danthebugman
BoM Nov '10
This weekend was fraught with frustrating issues. One of which involved me on the back deck Sunday afternoon taking apart the filter for our turtle tank to figure out why the damn thing was leaking water all over the floor :closedmou. Needless to say I could use a cigar. After rummaging around the humidor for a while (and my wife making fun of me for taking so long to decide on a cigar) I kept coming back to the Tatuaje Black Tubos. Something about it spoke to me and when cigars start talking to you, you'd better spark 'em up before you start talking back...people might think you've lost it.
For those unfamiliar with the Tat Black phenomenon, they are Nicaraguan puros created by Pete Johnson to be his own personal blend. There is a video of an interview with Pete floating around in cyber space that has him telling the story of what inspired him to do this line and it's a great story, but I can't seem to find it so maybe someone can point the way to it :dunno:. Anyway, prior to 2008's release of the Corona Gorda in the ceramic jar the only way to get a Black was if Pete personally handed you one...or you mugged someone for it :rolling:. The Tubos was released in 2009.
I got this particular cigar from a fellow BOTL who lost a bet on a football game. It's been sitting in my humidor, sans tube, since September. For starters, this is one pretty cigar. The wrapper is a tan color mottled with a darker brown in places and the unfinished foot lends a rustic feeling. The wrapper also has a smooth, velvety feel to it. There is a wonderful aroma of earth and a slightly sweet, faintly minty tobacco. I wasn't sure at first and had to take several passes, but yeah definitely a faint mint to it.
I clipped about an 1/8" off the cap and the draw was spot on with just a little resistance. Got some nice tobacco and pepper flavors from the cold draw. The unfinished foot took a little bit to get going, but soon succumbed to the flame from my Ronson.
Right off there was a very nice meaty flavor from this cigar. A few puffs in the pepper joined in the action in a big way, but didn't over power the meaty flavor. I was also starting to pick up a vanilla aroma on the retro-hale.
The cigar was producing copious amounts of smoke and the flavors were rockin', but about half way though the first third I experienced my first issue. I set the cigar down while I ran in to get a glass of water. When I came back it was out. No biggie, I knocked the ash off to relight and noticed that the center of the cigar had been burning faster than the rest. Not good. I torched up the outside of the cigar and smoked it down some then made sure it was all good 'n ablaze. Everything seemed to be going well and then it went out again :squinteye. Put the flame to it again...went out. Now I was starting to get a little perturbed. I loved the flavor profile, but wasn't really going to be able to relight this cigar every 2 minutes and contemplated chucking it. Had it not been a cigar that carried a $14 price tag and had I not liked the flavors as much as I did, I'd probably have done just that. As it were I decided to stick it out as best as I could.
And I'm sorry about the picture quality. The nice camera was recharging and it seems I forgot to charge my back up camera so I was using my new cell phone.
Overall I have mixed feelings on this cigar. While I loved the flavor profile, I was really rather annoyed with the burn issues. Reading though some other reviews and posts it seems like the Black Tubos have this problem with not wanting to burn :dunno:. I do understand that cigars are handmade and as such you'll get a bad one every now and then, but for $14 it really sucks when you do (granted I didn't pay for this one, which is good otherwise I'd be substantially more critical). I'm definitely going to keep a watch out for some more Blacks as I loved the profile, but might not be seeing too many of the Tubos in my humidor :dunno:.
Dan
For those unfamiliar with the Tat Black phenomenon, they are Nicaraguan puros created by Pete Johnson to be his own personal blend. There is a video of an interview with Pete floating around in cyber space that has him telling the story of what inspired him to do this line and it's a great story, but I can't seem to find it so maybe someone can point the way to it :dunno:. Anyway, prior to 2008's release of the Corona Gorda in the ceramic jar the only way to get a Black was if Pete personally handed you one...or you mugged someone for it :rolling:. The Tubos was released in 2009.
I got this particular cigar from a fellow BOTL who lost a bet on a football game. It's been sitting in my humidor, sans tube, since September. For starters, this is one pretty cigar. The wrapper is a tan color mottled with a darker brown in places and the unfinished foot lends a rustic feeling. The wrapper also has a smooth, velvety feel to it. There is a wonderful aroma of earth and a slightly sweet, faintly minty tobacco. I wasn't sure at first and had to take several passes, but yeah definitely a faint mint to it.
I clipped about an 1/8" off the cap and the draw was spot on with just a little resistance. Got some nice tobacco and pepper flavors from the cold draw. The unfinished foot took a little bit to get going, but soon succumbed to the flame from my Ronson.
Right off there was a very nice meaty flavor from this cigar. A few puffs in the pepper joined in the action in a big way, but didn't over power the meaty flavor. I was also starting to pick up a vanilla aroma on the retro-hale.
The cigar was producing copious amounts of smoke and the flavors were rockin', but about half way though the first third I experienced my first issue. I set the cigar down while I ran in to get a glass of water. When I came back it was out. No biggie, I knocked the ash off to relight and noticed that the center of the cigar had been burning faster than the rest. Not good. I torched up the outside of the cigar and smoked it down some then made sure it was all good 'n ablaze. Everything seemed to be going well and then it went out again :squinteye. Put the flame to it again...went out. Now I was starting to get a little perturbed. I loved the flavor profile, but wasn't really going to be able to relight this cigar every 2 minutes and contemplated chucking it. Had it not been a cigar that carried a $14 price tag and had I not liked the flavors as much as I did, I'd probably have done just that. As it were I decided to stick it out as best as I could.
And I'm sorry about the picture quality. The nice camera was recharging and it seems I forgot to charge my back up camera so I was using my new cell phone.
Overall I have mixed feelings on this cigar. While I loved the flavor profile, I was really rather annoyed with the burn issues. Reading though some other reviews and posts it seems like the Black Tubos have this problem with not wanting to burn :dunno:. I do understand that cigars are handmade and as such you'll get a bad one every now and then, but for $14 it really sucks when you do (granted I didn't pay for this one, which is good otherwise I'd be substantially more critical). I'm definitely going to keep a watch out for some more Blacks as I loved the profile, but might not be seeing too many of the Tubos in my humidor :dunno:.
Dan
