Corona Gorda, 5.625" x 46 ring gauge / $9.05 each at Burns
It's hard to believe Pete Johnson is celebrating 7 years in the cigar business. It seems only yesterday that a friend mentioned "Tatuaje" to me and a few weeks later I actually tried my first. That was actually about 4 years ago, back when Tatuaje was still almost unheard of outside of certain circles (of which I was not a part in those days). To celebrate 7 years, Pete added a new Brown Label Tat in 2 wrapper varieties: the 7th Natural and the 7th Reserva. As far as I know, both sticks share the same Nicaraguan filler and binder (although that is something I will try to confirm later this week when I actually get to meet Pete Johnson at a local event); the Natural using a Nicaraguan Habano and the Reserva employs a Connecticut Broadleaf maduro. I smoked my first example of each cigar on consecutive days for this review.
NATURAL
The Natural has a smooth, oily wrapper leaf with no veins to speak of, but some wear and tear, especially on the foot--the perils of shipping without cellophane. Really this is a classic, old-school looking cigar without the fancy band or ornamentation--very cool. I got barnyard and leather from the body and chocolate with a little manure on the foot. The Habano wrapper was almost as dark as the Maduro on the Reserva--just a few shades lighter, really. Prelight I got a good draw and flavors of chocolate and spice mixed with just a very nice tobacco flavor.
Getting the Natural fully and evenly lit was more challenging than I had expected, but once there I got a large volume of smoke along with leather, cedar and cocoa notes on the palate and pepper spice on the retrohale. As the first third burned through, I got a lot of black coffee flavor along with just enough chocolate sweetness to balance it out well and enough spice to keep the proceedings interesting. I really was enjoying this stick! By the end of this segment, I had also tasted a bit of a floral note and it seemed the body was increasing from the medium where it had started to more in the full range.
In the second third I got more leather and a certain saltiness to go along with the touch of sweet cocoa and coffee flavor that still remained. The finish was long and spicy, the draw was fantastic and the burn line was very even and held a decently long ash.
In the end I found the 7th Natural to be a complex, tasty cigar that just about perfectly shows off what a Habano wrapper can do. The last third featured more leather, but also floral notes and an underlying mix of sweet and spicy. I thoroughly enjoyed this stick and would even consider a box purchase if the price were not quite so high. Not to say it's too expensive, mind you...just too expensive to contemplate a whole box on my budget.
Body: 8/10
Strength: 7/10
Complexity: 9/10
AFP Scale
Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
RESERVA
As noted before, the Reserva wrapper was slightly darker than the Natural but not so much that you would instantly think "maduro" on seeing it by itself--it was lighter than many maduros on the market. Interesting detail--while the brown label still sports the fleur de lis, the Reserva secondary band has the new PJHC logo on the backside, the first time I can remember seeing this logo visibly displayed on a cigar band. The aroma from the body of the stick was leather and "classic humidor," for lack of a better term. From the foot I got some cocoa notes along with a strong barnyard aroma. Prelight I got subtly sweet cocoa and coffee notes.
The first few puffs brought a fairly strong, bitterness of unsweetened cocoa and dark roast coffee along with a very heavy dose of black pepper on the retrohale. The bitterness took quite a while to settle down, but by the end of the first third the coffee and cocoa notes were better balanced with a bit of sweetness. The draw was excellent although the burn line did take a bit of correction.
In the second third the 7th Reserva was more earthy and the body picked up dramatically, all the way into the full range. By the end of the third, earthiness was by far the dominant characteristic, with just a bit of espresso roast coffee and unsweetened cocoa.
The final third was a continuation of the very earthy flavors of the second along with the addition of some chili pepper spice. Overall, I found this one to be too earthy and lacking in other flavor notes for my palate. Construction was top-notch throughout and I would smoke it again, but I would not be tempted to buy a box as I am with the Natural variation.
Body: 8/10
Strength: 8/10
Complexity: 6/10
AFP Scale
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 3.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8.5/10
Agree, disagree or have your own thoughts you would like to share on this cigar? Please leave a comment and speak your mind!
Have not tried the natural, but I enjoyed the 7th Reserva. I'm still partial to the J21, so it's going to take a lot to knock that off of my list as my favorite Tatuaje.
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