Tatuaje - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Tatuaje is a brand of hand-made premium cigar

Cigar

A cigar is a tightly-rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco that is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the mouth. Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities in Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, and the Eastern...

owned by Tatuaje Cigars, Inc.. It was
created by Pete Johnson (owner of Tatuaje Cigars) in close consultation with José Garcia

Pepin Garcia

Don José "Pepin" Garcia is currently the CEO of El Rey de los Habanos, Inc, a cigar company in Miami, also known as Don Pepín Cigars. He is a noted cigar maker living in Miami, Florida...

and is manufactured at the El Rey de los Habanos factory in Miami, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, and at Tabacalera Cubana S. A. (TACUBA) in Estelí

Estelí

Estelí, officially Villa de San Antonio de Pavia de Estelí is a city and municipality within the Estelí department. It is the third largest city in Nicaragua, an active commercial center in the north and is known as "the Diamond of the Segovias."...

, Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

Background and History

Tatuaje means "tattoo" in Spanish, and the name reflects Pete Johnson's tattoos. The brand was developed by Pete and Don Pepin, who worked in a very close collaboration to achieve the blend that Pete was seeking.

Tatuaje was the first brand that Don Pepin made on his own. The first Tatuajes were released in 2003. In the October, 2004, issue of Cigar Aficionado (CA), the Tatuaje Cabinet Especiales was given a rating of 90. The brand continues to get high ratings.

Awards/Recognition/Ratings

The Tatuaje Cabinet Especiales was designated one of the 25 Best Cigars of 2004 by Cigar Aficionado magazine.
The Tatuaje Cabinet Taino was designated by Cigar Aficionado as no.4 in the 25 Best Cigars for 2005.
The Tatuaje Cabinet Noella was designated as no. 9 in the 25 Best Cigars for 2006. and was given a 92 rating at that time.
Leaf and Ale named the Tatuaje brand as the 2006 Cigar of the Year.
Tatuaje has consistently been given high ratings in Cigar Aficionado magazine as well as Cigar Insider Online.
Tatuaje J21 Reserva was praised in Maxim Magazine's August 2007 print issue.

Description

The cigars can all be considered full-bodied cigars, but vary in strength. All are Nicaraguan Puros (constructed solely of tobaccos grown in Nicaragua). The brand consists of four ranges of regular production cigars along with several limited release vitolas (specific sizes) manufactured specifically for certain retailers.

Tatuaje Cabinet

There are six (6) vitolas in this range. Seven are listed below, although the Petit is technically not a Cabinet vitola, but is unique to itself. The band is a simple brown band with white lettering. The Cabinet range uses a Corojo 99 viso wrapper, although those chosen for the Especiales are lighter in color. The filler blends vary, resulting in a range of strength from the refined mellowness of the Especiales to the near-Cuban strength of the Cazadores. A bit of trivia: the first initials of the first six vitolas as given here spell out the name of one of Pete's dog

Dog

The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...

s, Hunter.

Frontmark	Vitola	Length (in.)	Ring Gauge
Havana Cazadores	Lonsdale	6.375	43
Unicos	torpedo	6.125	52
Noella	corona	5.125	42
Taino	double corona	7.625	49
Especiales	Lancero	7.5	38
Regios	robusto	5.5	50
Petit Tatuaje	small panatela	4.5	32

Tatuaje Reserva

There are three (3) vitolas in this range. Again, the filler blends vary. The wrapper used is a Nicaraguan viso, except for the J21, which uses a ligero leaf. The cigars sport a second band, black with Reserva and the frontmark in gold lettering.

Frontmark	Vitola	Length (in.)	Ring Gauge
Reserva J21	Robusto	5	50
Reserva Regios	Robusto Grande	5.5	49
Reserva SW	Churchill	7	47
Reserva A Uno	Presidente	9.5	47

Tatuaje RC

There are but two vitolas in this range, both figurados. They are medium-bodied cigars which start out strong, then mellow gradually over the length of the cigar. The band is tri-colored, with red, white and blue stripes, and each cigar is foil wrapped from the head to the mid-section, similar to the old Cuban style of foil-wrapped figurados. The numbers in the vitola name is the length in millimeters.

Frontmark	Vitola	Length (in.)	Ring Gauge	Band
RC 233	diademas	9.125	55
RC 184	salomon	7.25	57

Tatuaje Cojonu

The three vitolas in this range are full-bodied cigars. Beginning in August 2006, the wrapper was changed to a ligero from a viso wrapper. In addition to the regular Tatuaje band, there is a second, gold band with the year of that vitola's introduction in black. The Gran Cojonu, however, is bandless. In addition, it has a shag (untrimmed) foot. The year in the model name refers to the year of introduction. Thus, the Cojonu 2003 was introduced in 2003. Plans are to introduce a new model every three years. The newest edition, Cojonu 2009!

Frontmark	Vitola	Length (in.)	Ring Gauge	Band
Cojonu 2009	belicoso	6.75	48	need image
Cojonu 2006	belicoso	5.5	52
Cojonu 2003	toro	6.5	52
Gran Cojonu	toro	6.5	60	unbanded

A new model/vitola of the Cojonu will be introduced every three years.

Series P

This range is a Cuban sandwich, which consists of 60% medium filler and 40% long-filler.. Medium bodied, it is a Nicaraguan puro, and uses the same filler blend as the Havana VI

Tatuaje Havana VI

Tatuaje Havana VI is a brand of hand-made premium cigar owned by Tatuaje Cigars, Inc. It was created by José "Pepin" Garcia in consultation with Pete Johnson and is manufactured at Tabacalera Cubana in Estelí, Nicaragua...

, and is made at TACUBA in Estelí, Nicaragua. The wrapper is Nicaraguan Habano and the binder is, of course, also Nicaraguan. The brand was released in October 2006 in a range of four models. It has a simple white band with red lettering.

Frontmark	Vitola	Length (in.)	Ring Gauge
P1	corona gorda	5.625	46
P2	robusto	5	50
P3	toro	6	50
P4	Churchill	7	47

Nuevitas Jibaro

The Nuevitas Jibaro is actually not part of the Tatuaje line and was created by Pete Johnson. Although Pepin Garcia

Pepin Garcia

Don José "Pepin" Garcia is currently the CEO of El Rey de los Habanos, Inc, a cigar company in Miami, also known as Don Pepín Cigars. He is a noted cigar maker living in Miami, Florida...

is usually associated with Mr. Johnson's cigars, he was not involved in the creation or production of this small line. They were made by Pedro Martin's old Tropical Tobacco (since purchased by AGANORSA and now known as Tabacalera Tropical)in Estelí

Estelí

, Nicaragua

Nicaragua

. The design of the cigar was modeled after a custom-rolled Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

n Cohiba

Cohiba

Cohiba may refer to:*Cohiba *Cohiba...

. It was a very strong blend. Mr. Johnson discontinued production of the cigar rather than have the production moved to another factory.

The cigars were unbanded with an unfinished foot and the line was limited to two vitolas, both figurados, the No. 1 (5 x 54) and the No. 2 (6 x 52).

Special Productions

Bombazos (4" x 46) were produced for Fumare Cigar in Reno, Nevada
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...

. It is a strong, spicy blend.
El Cohete (4" x 50) was produced for Tower Cigars. It was packed in cabinets of 25, each numbered, dated and signed by Pete Johnson. There were only 50 such cabinets available. It was made in Pepin Garcia's Miami factory.
La Maravilla (5 5/8" x 46) was produced for Leaf and Ale. The wrapper is an aged viso wrapper, with the wrapper covering the foot of the cigar, similar to the Gran Cojonu. The cigars are packed in foil, which is part of a unique fermentation process that is used on the cigars: they are rolled, then wrapped in foil to seal in the flavors, and aged in that form, similar to how some Cuban cigars are aged wrapped in burlap.
The Frank (7 5/8" x 49 - Box Pressed) was released in 2008 as the first cigar in Tatuaje's Monster Series. The 13 "unlucky" retailers were announced on Oct. 13, 2008 and were chosen by lottery out of the top 100 Tatuaje tetailers nationwide. Each retailer received 50 boxes out of the 666 boxes produced. The box was designed to resemble a blood-splattered coffin and contained 13 cigars, with a suggested retail price of $13.00 each.

Other Tatuaje Cigars

In November 2006 a special production of Tatuaje Noellas Reservas was released to Tatuaje retailers.
The Thermonuclear, a Triple Ligero, was a 'fun experiment' not generally offered for sale due to its strength, as the name implies.