Tatuaje 10th Anniversary Capa Especial Belle Encre

By Tony Casas | April 1, 2024

I haven’t done a pairing for a while and the cloudy overcast weather had me craving a good stout. This week I take a look at Tatuaje’s 10th Anniversary Capa Especial Belle Encre paired with a bottle of The Bruery’s Adios Martes Sherry Barrel Aged Imperial Stout.

The Good Stuff:

The 10th anniversary cigar was released by Tatuaje in 2013 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the company. Fast forward 10 years later and Pete Johnson, founder of Tatuaje, released the Tatuaje 10th Anniversary Tuxtla which featured the same blend with a wrapper change. This year, The company released the 10th Anniversary Capa Especial with the same idea. The blend remains the same however the new release features Tatuaje’s famous Ecuadorian Sumatran wrapper. Produced at the My Father Cigars factory in Nicaragua, the blend features the Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers. The cigar is released in only two sizes: Belle Encre (5 3/4 x 48) and the Bon Chasseur (5 3/8 x 52). Each size comes boxed in packages of 20 running $12 per cigar. I purchased mine over from our good friends at Cuenca Cigars.

• Size: 5 3/4 x 48
• Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Body: Medium/Full
• Strength: Medium/Full
• Price: $12
• Pairing: The Bruery Adios Matres (Imperial Stout 17.1% ABV)

Prelight:

The Tatuaje 10th Anniversary Capa Especial starts out with a rustic looking medium brown wrapper with splotches of darker brown and rich reddish hues scattered throughout. The wrapper’s texture is semi-toothy with a whole mess of oils coating it. The wrapper feels decently dense and the cigar is firm to a touch everywhere except the very tip of the foot. There are a few smaller veins running through the cigar’s body as the cigar’s tapered foot runs up through its slowly tapered cap. The cigar is finished off with a rounded, double-wrapped cap. The cigar includes the standard brown/gold tautly anniversary band as well as the added white and gold “Capa Especial” band that Pete has been including on his blends.

The wrapper on the Tatuaje 10th Annivarsary gives off bold plum and earthy aromas while the foot of the cigar carries a bit more spice over natural tobacco scents. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces notes of pecan and raisin over mostly natural tobacco flavors.

First Third:

The Tatuaje 10th Anniversary Capa Especial starts out with a tiny black pepper punch which immediately fades after the first few draws allowing the cigar to release bold notes of dark chocolate, musk, and pecan over lighter notes of raisin, oak, and a nice grainy/earthiness. The draw is extremely tight. This happens often with perfecto formats and I hope it just opens up as the cigar burns along. I’ll be keeping my eye on it. The burn line is slightly wavy which is also expected, but razor thin leaving behind a trail of very compacted white gray ash which held on for an inch before giving way.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Tatuaje 10th Anniversary Capa Especial and I am happy to report that the draw is finally beginning to open up a bit allowing more flavor to flow through the cigar with each puff. The chocolate and pecan still lead the charge backed by musk and oak with lighter notes of raisin and earthiness. While the flavor profile remains mostly the same, there is this amazing spice that started to creep in and add that extra “umpth” to the profile. The retrohale really brings the spice out so I find myself doing it often. I close out the second third with only a light bit of nicotine.

Finish:

Again, not a big flavor change here in the final third of the Tatuaje 10th Anniversary Capa Especial, and I am happy for that. While the flavor profile has remained mostly the same from start to finish, it’s a very enjoyable profile and I don’t mind the consistency one bit. The cigar is still leading with dark chocolate and pecan over oak and musk with lighter notes of earthiness and spice. It took me an hour and a half to smoke this cigar down to the nub. Even though I did have to put extra effort into the draw at the start, I never experienced any harshness, sap, or extended heat along the way. I close out the cigar with only a minor nicotine kick.

Overview:

I really enjoyed the flavor profile in the Tatuaje 10th Anniversary Capa Especial. There is just something… well.. special about that Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper Pete uses. The flavors were not only enjoyable, but complex without being overpowering. After the draw opened up the cigar really started to shine. I smoked 3 total and all three were tight at the start so it’s by design and almost expected with perfecto formats. While these are very limited I do plan to keep a couple on hand for the times I am craving a cigar with an excellent flavor profile and delicate complexity.

Pairing:

Adios Martes is a 17.1% Imperial stout aged in Sherry casks for over 3 years. The sherry profile is very evident as the beer leads with loads of plum, cherry, sweet grape, and cocoa over a very stick and sweet mouthfeel before finishing with more fruit, cocoa and a dash of oak and malt. This is an incredible beer and really rides the line between a stout and a wine very nicely. The pairing with the Tatuaje 10th Anniversary Capa Especial was divine. The beer added extra complexity to the cigar experience with loads of sweet fruit flavors while the cigar added a great muskyness to the beer.