of nicotine while the cigar is still burning line a dream. 

Finish:

Now into the final third of the Tatuaje Unicos Wet Pack and the cigar is still not giving up. Its pumping out massive doses of dark chocolate, cherry, vanilla, and cedar along with some light musk, spice, and earthiness. The flavor profile in this beast is exceptional. It took me almost two hours to take this cigar down to the nub and I didn’t want it to end. I encountered no harshness nor extended heat and finished with a decently little nicotine kick as the cigar really ramped up its strength into the final third. 

Overview:

This is a fantastic offering from Tatuaje and an even better partnership with one of my favorite cigar shops in the country in Fox Cigar Bar. While I can’t really speak to if the wet pack changed the flavor profile, what I can speak to is how flavorful and potent the profile in this cigar is. Its bold and very complex while the cigar itself performed and burned flawlessly from start to finish. At $12 a stick it’s not the cheapest cigar out there, nor should it be. I’d gladly pay that coin for a cigar of this caliber and this is something I will definitely keep in my humidor. I am especially curious as to how these cigars will do with a bit more age on them. 

Pairing:

Brewed at Bottle Logic Brewing in California Fundamential Observation is a 13.2% ABV imperial stout with Madagascar vanilla beans aged in bourbon barrels. The beer starts out with bold vanilla, chocolate, malt, spice, and bourbon barrel along with soft coffee notes and a very heavy mouthfeel before finishing with a whole mess of bourbon barrel, vanilla, spice, chocolate, and more coffee. There is a lingering mixture of caramel and bourbon that hangs around of quite sometime. This made for an absolute monster of a pairing along with the vanilla, chocolate, spice, and coffee notes I found in the Tatuaje Unicos Wet Pack. Both the cigar and beer are complex, and bold which could easily lead to one of the other overpowering the other. But in the case of this pairing they both held their own while melding into one another. 

The post Tatuaje Unicos Wet Pack (Fox Cigar Bar Exclusive) appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The La Aurora 1495 Series is a long-filler cigar line created to pay tribute to the city of Santiago de los Caballeros. The numbers in the name represent the year the city was founded by Christopher Columbus. The original 1495 series cigar was a medium/full Sumtra wrapper blended from 6 different type of tobacco. The line was later expanded to include a wide variety of wrappers including Corojo, Brazilian Maduro, Cameroon, and the one being reviewed today, Connecticut.

Released in 2007, the variety of wrappers all include the same binder and filler. These cigars are a great way to discover just how much the wrapper really does affect the flavor of the cigar. If you’ve ever been curious to discover this, the La Aurora 1495 series is a great way to learn. The grouping of the various wrappers is called the Conoisseurs selection and is a fantastic idea created by Jose Blanco (Twitter: @joseblanco809). They are available in smaller bundles, as a sampler pack as well as a large case of 100. All of the non-Sumatran wrapped cigars are only available in a Robusto size while the Sumatra wrapper comes in 4 different sizes.

Cigar: La Aurora 1495 Connecticut
Drink: Unibroue Maudite
Vitola: Robusto (5 x 50)
Wrapper: Connecticut
Binder: Dominican Corojo
Filler: Nicaraguan, Peruvian, Dominican Piloto Cubano
Price: $7.00-$7.50
Burn Time: 1.5 Hours

Construction:
• Wrapper has a slight oily sheen and a light brown color
• There are almost no veins on this cigar, very clean and smooth
• The triple cap is almost invisible, very cleanly applied
• Firmness is even throughout with a bit of give and a nice spring
• Foot appears to be well packed
• Cut was even, smooth and easy
• Draw is just right, no complaints there at all
• The cigar had two bands that were both easily removable

Burn:
• Toasting was easy and even, no dark spots at all
• Burn has been perfectly straight from the start
• Burn still has not gone even slightly wavy as I pass the halfway mark, razor sharp!
• Razor sharp to the end, awesome burn

Smoke & Ash:
• Generous amount of smoke on each draw but nothing overbearing
• A light resting smoke gives off a very nice cedar aroma
• Ash seems strong but does have a bit flaking around it
• Ash fell off easily into the ashtray after about 1.5 inches
• Second ash fell off at almost the exact same length, as if this cigar was programmed to do this, I love the consistency of this cigar

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper gives off a hay-like aroma with a bit of sweetness
• The foot has similar hay-like aromas and a touch of spice
• Pre-light draw brought lots of cedar and spice
• Initial draws are mild and have a nice cedar flavor with an added mild spiciness
• Picking up some light coffee and nutty flavors as I approach the halfway point, the spice also tapered off
• Retrohale is mild, not much bite but a great cedar finish
• Getting a nice creaminess on this cigar as it progresses
• The cigar is slowly creeping into the medium range just past the half-way mark
• The coffee and nutty notes really started to shine through as I approached that last inch of the cigar
• The cedar has tapered off a bit although still evident and the spice is making a nice comeback
• A tad of bitterness crept in near the end, but it wasn’t unpleasant, more like an espresso bitterness, tasty to the end

Final Thoughts:
This was a great Connecticut cigar. Typically, Connecticuts are very mild but with the Corojo binder and some of the various fillers this one had a bit more body to make it a little more interesting. The construction was amazing on this cigar, both visibly and in action while burning. It never had any issues at all. This is something I could definitely recommend to a novice or seasoned cigar smoker. The variety of wrappers containing the same filler and binder also make it a great learning experience. I’ve had 3 of the different wrappers and although they have some similarities it’s a great way to truly appreciate the influence of a good wrapper. The price of this cigar is also quite friendly and makes for an easy purchase without hurting the wallet. I will surely be looking for more of these and trying to get my hands on each one in this line, I suggest you do the same.

Pairings:
I’m a big fan of all the brews I’ve tried from Unibroue breweries and the Maudite is no exception. It clocks in as a strong beer at 8% but it’s so smooth and tasty that you can’t even tell. It’s got lots of froth and a fantastic smooth hoppy finish. The beer is fermented on a yeast base and the cap of the smaller bottles are covered with a golden foil that displays the breweries logo. If you can find this locally, I definitely recommend giving it a try. This is one of those cigars that can pair well with many different beverages including coffee, sweet tea, light beers, dark beers, or water. The flavors are not overpowering so I wouldn’t recommend going into strong pairings such as cognac or scotch.

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