Tatuaje La Casita Criollo Review

Manufacturer: Tatuaje
Brand: La Casita Criolla
Size: 5x46* (see below)
Price: $5
Rest Time: 6-months
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Prelight: A solidly packed cigar with a dark chocolate wrapper. Aroma is a rich dark tobacco with some cedar, my box upgrades are having a wonderful effect on the aroma of my sticks. Prelight draw is straight tobacco. I punch the cap with my smallest punch and off we go.

1st 3rd:

On first light I get a bitter tobacco and black tea flavors with a spicy, but bitter aftertaste almost like pencil lead (graphite). The ash is very dense and is bright white in color. The draw is perfect allowing me to control the burn of the small ring gage with no trouble. The ash holds on for a little over an inch before dropping off.

2nd 3rd:

The bitterness gives way to a creamy chocolate flavor which is layered on top of earth and leather. There is some black pepper making the tip of my tongue tingle and the rest of my mouth very dry. The body is medium-full with no hint of strength.

Final 3rd:

The ash holds on for 1.5 inches before hitting the gound. There is some nuttiness coming in now mixing with the chocolate and the pepper has moved from the front of my tongue to mid palate really drying my mouth out. There is also a nice cedar flavor accompanied by a slightly harsh cinnamon. These flavors remind me of those cinnamon covered nuts that are roasting at street fairs. The body remains med-full with no perceptible strength.

Summary:

The construction and performance of this cigar were perfect requiring no relights or touch ups, burn was beyond razor sharp. However, the experience was sort of a conundrum for me as I enjoyed the flavors, but found the mouth dryness a little off putting. I will definitely give this stick another go in the fall or winter and see if it's just the summer heat that's getting to me.

* The size of this stick is a mystery to me. Using my new ring gage guide I peg the size at 5x46, unfortunately Pete does not make this size in this line. There is a 5 5/8 x 46 and a 5 1/8 x 42. So either I was shorted 5/8 of an inch and Pete needs some better quality control or I need a new ring gage tool.

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