Pre-light Experience

The wrapper on the Tatuaje Anarchy KAOS is somewhere between medium and dark brown and actually slightly darker the closer you get to the head. There are a few decently raised veins present and the seams are fairly easily visible as they are slightly raised in some areas. The head is finished off with a tightly wrapped pigtail that is quite lengthy and begs for a toupee joke. The band has the traditional Anarchy logo and carries a red on black color combination. The aroma from the wrapper is wood and slightly damp earth while the foot brings sweet wood and light pepper. The pre-light draw brings aged cedar and baking spice, along with a mid-level spiciness on my lips.

Pre-light Experience

The Tatuaje Anarchy KAOS is finished with a lovely maduro wrapper that is dark chocolate in coloring. It has small to medium sized veins present throughout and is finished with a lovely tailed cap. I am picking up aromas of chocolate, rich earth, spice and leather, and that is on the foot and wrapper.

Pre-light Experience

The first thing that strikes me about the Tatuaje Anarchy KAOS is just how dark and shiny the wrapper is. Additionally, the cigar has a twisted pigtail cap. For aromas from the cigar, I was able to pick out fresh cedar and light leather. From the foot, there was sweet raisin and tobacco.

Pre-light Experience

The Tatuaje Anarchy KAOS has a uniform dark roast maduro wrapper shade. Veins are well pressed, seams tight but visible, bunch and roll firm and the very manly man bun has a deep multi-layered cap. Aromas from the wrapper tell rich, wet soil and cedar. Aromas from the nose tell inviting red pepper spice and the same rich, wet soil. Cold draw tells cedar and black tea.

First Third

The cigar begins with wood, heavy baking spice and light mustiness. At a half inch in, the wood becomes a bit dark as the baking spice mellows slightly and the mustiness increases a bit. The retrohale has a baking spice zing up front with wood and mustiness in the background. At an inch in, the baking spice is now black pepper and has a long, lingering finish. The black pepper has a slight lead over the dark wood and mustiness. At an inch and a half, the black pepper, dark wood and mustiness are all even. The strength in this third was slightly above medium.

First Third

The first third opens up with notes of leather, earth and black pepper. I am getting some fresh cut grass flavors as well, and it is medium in strength and body. Little surprised by the body, strength and flavor profile if I am going to be honest.

First Third

Dark chocolate, coffee, delayed baking spices, with leather on the post draw all open up the first third. The retrohale is a sweet dessert like experience, with bread and baking spices to finish. Creaminess joins the retrohale as it settles in. By the 10 minute mark, some earth joins the post draw, and by the 20 minute mark medium-full cedar is leading the profile. Leather joins the post draw and moves up to medium-full strength by the 30 minute mark.

First Third

Upon first draw, I immediately taste how sweet the profile is. As I take a few more draws, it’s recognized as sweetened condensed milk. There’s also a good layer of roasted peanuts, zesty minerality, subtle red pepper spice and cedar. Retrohaling has the minerals and red pepper spice pop that much more. The finish is a bit short with mainly roasted nuts. Strength and body is medium.

Second Third

As the second third begins, the dark wood and mustiness are paired together up front as the black pepper is now in the background. At a half inch in, the dark wood transitions to a toasted wood. The retrohale is musty wood. The third finishes up with the toasted wood and mustiness up front and the black pepper in the background with a long finish. The strength remained at slightly above medium.

Second Third

As I enter the second third, I find some transitioning and I am picking up those earthy, mineral, pepper and hay notes. I am getting some rich barnyard qualities on the finish. The strength remains at that medium level in this third, but the body has moved up to that medium-full level.

Second Third

Cedar, espresso and toasted earth all define the retrohale moving into the second third. That earth lingers between draws and becomes the leading flavor as the second third settles in. By the bottom half, the earth flavor moves up to full strength, taking over the profile.

Second Third

The sweetened condensed milk from the first third has drastically fallen off within the second third. The profile now is more geared towards earth and spice. Roasted peanuts, minerality, increase in red pepper spice and cedar. Strength and body remains medium.

Final Third

As the final third begins, the toasted note transitions to a light char. At a half inch in, the char increases a bit. The retrohale remains musty wood. As the cigar comes to a close, the profile is charred wood and mustiness with black pepper in the background that has a long finish. The strength in this third remained at slightly above medium.

Final Third

The final third is nearly identical to that of the second third and I am getting earthy, mineral, pepper and hay notes. There are some barnyard qualities on the finish, but not as rich as before. Like the second third, medium in strength and medium-full in body.

Final Third

The profile here consists of sweet, toasted, dark earth that dominates the palate between draws. There is no other evolution for the last third.

Final Third

The final third completely loses out on the sweetness. Further, a significant char build-up occurs in the form of burnt coffee and charred wood. The other notes of roasted peanuts, minerality, cedar and red pepper spice are still somewhat prevalent. Strength and body finishes medium

Burn

The burn line was straight the entire way, but it did go out once in the second third, requiring a re-light. The ash held on in inch and a quarter increments.

Burn

The burn throughout KAOS was very good. Well constructed cigar.

Burn

The burn was razor sharp until the last third when it spontaneously went out between draws. A single re-light was required.

Burn

Burn performance was good aside from a couple quick touch-ups required to get the burn line on track. Solid ash marks, cool burning temperature and good smoke production.

Draw

The draw was perfect, with just the right amount of resistance that I prefer.

Overall

The cigar began with wood, heavy baking spice and light mustiness. The wood gained a dark note fairly quickly and later the baking spice transitioned to black pepper. The final third saw the toast transition to char. Construction was perfect aside from a single re-light and strength was slightly above medium the whole way. The Tatuaje Anarchy KAOS had a nice start with a pretty simple flavor combination. As the pepper took a backseat to the musty wood in the second third, the profile became fairly average and maintained that level the rest of the way. To me, this offering doesn’t match up to the original Anarchy and likely isn’t something I’d gravitate back towards. Fans of Tatuaje will likely enjoy the cigar as it fits well within a number of the offerings in the portfolio.

Draw

Draw was amazing.

Overall

I was disappointed with the Tatuaje Anarchy KAOS. Anarchy has never been my type of cigar, but past releases have delivered more flavors, strength and body. They were better cigars. While the construction and draw were perfect, I would not expect any less from a cigar coming out of My Father Cigars. I have been disappointed with a lot of Tatuaje releases coming out of My Father in Esteli and really think the company’s best stuff is being made in Miami. I would rather pay more for a release out of Miami, knowing that the final product will be superior. Great presentation, disappointing delivery.

Draw

The draw has some minor resistance to it, roughly 1-1/2 to 2 notches.

Overall

The Tatuaje Anarchy KAOS starts out promising in the first third with dark and roasted flavors of chocolate, coffee, baking spices, bread, leather, cream and earth. For me, the profile continued to move to earth forward which ended up dominating my palate by the last third, which was not an enjoyable experience. I’d be willing to try this again, but I would be inclined to give this cigar 4 – 6 months to see if the more aggressive earth components settled down. My total smoking time was great at 2 hours and 7 minutes.

Draw

The draw was slightly snug for my liking, but overall a non-issue.

Overall

The name Tatuaje Anarchy is a milestone name within my cigar journey. When Smoke Inn released the original Anarchy in 2010, that was the beginning of my FOMO and chase for limited/allocated cigars. Luckily I no longer have that, but nonetheless, getting an opportunity to smoke the newest Anarchy put a nice smile on my face thinking about those times. The Tatuaje Anarchy KAOS is a cigar that started out great and slowly deteriorated. That first third was great, giving way to sweetened condensed milk, roasted peanuts, zesty minerality, subtle red pepper spice and cedar. But as the cigar progressed, the sweetness dramatically dropped, and eventually led to undesirable char and burnt notes. I’d like to revisit the cigar in 5 to 6 months to see if the cigar will smooth out its rougher edges. But as of now, it’s a soft recommend.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

6.00

Cost/Point

$2.08

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

5.65

Cost/Point

$2.21

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

5.40

Cost/Point

$2.31

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

6.22

Cost/Point

$2.01

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Tatuaje Anarchy KAOS