Cigar Review: Tatuaje Maravillas

5.625" x 46 ring gauge / Price not available
I'll let you in on a secret: while some cigar review sites scramble to figure out each week what they are going to review, I tend to plan out my reviews weeks ahead of time. It's just the way I am: a planner. Most of the time, I am only a week or two ahead of the game in actually reviewing the cigars (before the review is published), but during the winter I try to get as much as a full month ahead so if the weather turns extraordinarily bad or I get sick, I have some wiggle room. So when I looked at my review calendar last week and saw that I had nothing at all for the month of July and few prospects at my normal shop since they had practically stopped ordering anything in anticipating of the IPCPR show and the flood of product expected to hit the shelves after that. So I took a trip to Knoxville. First stop once we hit town was Leaf and Ale, owned by Mike Nelson--you can find him on Twitter as @LeafandAle. I found a few gems at Leaf and Ale and they will make it into the review rotation next month, but then Mike said, "I have a cigar in my private stash that you've probably never had before‚ why don't I give you one of those for review?" And so we have the Tatuaje Maravillas, one of Pete Johnson's very first limited edition cigars, released in 2006. Instead of trying to re-word what has already been said very well, the following is from Leaf and Ale's website:

The Maravilla (which means "miracle" or "wonder" depending on the colloquial Spanish) is a Punch Punch-sized cigar at 5 5/8" x 46. The wrapper on this Cigar is Veso with a rosado oscuro color, dark oily, and flawless, with the wrapper covering the foot of the cigar, similar to Tatuaje's "Gran Cojonu". The aged Veso wrapper brings a pleasant spicy tingling sensation to the lips. These cigars are "Wet Packed" which means after rolling they are sorted by color and aged for 1-2 weeks then packed into foil bundles of 25 for the rest of the fermentation process. Which gives this cigar a unique Tatuaje Flavor unlike any other blend they make. Total production was just 1,700 cigars. This cigar debuted in April 2006 and was sold out by June 2006.

From the Tatuaje website, I learned that the Maravilla was a Nicaraguan puro using a Corojo '99 wrapper leaf. Thank you very much to Mike at Leaf and Ale for this "Holy Grail" cigar and the opportunity to present it on the Tiki Bar. Please give Mike a follow if you're on Twitter or a "Like" if you're on Facebook.

From an appearance standpoint, the Maravillas was amazing. Considering that this is a sans-cello cigar that was released 5 years ago and it has no signs of wear, I ultimately have to give kudos to Mike for taking care of it so well; I know it wouldn't have lasted 6 months in my humidor in this condition without being bagged. The wrapper leaf was slightly lighter than a milk chocolate brown with mostly small veins and a careful fold-over on the foot. The stick has oils to the eye and the touch. From the body I got faint, but detectable scents of hay, leather, and earth, as well as a sweet, almost syrupy, smell. The foot was no different in this instance because the wrapper was folded over it. My Xikar VX cut a v-shape without flaw and the draw was just slightly over a medium effort...which is just about perfect. I got prelight flavor notes of earth mostly, but there was an interesting floral notes and a burning tingle on the lips.

Light up took a little longer than most cigars of this ring gauge because of the fold-over, but once lit, the Maravillas delivered a thick, rich smoke that was earthy and nutty, with undertones of cocoa powder and coffee. The retrohale had notes of roasted nuts and a powerful spiciness that to me was almost wasabi-like. The body was on the low end of full right from the start. If this cigar has mellowed since it was released 5 years ago, you would be right to be afraid of it when it came out! As the first third progressed, though, the body and strength did seem to mellow out a bit. The spice in the retrohale became more low-level and on the palate, I got a rich natural tobacco flavor with a maple sweetness.

By the time the second third was burning, I noticed that my mouth was watering from the blend of tobacco used in this cigar. I got the typical Nicaraguan earthiness and that rich natural tobacco still, but more sweet chocolate flavor, too, and a cayenne pepper spice at the back of the mouth. Construction was excellent...perfect draw and nearly perfect burn line. No need to touch it up at all so far and ash that held on strongly to an inch or so.

A couple small touch ups were required before the last third started, but as I believe I heard Pete Johnson say once, "I don't want my cigars to burn like cigarettes." The bottom line is that the touch ups were minor and nothing out of the ordinary. As the last third started, I noticed some nicotine strength. As I eluded to before, apparently five years of age has not taken all the intensity out of the Maravillas. Despite the strength and still-full body, though, this continued to be an elegant, well-balanced cigar. No one flavor note dominated at any time; instead they harmonized together to create a flavor symphony. Should the Maravillas blend be resurrected and re-issued at some point? Only if it can still be this spectacular. Should you seek out samples of this cigar? Absolutely, but good luck with that. When Mike gave me this he said he had exactly one left in his own personal stash. I honestly can't see many people having much more than that left over, and it's doubtful you'll be able to get them to relinquish any. If you can get your hands on the, though, be prepared for what is surely one of the best Tatuajes to ever hit the market.

Body: 8/10
Strength: 8/10
Complexity: 8/10

AFP Scale
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 10/10

Note: because the current price is unknown, I just assumed an original retail of about $12 and based the Value score on that. I would gladly pay about $20-25 on these if I could find them. So, yes, it did rank a "Perfect 10," and will show up in my year-end collection of "10s," but will not be eligible for "Cigar of the Year" status since it was released 5 years ago and has not be available widely since that time.