Cigar Review: Tatuaje L’Espirit de Vérité 2008
15 Jun 2009
The new line from Pete Johnson’s Tatuaje, La Verite, will include two vitolas. La Verite, which means “the truth,â€Â will be a Churchill and available in April 2010. It will be offered in cabinets of 100, broken down into smaller boxes of 10, 25, or 50 and retailing for approximately $25 per stick. The other, L’esprit de La Verite, which means “the spirit of the truth,â€Â will be a robusto and available in December 2009 at a retail price of around $13 apiece.
The idea behind this highly anticipated release borrows heavily from the wine industry. All of the tobacco, habano criollo, will be from the one farm in Este×making this a Nicaraguan puro—and each year will produce a different “vintage†to mirror the vintage concept in wines. The tobacco will be fermented but, unlike most cigars, it will be rolled without undergoing further aging in bales.
The L’esprit de La Verite is made from the same tobacco as La Verite and designed to be a sample to give a taste of the final La Verite release. Starting in July, futures will go on sale for La Verite at a 25% discount on the retail price, which is similar to the process used by winemakers.
I was fortunate to be given a L’esprit de La Verite to try and, as such, only had the one cigar to smoke for this review. This 5 inch by 50 ring gauge cigar was perfectly constructed with no visual flaws. Pre-light it smells strongly of tobacco with a hint of woodiness.
Just after lighting I am greeted by the familiar spiciness that is typical in many of Pete’s cigars. That bite quickly diminishes and an earthy flavor emerges that ultimately progresses into a woody taste at the halfway point. The smoke is creamy with a clean, crisp finish on the palate.
The burn and draw are perfect, allowing me to focus more on the subtleties of the flavor. While the individual tastes do not change dramatically throughout, the wood flavor in particular is rich and full, offering different nuances with every puff.
Since this is a preproduction release, the verdict is still out on the final product. If this sample, however, is indicative of what’s to come, the future looks promising for the L’esprit de La Verite and its big brother.
Overall, this was a really enjoyable cigar that will likely improve with some time, which is not surprising given the tobacco’s young age. For that, I give the L’esprit de La Verite four stogies out of five.
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photo credit: Stogie Guys
Sounds pretty spectacular. Thanks for the pre-release review!