When I got into cigars back in the late 90’s the cigar game began to change. Long before there was craft beers cigar companies emerged making small batch cigars. For me the first brand that was like that was Tatuaje. Over the years Tatuaje lost the small batch craft beer edge as they’ve become more mainstream and newer craft companies have emerged. I remember living in New York, and my associate at the time was telling me in 5 years no one would know who Tatuaje was. Well, he was wrong.
Today’s we review the Tatuaje Havana VI Verocu linen which is the stronger version of the Havana VI line and is said to be the regular release of the East/West Verocu limited release from many years ago. Having mentioned those cigars on a recent podcast, a listener reached out to me and asked me to review the #3.
Cigar Review: Tatuaje Verocu
Wrapper: Ecuador
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Length: 6″
Ring Gauge: 46
Vitola: Corona Larga
The Look: Packaged in wooden cabinet style boxes of of 20 cigars, the Tatuaje Havana VI Verocu sets itself apart from the regular red label line with a secondary band. The Ecuador wrapper that adorns the cigar is dark with a thin network of veins. It’s oily and a toothy and applied perfectly. In the hand the cigar is a bit bumpy with no soft spots or voids of tobacco.
The Notes: Once the cap is clipped the cigar offers up a sweetness that reminds me of a jelly ring complete while the aroma off the foot prior to lighting up has a cedar and spice. After we toast the foot, the first draw of the Corona Large sized No. 3 serves up cedar notes, with an abundance of pepper on the retrohale.
Moving on to the first third the cigar easily reminds me of a cinnamon graham cracker, no thought necessary. Around the 1-inch mark the cinnamon note disappears, and a dark chocolate emerges with a lot of pepper on the aroma and retrohale. As the first third comes to a close the sweetness begins to disappear.
Moving into the second third, the primary note is cedar with a touch of earth and growing black pepper notes. The sweetness that was so dominant in the first third is just a memory. The retrohale continues to be spicy with a touch of char like you would experience on a grilled steak.
The last third of the Verocu continues down the same road as the second third. There are notes of cedar, char, pepper and leather. The spicy retrohale singes the nostrils. The lengthy finish of the cigar has a touch of licorice on it to close things out.
The Finish: The way this cigar started off was amazing, but as the first third came to a close things changed and the cigar lost its complexity. I smoked a couple of more to make sure it wasn’t a fluke, but the dark bitter notes of the last two-thirds just didn’t do it for me. If only that first third continued throughout then perhaps this would be a box buy.
Score: 88
Price: $9.00 / $161.99
Tatuaje Verocu No. 3
Tatuaje Verocu No. 3 Foot
Tatuaje Verocu No. 3 Burn
