Tatuaje Black Petite Lancero

SCORE

points

LENGTH

GAUGE

STRENGTH

Medium

Tasting Note

Some people are born into the cigar business. Pete Johnson began making cigars because he loved them. Before he created the Tatuaje brand more than 20 years ago, Johnson worked in cigar shops, from Gus’ Smoke Shop to The Grand Havana Room in Beverly Hills. He learned the business and smoked cigar after cigar. One day, when he was on a trip to Cuba, he smoked a farm-rolled cigar that simply blew him away. His Tatuaje Black brand is inspired by that farm cigar. Tatuaje Black is entirely Nicaraguan, rolled in Nicaragua by the Garcia family and My Father Cigars, the company that makes all Tatuajes. When Johnson first made Tatuaje Black, he kept them all for himself, but thankfully now the brand is widely available. This is not a big cigar (it’s skinny, only a 38 ring gauge) but it has enormous flavor. Sweet in spots (you might think of s’mores around a campfire) and tannic in others (heavy on the oak), it may leave you wondering how such a small smoke can deliver so much flavor. Tatuajes have been on our Top 25 list again and again, but this is the first time one has ranked so high.