📌 Brand: Tatuaje
📌 Line: TAA 2023
📌 Size: Toro Extra (6 3/8" × 54)
📌 Weight: 19.7 g
📌 Age: 2 years
📌 Origin: Nicaragua
Tasting Notes
Earth – Thick, strong base
Dark Chocolate – Bitter-sweet depth
Pepper – Sharp, forward spice
Leather – Rustic, heavy undertone
First Impressions
The Tatuaje TAA 2023 shows a dark, oily Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper with a slightly uneven feel beneath the fingers. Pre-light aromas bring earth, barnyard, and cocoa. Cold draw is ideal, offering pepper and chocolate.
Smoking Experience
First Third – Earth and pepper lead strongly, dark chocolate underneath. Burn begins drifting to one side early.
Second Third – Leather develops, but the cigar starts burning heavily on one side, requiring repeated touch-ups. Smoke output wavers.
Final Third – Flavors darken with more bitterness. Burn collapses again and needs multiple serious corrections to stay lit. Structure becomes unstable toward the end.
Pairings
Alcohol – GlenDronach 12 , rich sherry sweetness countering the cigar’s earthy bitterness and uneven profile.
Tea – Thai Black Tea (Cha Yen), malty with subtle spice, brightening the cigar’s heavy tones.
Music Pairing
“A Real Mother for Ya” – Johnny “Guitar” Watson
Smooth swagger to lift the experience.
Final Thoughts
The Tatuaje TAA 2023 has the core of a strong, dark, peppery Nicaraguan blend, but construction issues dominate. Uneven burn, repeated drifting to one side, and multiple heavy touch-ups hold the cigar back from showing what it could be.
Final Score: 5/10
Why not a 10?
Severe burn issues, structural instability, and multiple corrections ruined consistency and flavor evolution.
Only cigars that deliver flawless draw, balance, flavour evolution, construction and satisfaction get a 10.