Cigar Review: Tatuaje Fausto Avion 11

Box Press Perfect, 6.75" x 48/52 ring gauge / $9.99, Maxamar's

Today I will be reviewing another one of the new Tatuaje releases. This time it will be the Fausto Avion 11. To make sure there isn't any confusion, the Avion isn't a limited production cigar. It is a regular production cigar that is a line extension of the Fausto line, both being introduced at this year's IPCPR. There will be new sizes added to the Avion line every year, but the sizes currently in production will continue. The Fausto blend is based on the limited edition T110 blend. I was very happy to hear this as I was able to get a few of the T100s and really enjoyed them. The cigar is comprised of a Nicaraguan filler and binder all wrapped in an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. This cigar was the third one of these I smoked.

Taking the cigar out of the wrapper you notice the beautiful dark brown wrapper. The wrapper quite oily with a good amount of tooth to it. There are veins but they are fairly slight. One thing that strikes me as kind of odd is the band. It is quite attractive and very simple with a picture of flying machine without any words on the front. You have to turn the cigar over to see Tatuaje and Fausto. It seems a bit different to me that there isn't the name on the front. However the picture is pretty prominent so it should be easy to recognize in the humidor. When I gave the cigar a squeeze I got a slight amount of give but there were no soft spots. Putting my nose to the wrapper I detected the aroma of hay and leather, with barnyard coming from the diminutive foot. After I clipped it and took a cold draw on it I got notes of chocolate and leather with a fairly good draw.

One thing that usually causes me problems is these extra small feet on perfectos like this. I usually end up lighting it uneven. I should probably clip both ends. Now just so I don't get any haters in the comments, this is a preference thing. The cigar was executed just fine. Once I lit the cigar up the first thing that hit my palate was the taste of chocolate and leather with a slight amount of spice. From what I remember of the T110 is that it hit you in the face with spice right off the bat. After taking a few more puffs on the cigar I started getting an intense wasabi like spice on the retrohale. I started getting notes of earth and wood as I progressed into the first third. The draw opened up perfectly as soon as it got past the shoulder of the foot. One different flavor I would get right as I started to draw on the cigar was of popcorn and cotton candy. It took me a little bit to nail that one down.

The second third saw the cigar settle down a little bit in the flavor area. I mainly got the tastes of chocolate, leather, and some spice on the tongue. The spice was still there on the retrohale as well. The sweetness moved from the beginning to the finish and had a slightly creamy quality to it. The draw was pretty much perfect. The burn was slightly off, but I can pretty much bet that was due to my bad light. The cigar was definitely medium/full in strength and body at this point. Towards the end of the second third the spice almost went away completely.

The final third saw this cigar finish of strong. The burn had evened itself out and the draw continued to be perfect. The flavors were pretty much the same as the second third. The spice did come back and it moved pretty easily in to the full strength and body area. I was getting a pretty good nicotine buzz at this point as well.

Overall this was a great cigar! I have enjoyed the Avion 11 size more than the few robusto sized Faustos I've tried. To me the flavors and draw were better in this size. I would highly recommend this cigar to anyone who liked the T110 or enjoys full strength cigars. I would caution anyone not used to full strength cigars as this cigar packs a bit of a punch.

Body: 8/10
Strength: 8/10
Complexity: 7/10

AFP Scale
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10