Tatuaje Black Tubo

Its christmas (yeah, i know this review isn't posted on Christmas but that's when I sat down to review this stick) and its time to pull out something special for the holiday! Today's review is of the new Tatuaje Black Tubo. The black blend first showed up on the market under the radar in late 2007 as a Corona Gorda, and then was released in jars of 19 in 2008 in a very limited quantity. Well, Pete is at it again with another special release with the black blend in a 6 1/8 X 52 Torpedo.(this time not quite so limited, but still not nearly as available as most would like) The black blend is Pete's personal blend, as in these were originally made just for him to smoke before he started doing small releases of them. The blend is a big secret, but it contains Nicaraguan Tobacco.

Visually this is an ugly cigar, but purposefully so. Pete picks ugly, mottled wrappers to give this cigar the look he's after, and leaves it with a shaggy foot. I love the simple black Tatuaje band and the tubo's are probably the nicest I have ever seen.

The predraw shows a perfect draw and a nice earthy aged tobacco flavor. Upon lighting, WHAM! Loads of black pepper spice and earth. The first few draws are really interesting, because you are mostly just tasting the wrapper leaf from the shaggy foot. After getting a little more into this cigar, the spice drops into the background, and a woody flavor comes up front with the dank earth flavor that I am definitely enjoying. The burn isn't very even, but I think that is due to the fact that I didn't even give this a week in my humidor to settle. I know for a review you shouldn't have anything strong to drink with a cigar as it will effect the flavor, but I don't care! Its Christmas and Remy Martin VSOP it is! The sweetness of the Cognac works wonders with the spicy flavor of the Black Label. The burn ended up evening itself out at the halfway point with no other problems after that.

I really enjoy the Tatuaje Black blend. These have some of the hallmark Tatuaje flavors, such as black pepper and earth, but with something else in there that makes them very unique. This is a bold cigar, but not overwhelming. I would classify it as medium/full bodied. I love the very rustic look of this cigar. The shaggy foot is one of my favorite things about the Black label blends, it makes this cigar really stand apart visually from the rest of Pete's products. These are available in boxes of 10 for $140. Not cheap, but then again not very easy to come by so buy them up if you see them!