Size: 6 x 50
Wrapper: Connecticut Shade and Ecuadoran Sumatra
Binder and Filler: Dominican and Honduran
Strength: Medium to Full
Price: Between $8.00 to $10.00 a piece

Behind The Stick:

I had these gifted to me from Victoria over at General Cigars, and I can not tell you how excited I am to be able to review these. One of the more unique production cigars to come on the market, there has not been much news or hype associated with it. Perhaps this subtle form of marketing will bring back the Artesano de Miami crowd as well as a new group of followers. Without going on and on and taking up more time than needed, lets have the press release tell us what it is all about.

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Size: 5 5/8 x 46
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano
Binder and Filler: Nicaraguan
Strength: Medium
Price: Just over $3.00 each

Behind The Stick:

The Tatuaje Series P, not a ‘new’ cigar to the world but within recent months I have heard more and more people talk about them so I had to find some for myself. These are the creation from Pete Johnson and Jose Pepin Garcia in a response to a more economy driven decision – not only being very cost effective but also containing 31 cigars to a box. From what I have been able to find out, these actually are made up of the same filler blend as the Tatuaje Havana VI and rumor has it that they may even be using the scrap tobacco from the Havana (doesn’t bother me) using a mix of 40% long and 60% medium filler.

Enough of an introduction for this one, lets see how well it performs!

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Size: 5.50 x 50
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder and Filler: Piloto Cubano binder, Nicaraguan, Mexican and Dominican filler
Strength: Full
Price: Roughly $7.00 a piece

Behind The Stick:

Everyone has to be honest and loyal to their brand, and one of my brands is Cohiba produced in the Dominican Republic. When I first started this site, at the time I had two favorite smokes, the H. Upmann Vintage Cameroon and the Cohiba Red Dot. The Red Dot, for some reason, really seemed to call out to me, fitting a flavor profile I really enjoyed (although expensive) and this was actually one of the first videos reviews I had ever done. Check out the Cohiba Red Dot video to get a little idea of my thoughts.

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Rough and tough, middle aged, rebel, man, pompous ass, wealthy, celebrity, connoisseur, rugged, rude, aristocrat – the list can go on an on for adjectives that a common person may have flash through their mind when they think about a cigar smoker. I have to admit, for most of my life I was in the same boat – Pops was a homicide detective and I remember he smoked cigars nearly every single day of his career – his comment was that during work ‘it covers up the smell of dead bodies’ while when he smoked them at home his answer was ‘to keep your mother away’ followed by a bright smile and a small chuckle. My neighbor was an iron worker and would smoke cigars nearly as often as my dad, usually in the garage when they were teaching me how to work on a car or leaning on the fence ‘catching the breeze’. My favorite memories were when I would go with my dad to the barber or the cigar shop – it would be filled with old, gray haired men cussing and joking around while smoking cigars and having a few beers. For an 8 year old boy out with his dad, this was just about as close to heaven as I could imagine.

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