Tatuaje Private Reserve “Black Label” Corona Gorda

IMG_0955The cigar:

This cigar is produced by Tatuaje and is rolled at the My Father cigar factory. This cigar has an interesting bit of history behind it. The story is that Pete Johnson (founder of Tatuaje) traveled to Cuba several years ago. While there, he had the unique pleasure of access to many fine cuban cigars produced by the some of the greatest cigar makers in the world. However, he was most impressed by a cigar that was not produced by a famous cigar maker at all. Every morning while he was there he was greeted by a gentleman riding his bike to work. Every day, the gentleman gave Pete a cigar that he had personally created. Pete eventually realized that this was the best cigar that he had smoked during the entire trip. He eventually learned that this was a common practice on the island. The cigar rollers working at the factory each had their own individual tastes so they would create their own personal blend using their daily allotment of tobacco from the factory. They would then have a custom, private cigar blend suiting their own tastes. After the trip, Pete decided that he would create his own personal, private blend that was custom made to suit his own personal tastes. For a while, he would only smoke these himself and share with friends, colleagues, and family. Eventually, he began doing small releases of the cigar to the public for certain occasions. For example, he provided some of these cigars to the CRA (Cigar Rights of America) for sampler packs used for membership. This is how I was first introduced to the cigar. Recently, Pete Johnson finally put these cigars into regular production. Today’s review is a cigar from the regular production line of Black Label from a box that has been resting in the humidor for about a year.

  • Wrapper: Criollo
  • Binder: Nicaragua
  • Filler: Nicaragua
  • Size: 5.6″ x 46
  • Price: ~$15

First impressions:

  • This is a beautiful rolled cigar with a medium-dark chocolate brown wrapper
  • The cap has a small nipple on the end and the foot is unfinished with the wrapper draped and folded over the foot
  • The aroma from the wrapper is leather and caramel
  • The aroma from the foot was the same as the wrapper since it was draped in wrapper

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Pre-light:

  • It has a slightly overly firm draw
  • The pre-light taste is purely chocolate covered raisins without any spice

First third:

  • The first few puffs are peppery, spicy and chocolatey and surprisingly without any harshness
  • As the cigar is smoked, there is an interesting tingling sensation on the tip of the tongue mixed with red pepper
  • In addition to the red pepper at the tip of the tongue there is also a hearty, meaty, very satisfying steak-like flavor at the back of the mouth
  • There is a definite saltiness to the flavors which I rarely find in cigars but always enjoy when present
  • The aroma is that of burnt sugar
  • The burn line is flawless

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Middle third:

  • The flavors have evolved into a creamy coffee and salted caramel, however, there continues to be a very gratifying, meatiness to the flavors that I enjoy
  • The aroma smells of hot melting chocolate mixed with smoldering cedar campfire
  • This middle third is fantastic

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Last third:

  • The cigars salty meatiness has intensified
  • There continues to be a cool/burning tingling sensation on the tongue with spicy red pepper
  • The aroma is just like s’mores over the campfire
  • The burn continues to be flawless. Not a single touch-up was required during the entire smoke
  • The last few puffs are intense super-dark chocolate with a bright acidity
  • I smoked this thing down until my fingers started burning

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Impressions:

  • Strength: medium
  • Taste: 10
  • Aroma: 10
  • Construction: 10
  • Value: 9

Overall Score: 10

This cigar is a perfect 10. Now recall from my practical rating system that the overall score of 10 is not an unobtainable score like many other cigar rating systems. Many cigars can be perfect, in their own right, and I have smoked many perfect 10’s in my lifetime. This does NOT mean that it is the greatest cigar that I have ever encountered. But, in this case, a perfect 10 means that I had absolutely no complaints and could not think of any way to make this cigar better. The flavors were extremely satisfying and the aroma very pleasing. Construction was flawless. The price is a little steep but still continues to be a good value given the great experience. Last year, I smoked a few of these with only a few weeks of rest in the humidor. I did not write a review at that time but they have definitely improved with age after resting for about a year.

P.S. I should probably point out that the greatest cigar I can recall smoking in my lifetime probably was one of these Tatuaje Black Label cigars. However, in that case, it was a special release from Tatuaje, long before they put these cigars into regular production. Also, that cigar had been resting and aging for at least 5 years and possibly even 7 years at the time it was smoked. Recalling it from memory, the flavor profiles were similar as in this review but I remember the saltiness of the cigar being very surprising and the overall strength being very mild and creamy smooth.