The Velvet Cigar

Posted By ironmeden on November 11, 2009

On the 8th day God created Rock and  Roll and on the 9th day some cigar smokers believe God created Pete Johnson. There is an almost messiah like status that some cigar smokers give to Pete Johnson and the Tatuaje line. I do enjoy smoking Tatuaje cigars, but I guess I just don’t understand the whole cult like status of Tatuaje. The forums have thread after thread of nothing but praise for the line. There was a thread recently about smoking a cigar Tatuaje in support of Pete  Johnson and the lawsuit that Altadis brought on him for the use of the Fleur de Lis logo on their cigars. I think its a frivolous lawsuit since Tatuaje has been using the design since its start and there are so many versions of the logo and it’s pretty much public domain use at this point.

Tatuaje – Drac

The Drac is a limited release during the Halloween season. There are 1300 boxes released to a very limited number of B&M’s. The wrapper is a Habano Maduro measuring 6 3/4 x 52 torpedo. The cigar has a dull appearance. There is one band at the bottom of the cigar. Its black and red with the Tatuaje name.

There appeared to be some extra glue under the band that seeped from underneath. When I started taking the band off the cigar,  took along a chunk of wrapper with it.

First impression I get is a easy draw. The flavor I take away is a light licorice with a construction paper note. The burn didn’t start off so well due to the wrapper coming off but it did even out after a few minutes.

At the 1/4 mark the ash seems to blow up. The flavors don’t appear to strengthen at all. It is a smooth cigar but its pretty flat in flavor. A salty note appears and the burn again isn’t even.

Halfway through the salty note is stronger. The cigar has a flavor of paper at this point. What I am liking about this cigar is that something in it is juicy. My saliva glands are working overtime where I don’t have to take a drink of water. Not sure what causes this with some of the cigars I smoke.

At the 3/4 mark the cigar’s burn is evening out. A coffee flavor appears at this point. The wrapper also is breaking apart at certain points. This seems like a very thin wrapper.  At the end of the cigar there is a musty flavor.

I was looking forward to smoking this cigar, but it was a let down. Its probably a good thing that this is a limited release because as a regular line, this would certainly knock Tatuaje down a peg. I give the cigar a 2 out of 5. Rating:

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Categories: Cigar Indulgence
Tags: drac, tatuaje