Stogie Reviews: Tatuaje Anarchy
23 Nov 2010
The secret is out. (OK, really it’s been out since we revealed it back in July.) Tatuaje Anarchy is the latest “shop exclusive†from Tatuaje. Anarchy is made exclusively for Abe Dababneh and his six Smoke Inn stores in South Florida.
Abe said he approached Pete Johnson with the idea and Pete ran with it. After several different test blends, they finally settled on the blend that will be offered for pre-sale on Black Friday (November 26) at Smoke Inn. Cigars ordered on the 26th will ship on December 13, just after the launch party on December 10, which will be attended by both Pete Johnson and Don Pepin Garcia.
Anarchy is being offered in boxes of 15 with a price of $150 per box. The folks at Smoke Inn were kind enough to send me a couple of pre-release samples to review before they go on sale.
The Anarchy is a salomon-shaped cigar (6.125 x 48-52) finished with an unusual flattened pigtail cap. The blend consists of a dark brown Ecuadorian habano wrapper with a Nicaraguan binder and filler.
As you would expect with a Pepin/Pete Johnson cigar, the construction is excellent. The wrapper is moderately oily with few veins and is smooth to the touch with no tooth. Pre-light it smells of leather, cocoa, and a light spice.
After lighting the cigar, the first thing I notice is the lack of the trademark Pepin spice blast. Initially the cigar offers up flavors of leather, chocolate, and a very subtle spice. The thick creamy smoke is smooth through the nose and decently balanced.
As it progresses, the spice increases along with some sweetness and coffee notes. The burn is a little ragged and requires touch-ups along the way. The spice continues to pick up throughout the entire cigar, especially in the nose, but never becomes unbalanced.
The Tatuaje Anarchy is an interesting and well-constructed cigar. I have a feeling the burn issues may be a result of the lack of resting time between my receiving the samples and smoking them. The first sample that I smoked did hit a flat spot with the flavors becoming muted for a period of time, but that didn’t happen with the second sample. Overall, my experience with the Tatuaje Anarchy was very enjoyable, earning it four stogies out of five.
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Tatuaje used to be pretty highly regarded in my mind for good cigars. I do enjoy many of their lines (brown label 7th, Cabiguan, "Ghost" triunfador lancero, and others.)
I have been severely disappointed in their more special release cigars, mainly La Verite and the Black and Red tubos. La Verite for a 20$ cigar literally blew up on me while smoking. It was confirmed that a majority of these 20$ cigars had a way too thin wrapper and they knew it would be sketchy. Nevertheless, a $20 cigar with major problems sucks.
The Red and Black Tubos had major burn issues and everyone I know (myself included) told others, to take them out of the tubes and let them sit for a few days before you smoke them. This still shouldn't be the case with 10-15$ cigars.
I'm now extremely wary of any special release Tatuaje and just can't in good faith recommend them anymore to my friends.
Why is it called Anarchy? I don't see the connection. Is it just a marketing gimmick?
I don't have any idea other than the fact that the cigar is not really a traditional shape. It is sort of like a salomon in that it tapers from foot to head, with it's largest ring gauge somewhere in the middle, but I would say its not a traditional salomon shape.
One other point I meant to mention but forgot is that there are considerably more cigars rolled for this release compared with a normal Tatuaje shop release. I have heard 1000 boxes but that is not from an official source. Suffice it to say is that they should be plenty available.
I asked this question last week and was told that 1,500 boxes of 15 cigars were being produced, which is quite a bit more than a normal shop-specific Tatuaje special/limited release.
Why are anarchy coming only 15 per box. With the cost of the Tat line my B&M can't make a profit and won't carry something that is also "Limited". There are many, many cigars out there that cost less and taste better–IMHO
What are you thinking Pepin?