Smoked: Tatuaje Miami Reserva J21

Smoked at: West Chester, Ohio

Tatuaje Miami Reserva J21 is a Nicaraguan covered in a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper with a few visible veins.

Things did not get off to a good start. The draw was ridiculously tight. Perfect Draw was called up for active duty – twice. I have never pulled so much tobacco out of a cigar. This stick had a plug that wouldn’t budge. It did some minor damage to the wrapper, but the draw did finally open up. Aw! Smoke. Flavors. Now there’s adequate smoke output, fairly even burn line, light grey ash held tight and no further wrapper issues. But, the enjoyment suffered from the plug and tight draw.

The flavors that did finally find their way through include wood and mild pepper mixed with some notes of toasted bread, and earth with a hint of nutmeg-spice. That changes during the second third. The pepper kicks in – no longer mild. It’s there now. The wood is now like burnt firewood and some floral and herbal notes emerge. Suddenly, the pepper dissipates during the final third making room for more wood, nuts and a few creamy notes to take over. All of this was interrupted from puff to puff by the construction issues. The cigar turned bitter by the end of the smoke.

Put out what was left of the last third and cleansed my palate with a Tatuaje Cojonu 2012. Both sticks were from the same humidor, resting each around two months. The construction and flavors in the Cojonu 2012 were nearly perfect. You make the call.

I assume I had the misfortune of finding a bad stick and that a well rolled and packed version would have been more enjoyable. Still, I expect more from a Tatuaje in this series and price point. And I certainly expect more consistency from Pete Johnson.