Vitola: Toro- 5.625” x 54 ring gauge
- MSRP $11.95
- Purchased at Burns Tobacconist
Background
Pete Johnson seems to be about as bored with producing the same thing year in and year out as I am with smoking the same thing all the time. For the 10th consecutive annual TAA (Tobacconist Association of America) release of a Tatuaje-branded cigar, he decided to introduce something completely new. Most of the previous Tat TAAs have been Broadleaf-wrapped beauties, including the 2015, which is still my all-time favorite (it was a redux of the 2011 (the very first) release…so that one could have been just as good, but I never got many of them).
For 2020, Pete kept the size of the 2011/2015 release, but used an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper over Nicaraguan filler and binder. While he doesn’t generally talk about specific varietals of Nicaraguan tobacco used in the blends, I don’t get the impression from smoking several of these that this is a “same blend/different wrapper” scenario, which he has done before with the Cojonu 2012 and 7th (Brown Label) releases.
As with previous releases, the Tatuaje TAA 2020 is available from TAA-member shops nationwide (only about 80 of them) and comes in boxes of 20 sticks. I bought mine at Burns Tobacconist in Chattanooga, TN, and this review sample is the 4th or 5th one that I’ve smoked.
Prelight
The boxes for previous TAA releases have mostly been plain wood cabinet-style boxes similar to what Tatuaje has done for Brown and Red label releases. This year the boxes were redesigned and made a bit nicer. There’s a rumor that may be the last Tat TAA release, so it could just be that he’s trying to make this one extra-special. It’s a nice stained-brown box that has the cigars in 2 rows of 10 instead of 4 x 5. The band has been changed up a bit, too, with the red, white, and blue arms of the Tatuaje Exclusive Series remaining the same, but the middle cigar being black background with gold foil and embossing, replacing the normal white background with black ink.
The wrapper leaf was a nice medium brown color like milk chocolate and the box-pressing was very smooth and rounded on the corners. The wrapper leaf was folded over the foot as with previous TAA releases. The Sumatran wrapper had an aroma of cedar and hay, with just a hint of earthiness, and the foot was mostly just the same because of the closed nature of it.
After clipping the head, I got a good draw that had light earthiness, cedar, and coppery notes.
Flavor
Initial thoughts on firing up the Tatuaje TAA 2020 were still that this was not exactly the same blend/different size as some previous Tatuaje Sumatra-wrapped release. I had medium body to start off with, a strong cedar flavor and plentiful mineral/coppery notes, overlaying earth, and a finish that left a nice pepper burn and a brief hint of honey sweetness. The retrohale had tons more pepper, along with earth and cedar.
As the first third burned into the second, I got an increasingly spicy and sweet mix with cedar still taking the dominant role and earthy notes right behind. The coppery mineral note faded a bit, but was still there.
The final third saw a bump in body from straight medium to medium-to-full, while cedar held on as the main flavor component, supported strongly by earth and white pepper and a mild sweetness. The mineral note was more on the finish.
Construction
I had a very good draw, even burn line, and solid ash.
Value
Limited production means a little higher price than normal and these follow suit…I think the experience is worth the extra couple bucks.
Conclusions
I have a history of not really liking Tatuaje’s Sumatra-wrapped cigars, so this one really surprised me. I enjoyed it end-to-end. It had a full-flavor riding on the medium to medium-full smoke with just enough complexity to never get dull. I would highly recommend getting your hands on these while they are available as they won’t last forever.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
