Petite Tatuaje Cigarillo

Apparently the legion of Tatuaje aficionados on here couldn't fathom how I hadn't had one yet, so of course their ring leader @WNYTONY bombs me with *EIGHT* Tatuajes. Man, and my local B&M wonders why I never seem to actually buy any CIGARS from them...

Anyhow, today my daughter had a friend over, so I didn't have a lot of time, so I started with the tiniest of the eight-pack sampler. We'll call it the "Olean Special". :)

http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/s...psfd6acxgq.jpg

4.5" x 32 rg

As with just about every cigarillo I've ever seen, it's unbanded.

The Wrapper

It's a darkish brown, toothy with lots of veins and visible seams. It's the kind of tobacco product that cigarettes never want to run into in a dark alley somewhere...the kind that beats up cigarettes for their lunch money...but I found it attractive.

First Third

Immediately I'm hit with cream and tobacco notes, and find the draw to have some substantial resistance. Not enough to detract, but definitely on the tight end of what I like.

This thing puts out a LOT of smoke for such a little sucker. I notice some light spice on the retrohale. There's also a vanilla sweetness and a hint of smokiness. I notice the ash is almost pure white with speckles of gray in it, which always reminds me of french vanilla ice cream.

Second Third

The spice on the retrohale kicks up a notch to light-medium. I also start to get some chocolate notes! Is this a maduro wrapper? Hmm...I don't think so.

Final Third

The cigarillo starts to get too hot to hold, so I let it go out.

Total burn time: 45 minutes

Final Thoughts

This was my first cigarillo, and I really enjoyed it! Maybe not all cigarillos are made to this level of quality, but this one was great! The touch of smokiness combined with the cream and vanilla, then later chocolate notes was really enjoyable. I slowed down my draws to every 1.5-2.0 minutes, and it never went out. Much like with lanceros and panatelas I had to do longer, slower draws to avoid overcooking the cherry. Maybe there's something to this Tatauje craze... :)