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BoM Jan '11
To many people, there is no better feeling than the liberation of a day or two off at weeks end. The majority of us toil away long days throughout the work week spending valuable time wishing we were doing something other than picking away at the grind bit by bit, but when the weekend finally comes we tend to celebrate with one form of rituals or another. For some its spending time with family/kids, watching sports or firing up the BBQ, but for me there are few better ways to kick off the weekend than to sit down with good drink a quality cigar, a past time I'm sure most of can agree with, so today I'll share a little of my experience with you.
Tatuaje Drac
Last years Halloween release from the the infamous Tatuaje Monster series, I'll save for the intro as most of you already know all about the line and/or this cigar, but to those who are new to the game, information on this cigar can be found only a few clicks away at http://www.tatuajecigars.com/site/smokes/smokes.php?line=Limited Release) so lets dive right into this!
The Drac is a largish torpedo @ 6.74x52 – which oddly resembles a steak, though I'm sure is intentional – sporting a lovely Ecuadorian Habano maduro wrapper, with both a Nicaraguan binder and filler. It has been some time since this cigar was released, a year and almost two weeks now and not often is it that I see a cigar retain this amount of oil in the leaf. It is bountiful, rich and dazzling in the sunlight – I am excited to light this. In addition to the wrappers appearance, construction appears to be okay, at a glance there are no patches, large veins, or defects in the wrapper that would be of concern, also the cigar is packed well offering little give.
Pre-light: Unfortunately the wrapper doesn't offer as great an aroma as I hoped it would, instead only the smell of farm country and mild tobacco are detectable with the foot bringing slight cocoa and spice notes. After clipping only a third from of an inch from the head I am satisfied with the draw which brings notes of spice and stout tobacco to my palate.
Light: While attempting to light, one of my ronson's died prompting me to stop, spend several minutes filling up another and warming it to an adequate operating temperature just so that it would function properly. Despite my short set backs, the Drac lights well and produces a plethora of spice, sweet cocoa and a lovely toasted cashew flavor while the lovely aroma of bakers chocolate filling the air.
First Third: 15 minutes in and already an inch of ash has fallen, this is more than likely due to the period of time I let it sit while rushing to help a neighbour with a sprained ankle. Despite this, the cigar is still putting out rather large volumes of smoke and continues to deliver plentiful amounts of cocoa and toasted cashew, while spice is still present it now lingers as finishing note. The expelled smoke surprisingly isn't a long shot from the ambient aroma offering pleasant fragrances of cocoa and leather. The burn is in a class of its own showing no discrepancy with the ash holding for an inch and a half before entering the second third.
Second Third: If there ever were such a thing as a cocoa bomb, this is it and the Drac continues to deliver well into the second third. With cocoa still heading the tip of the spear in the flavor department, things have begun to deepen somewhat seeing almond replacing toasted cashew and leather joining spice on the finish. The expelled smoke differs little from the first third in that cocoa and leather are still coming through in droves, however almond has also joined the fragrance party. Despite a stellar four or so inches of construction, the burn has begun to waver enough to warrant a touch up, however the remaining ash from the first third held half way through the second finally dropping at roughly 2 and a half inches leaving inch or so before the finale.
Final third: Holding its own in the world of cocoa, this cigar has been more like a trip to a confectionery than a simple smoke. Along with the ever present chocolate flavours, leather has replaced almond in its entirety, though toasted notes are still discernible with leather and spice again filling out the finish. The retro-hale remains much the same although leather is more present than spice. The burn unfortunately exhibits the poor tendencies of the previous third, though it held ash an inch and a half before dropping despite being quite toothy.
Final thoughts: I've heard allot of varying opinions about this cigar, most of which were sadly negative being that it didn't get off on the greatest foot after its release last year. That being said, I'm very glad I had the chance to explore this unique cigar my self because I found it was marvellous. Great complexity, strength and overall construction - save for the one or two burn issues in the end - this was an exceptional cigar that played to all my likes. While it is a tad hard to find – though not impossible if you know where to look – and even though price has elevated slightly, the Drac is one cigar I most certainly look forward to trying again.
Total smoking time was about an hour and a half.
Thanks for reading!
Tatuaje Drac
Last years Halloween release from the the infamous Tatuaje Monster series, I'll save for the intro as most of you already know all about the line and/or this cigar, but to those who are new to the game, information on this cigar can be found only a few clicks away at http://www.tatuajecigars.com/site/smokes/smokes.php?line=Limited Release) so lets dive right into this!
The Drac is a largish torpedo @ 6.74x52 – which oddly resembles a steak, though I'm sure is intentional – sporting a lovely Ecuadorian Habano maduro wrapper, with both a Nicaraguan binder and filler. It has been some time since this cigar was released, a year and almost two weeks now and not often is it that I see a cigar retain this amount of oil in the leaf. It is bountiful, rich and dazzling in the sunlight – I am excited to light this. In addition to the wrappers appearance, construction appears to be okay, at a glance there are no patches, large veins, or defects in the wrapper that would be of concern, also the cigar is packed well offering little give.
Pre-light: Unfortunately the wrapper doesn't offer as great an aroma as I hoped it would, instead only the smell of farm country and mild tobacco are detectable with the foot bringing slight cocoa and spice notes. After clipping only a third from of an inch from the head I am satisfied with the draw which brings notes of spice and stout tobacco to my palate.
Light: While attempting to light, one of my ronson's died prompting me to stop, spend several minutes filling up another and warming it to an adequate operating temperature just so that it would function properly. Despite my short set backs, the Drac lights well and produces a plethora of spice, sweet cocoa and a lovely toasted cashew flavor while the lovely aroma of bakers chocolate filling the air.
First Third: 15 minutes in and already an inch of ash has fallen, this is more than likely due to the period of time I let it sit while rushing to help a neighbour with a sprained ankle. Despite this, the cigar is still putting out rather large volumes of smoke and continues to deliver plentiful amounts of cocoa and toasted cashew, while spice is still present it now lingers as finishing note. The expelled smoke surprisingly isn't a long shot from the ambient aroma offering pleasant fragrances of cocoa and leather. The burn is in a class of its own showing no discrepancy with the ash holding for an inch and a half before entering the second third.
Second Third: If there ever were such a thing as a cocoa bomb, this is it and the Drac continues to deliver well into the second third. With cocoa still heading the tip of the spear in the flavor department, things have begun to deepen somewhat seeing almond replacing toasted cashew and leather joining spice on the finish. The expelled smoke differs little from the first third in that cocoa and leather are still coming through in droves, however almond has also joined the fragrance party. Despite a stellar four or so inches of construction, the burn has begun to waver enough to warrant a touch up, however the remaining ash from the first third held half way through the second finally dropping at roughly 2 and a half inches leaving inch or so before the finale.
Final third: Holding its own in the world of cocoa, this cigar has been more like a trip to a confectionery than a simple smoke. Along with the ever present chocolate flavours, leather has replaced almond in its entirety, though toasted notes are still discernible with leather and spice again filling out the finish. The retro-hale remains much the same although leather is more present than spice. The burn unfortunately exhibits the poor tendencies of the previous third, though it held ash an inch and a half before dropping despite being quite toothy.
Final thoughts: I've heard allot of varying opinions about this cigar, most of which were sadly negative being that it didn't get off on the greatest foot after its release last year. That being said, I'm very glad I had the chance to explore this unique cigar my self because I found it was marvellous. Great complexity, strength and overall construction - save for the one or two burn issues in the end - this was an exceptional cigar that played to all my likes. While it is a tad hard to find – though not impossible if you know where to look – and even though price has elevated slightly, the Drac is one cigar I most certainly look forward to trying again.
Total smoking time was about an hour and a half.
Thanks for reading!
