Tatuaje Verocu Red Tubos

Tatuaje Cigars is quickly making a name for itself among the best of the best cigars. Pete Johnson, creator and blender of Tatuaje Cigars is making a big impact on the market with his boutique brand. Not only has he achieved great success with Tatuaje but he also blends various other lines that have been just as successful.

The Verocu Tubos are a limited release but still seem to be easily available at the time that I write this. The Verocu line comes in a Red Tubo and various other sizes that are not limited release. The line was created as an extension to his Havana VI line with some added ligero for a little extra punch. The nice tube this cigar comes in is also cedar lined for a little added flavor.

I’ve had this cigar in my humidor for quite a while. I smoked a couple a while back but decided not to review it since a lot of chatter suggested to have these age. I think this particular stick is coming up on almost a year of age since I purchased it and I have some notes from one of first few I smoked to compare to.

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Cigar: Tatuaje Verocu Red Tubo
Drink: Quinta de Infantado Tawny Port (Bottled in 2004)
Vitola: Torpedo (6.125 x 52)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: About $11
Burn Time: 2 Hours

Construction:
• Very smooth and appealing dark chocolate brown wrapper
• A couple medium veins but nothing that looks too worrisome
• Very clean and even diameter
• Fairly firm with a slight spring, same feel throughout
• Excellently applied double cap
• Foot looks fully packed but very clean
• This cigar has two bands, one being the standard Tatuaje band finely written in script and accompanied by their logo. The second band is says “Verocu Tubos”
• Cut was extremely clean and easy
• Draw is perfect, just enough resistance but not too tight
• Bands came off easily with no wrapper damage at all

Burn:
• Toasting was amazingly even and slow
• Cigar is burning nice and slowly but still producing lots of tasty smoke
• The first couple of inches have been razor sharp with just a slight wave
• The wrapper needed a couple touch ups past the half-way mark but nothing major
• The burn was consistently nice and slow with no need for extra draws to stay lit

Smoke & Ash:
• Big mouthful of smoke right from the first draw
• Lots of resting smoke giving off a very nice sweet aroma
• The ash is showing a bright white face with minimal highlights
• The ash is also very tight with almost no flaking and appears very strong
• Awesome ash held on for almost 2 inches, you could actually see it slowly falling off, no mess with this cigar
• The next 2 ashes were a bit shorter but still clean and falling right into the ashtray

Tasting Notes:
• Wrapper has a very nice cocoa and spice aroma
• The foot is bursting with cinnamon and nutmeg and nicely complimented by a faint cocoa aroma
• Pre-light draw has some hay-like flavors and and more spice, maybe a little pepper thrown in there
• Starting off very mild with jut some sweet tobacco flavors, the spice on the aroma seems to be missing so far
• Retrohale has a mild cocoa finish, very tasty
• Starting to pick up some nice creamy coffee notes, almost like a Latte, very interesting
• The nutmeg flavors starting to kick in now and I’m just approaching the first inch, I like how this cigar started off fairly inconspicuous and is slowly adding flavor dimensions
• About 2 inches in I’m starting to get a nice little nutmeg bite on the retrohale
• As I approach the half-way mark the body is definitely starting to ramp up a bit and the cinnamon spice is starting to make an introduction
• The cigar has generally been fairly dry but nothing overpowering, just need a nice pairing to compliment it
• The spices are balancing nicely with the coffee and cocoa, each taking turns being the prominent one, great stuff
• As I approach the last 1.5 inches a little bitterness is starting to creep in and a nice spicy/creamy coffee flavor has taken over
• The bite on the retrohale has consistently developed nice and strong towards the end with a smooth cocoa and nutmeg finish
• The bitterness did not develop any further and I nubbed this cigar with a nice creamy coffee finish

Final Thoughts:
I think the notes above pretty much speak for themselves. This cigar started off fairly slowly but then each flavor made a nice slow introduction. The flavors were always nicely balanced and I never really felt overpowered by this cigar at any point. The Tatuaje Verocu red Tubos is definitely recommended in my books. The price tallies in a bit higher than some other cigars but the quality, flavors, construction, burn and overall enjoyment are worth having a few on hand. The age did this cigar fairly well and the bitterness that used to start earlier in the cigar was only evident near the very end. The flavors were also a lot more prominent that what I can remember. The body did not change much however as this cigar ended at just around full. Try to grab these fairly soon before they disappear!

Pairings:
I recently paired this port with another cigar, so I won’t re-invent the wheel. Here’s my thoughts on it from before:

The bottle I had today was bottled in 2004 by Quinta de Infantado. It has a fairly light red color to it and produces some nice oaky flavors complemented by dark berries, such as black berries and black cherries. It’s not too strong and comes in at an excellent value for the price. It’s definitely a good port to start with if you’re just considering trying it out for the first time or to have on hand to serve without feeling a wallet pinch.

This pairing was excellent. I find that a good Tawny Port can play well with both mild and full cigars and this cigar seemed to span that entire range. A drink too strong may drown out the initial flavors but pair well near the end. Vice-versa, a light drink will go well at the start but lack the palate cleansing qualities as the cigar builds body. Some other pairings here could be coffee, dark soda, a dark porter or stout or even a nice red full-bodied red wine.