It was a beautiful morning at the beach not a cloud in the sky, no haze over the water, and a cool breeze keeping the temperature in the low 70s. I felt like I died and went to heaven. My cigar of choice this morning is pictured on the left. A cigar with a lot of buzz that is produced in limited numbers. For those local to me Havana Dreams in Rego Park NY recently got in 3 “jars” of them.

The Skinny:

Cigar: Tatuaje Black
Origin: Nicaragua
Size: Corona 5 5/8 x 46
Wrapper: Nicaragua Corojo 99
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua

Pre-Smoke: When the Beach Boys wrote “I wish they all could be California Girls” they obviously did not know what New York girls by way of Moscow had to offer. With thongs passing the left of me and thongs passing to the right of me, even on this cool August morning I tried to study my cigar. In terms of appearance this cigar is not all that good looking. The roll is a tad sloppy, with some veins showing on the wrapper. Some of the stems inside the veins look like they they want to burst through the leaf. Despite this the cigar has some nice oils to it, and was firm to the touch. The wrapper offered notes of cherry and wood, while at the foot I got some nutty notes which is also what I got from the draw. I used my hippotech idiot proof cutter and began to light this baby up.

Smoke: At first light there is a major blast of pepper which remains but subsides slightly as you work into the first third. Notes of wood begin to emerge as cotton ball like clouds begin to fill the blue sky. As we enter the second third of this wonderful smoke the pepper becomes a canvas on which wood and earth blend upon. As the beach begins to fill in front of me the final third of my smoke the pepper emerges back to the top with subtle notes of nuts and coffee to finish out the smoke. The cigar burned like a dream, however when I got down to past the label the cigar burned a littler hotter then most cigars.

Overall: Smoking this stick was like being on a mini-vacation. It left me cool, calm, and thoroughly relaxed. The notes of coffee and pepper remained with me for the better part of an hour after my smoke which was paired with water. To read a cool story of what Pete Johnson was going for with the Tatuaje read this article.

Rating: 91
Price: $15.00

Tomorrow’s Review: Cubao by Ortego Y Espinoza

The Skinny:

Cigar: ITC !0th Anniversary by Rocky Patel
Origin: Nicaragua
Size: Toro  6.5 x 52
Wrapper: Cuban Seed Nicaraguan Grown Corojo
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua (Condega, Jalapa & Esteli)

Pre-Light: If you click on the picture to the left, you will notice something I have never seen before near the ash. This cigar appears to have received a patch job because of a split. When I saw this I was pretty pissed of that quality control would let this go through. The scent of the wrapper was Cedar & Earth, while the foot was Cedar & Pepper. The wrapper despite being kept in my well mainted humidor looked a little dry.  This cigar is a pretty heavy cigar in terms of weight.  The prelight draw was sweet, kind of like chocolate or cocoa.

Smoke: Upon lighting this cigar I was quicky taken back but the strength of the cigar. It was a full bodied cigar from the get go that tried to work its way back to medium bodied and failed to do. The initial notes were pepper, cedar and other spices. This remaind for the first third of the cigar. The 2nd third introduced some coffee notes, that became more prevelent as I reached the final third. The final third of the cigar was pepper and earth as the coffee notes left in a hurry. One I got past the patch job, this cigar burned nice, with burn light that was straight. The ash was a little flaky, and a light grey in color.

Overall: I used to be a huge fan of Rocky Patel and still love a lot of the cigars they produce, but unfortunately nothing has topped the initial batch of Edge cigars that came in coffins of 100, without a label/band on them. In fact a lot of cigars of his cigars lately with the exception of the Summer Blend have been a dissapoint me to me, this smoke included.

My Local Price: 8.50
Rating: 86 (Out of 100)

When I return I will be doing a joint review/smoke off with The World According To Stew who sent me a Padilla in exchange for a Rocky Patel Summer that I sent him. So have a great weekend everybody see you next week!