Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the Tatuaje Cohete is a marbled light brown with decently raised veins and a large water spot on the back. The seams are fairly smooth and the caps well applied. The band is the traditional brown label design. The aroma from the wrapper is a wood forward barnyard while the foot brings musty wood. The pre-light draw brings musty, aged cedar.
Seth: This compact Tatuaje Cohete is firm in hand and is finished with a great triple cap. The wrapper has a nice dark Colorado Maduro coloring, and the veins throughout the leaf range from small to large. The coloring is that of dark roast coffee beans, and there is a nice oily sheen to the leaf. Aromas of leather, wood, spices and rich earth. Mineral qualities as well. Very rustic.
John: The Tatuaje Cohete has a single, brown Tatuaje band. The cigar does not come in cellophane, does not have a UPC sticker and there are no artisanal complications. Aromas from the wrapper included bread, wood and light baking spices. From the foot, a combination of hay, sweet and mild tobacco.
Jiunn: The Tatuaje Cohete has an oily texture to the overall Colorado maduro wrapper shade. Veins are well pressed, seams tight, bunch and roll even and head well wrapped. Aromas from the wrapper give abundant barnyard and cedar. Aromas from the foot tell rich white pepper spice and toasted nuts. Cold draw tells white pepper and dried apricots.

Team Cigar Review: Tatuaje Cohete

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with toasted cedar, baking spice and light mustiness. At a quarter inch in, the baking spice transitions to a creamy cinnamon. At a half inch in, a light chalkiness joins the profile. The retrohale is toasted cedar with a mix of mustiness and creaminess along with a very mild cinnamon note. As the third comes to a close, the profile is musty, toasted cedar up front with creamy cinnamon a bit behind and light chalkiness in the background. The strength was right at medium.
Seth: The first third starts out with leather, tobacco and earth notes. I am picking up spice qualities as well, and it has bits of red and black pepper. There are faint coffee bean notes present, and the finish has this flourless chocolate cake quality. Medium to medium-full in strength and body.
John: The first third is a rich opening of baking spices, chocolate and cream, with a finish of cream and wood into the post draw. That wood lingers quite a while on the palate between draws. As it starts to settle in, a mild pepper is present on my lips. As the cigar progresses, medium strength pepper builds on the back of my throat. As it continues, it takes on characteristics of earth and minerality. By the halfway point, it’s more bread and wood forward on the retrohale.
Jiunn: There’s a bit of a gut punch to the first third. The profile is slick, giving an oily texture. The flavors are more raw, being white pepper, mineral and cocoa driven. Retrohaling gives strong white pepper spice, but also seems to give a good amount of toasted nuts. The finish is medium in length, with cedar and minerals. Strength is medium-full, and body has a nice viscosity, but it’s more medium than medium-full.

Team Cigar Review: Tatuaje Cohete

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the toast level becomes a bit heavier and the creamy cinnamon has morphed into a creamy general baking spice. The retrohale is now musty, toasted cedar with mild baking spice. At three quarters of an inch in, the creamy baking spice has become lighter. At an inch in, some dry earth joins the profile while the chalkiness has departed. As the third comes to a close, the profile is musty, toasted cedar with dry earth and creamy baking spice a bit behind. The strength remained at medium.
Seth: The second third is fairly in line with the first third. I am picking up some red and black pepper notes, and they are paired with that earth, leather and wood profile. There are some coffee bean notes on the finish, and there is this cocoa quality with that. Medium in strength and body.
John: Bread, baking spices, wood and mild earth take the cigar into the second third as the wood carries into the post draw, lingering like the first third. Earth joins the post draw and rapidly builds to medium-full as it progresses, dominating the post draw. At this point, I decided to purge the cigar which brought the post draw earth back down to medium strength. Some light fruit sweetness comes through after the re-light, as the earth moves to the front of the profile. Baking spices are up to medium-plus strength as it reaches the halfway mark.
Jiunn: The second third adds a bit more rawness and sharpness to the profile. The flavor set is still the same, with white pepper, minerals and cocoa. Strength and body remains medium-full and medium, respectively.

Team Cigar Review: Tatuaje Cohete

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, some creaminess is now paired with the musty, toasted cedar up front. At a quarter inch in, the toast level becomes pretty heavy. The retrohale is now musty, heavily toasted cedar. As the cigar wraps up, the profile is musty and creamy heavily toasted cedar with dry earth a bit behind and a light baking spice in the background. The strength remained at medium.
Seth: The final third is right there with the second third. Enjoyable profile. Wood, earth, leather, peppery spices, cocoa and coffee beans. You really get a little bit of everything. Medium to medium-full in strength and body. A return of the first third.
John: The last third is earth forward with bitterness adding accents. Medium earth settles into the post draw. No other evolution through the last third.
Jiunn: The final third is too raw and sharp. Although the oily texture is still great, the flavors, especially the minerals, are way too sharp. Strength and body finishes the same medium-full and medium.

Team Cigar Review: Tatuaje Cohete

Burn

Aaron: The burn was a bit wavy, but never needed any attention. The ash held on in about inch and a quarter increments.
Seth: Beautiful burn from start to finish. Stunning.
John: The burn started straight, becoming uneven in the first third. A touch-up is required approaching the halfway point of the first third. The cigar struggles to stay lit in the second third, eventually requiring a re-light as it goes out at the halfway mark.
Jiunn: Aside from a couple re-lights and a quick touch-up, the burn performance was fine. The cigar was slightly wet, being a bit spongey.

Team Cigar Review: Tatuaje Cohete

Draw

Aaron: The draw was slightly tighter than I prefer, but didn’t cause any issues with the smoking experience.
Seth: A little more resistance and I would been thrilled.
John: The draw had a barely perceptible amount of resistance to it, roughly 1/2 – 1 notch towards the resistant spectrum which still puts it in the ideal range for a perfect draw.
Jiunn: The draw was perfect, giving ideal balance between air flow and resistance.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with toasted cedar, baking spice and light mustiness. The baking spice transitioned to creamy cinnamon fairly quickly and a light chalkiness joined a bit later. The second third saw the cinnamon transition back to baking spice, some dry earth join in and the chalkiness depart. The final third saw the toast level increase. The Tatuaje Cohete had a nice combination through the first half and then some dry earth joined in which brought the profile down a level and maintained it the rest of the way. The dry earth unfortunately took away from what the cigar had done up to the point. If it could have dodged it, this would have been a very nice cigar throughout. The price point is attractive and I liked what was going on early, so it may be something I come back to. I’m very interested in trying the other renditions as well.
Seth: I’m not going to work myself into a hole and rank this with the other two right now. The reason for that is because I don’t know how those will score, and I know Aaron will use it against me live and make me look like an idiot. (I do it to Jiunn all the time.) So with that being said, I enjoyed this Tatuaje Cohete. It definitely started out strong, and I think with some age it will finish strong as well. I am not referring to strength, because I thought Pete nailed the strength and body on this cigar with the flavors. It is a petite smoke, so I could say the first half was great and second half was decent, but the price is friendly, size is fantastic and flavors are enjoyable. Spices, coffee, cocoa, leather and tobacco. Everything a growing boy over the age of 21 needs. I will pass GO, and I will collect $200.
John: The Tatuaje Cohete delivered some interesting and rich flavor combinations in the first third which had me anticipating the second third. The second third ended up delivering a rather flat profile that became earth dominated, and by the last third was nothing but earth. I can’t help but think the burn issues impacted the flavor delivery. If the first third flavors could continue to even the second third, this is a cigar I would smoke regularly. The draw was flawless and the burn suffered with a touch-up and a re-light. Total smoking time was 1 hour and 26 minutes.
Jiunn: One word comes to mind; potential. The manner in which the Tatuaje Cohete currently tastes has all the key components to what should be a good cigar, given some more aging. The profile’s rawness in good flavors as well as the oily nature of the cigar typically will mean a more balanced and cohesive flavor profile. I typically don’t purchase many cigars these days, but I did buy a box of these. So in that sense, I am equating my words to my wallet.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.85

Cost/Point

$1.54

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

5.95

Cost/Point

$1.51

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

5.80

Cost/Point

$1.55

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

6.25

Cost/Point

$1.44

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Tatuaje Cohete