Named for the home of Mexico’s premium cigar industry the Tatuaje TUXTLA (pronounced Toos-tlah) is one of the latest offerings from Pete Johnson and his iconic Tatuaje Cigars brand. The new blend is built off the famed T110 that was introduced as a limited edition shop exclusive for R. Field Wine & Co in Honolulu, Hawaii back in 2005. Since then, the T110 has seen various incarnations including the company’s Fausto blend. Another incarnation was introduced in 2021. Then in 2022 the company added the T110 TUXTLA.
If you are wondering what the ”T110” stands for? The Tatuaje followers will say it means Thermonuclear because of its high priming powerhouse blend. The ”110” signifies the length, in millimeters, for the cigar. As for the name, TUXTLA is tribute to Mexican tobacco and the city/municipality of San Andres Tuxtla, which is the heart of the cigar and tobacco industry in Mexico.
The Tatuaje T110 TUXTLA is expressed in a single (4 3/8 x 52) Short Robusto vitola and comes packaged in 25-count boxes with an MSRP of $10.00/cigar. The blend is described as:
- Wrapper – Mexican San Andres
- Binder – Nicaraguan
- Filler – Nicaraguan
For this review, I sampled tow of these gems. which I purchased from Bongo Ron’s Cigar Shop in Old Saybrook, CT on the advice of shop owner and tobacconist Ronald Bolduc Jr. – Thanks Ron!
Pre-light Examination
The Tatuaje T110 TUXTLA is a short stubby cigar cloaked in a mildly gritty, dark brown wrapper, that has a slight red tinge to it. The wrapper is essentially devoid of veins. The cigar is firmly packed from head to foot and has a decent weight in the hand. An expertly applied triple cap finishes the presentation.
The 2022 TUXTLA is adorned with two bands. The primary band is the same as the previous T110 using a sky blue, green, red, and white motif and proudly displays the Tatuaje “tattoo” logo in the center with the “TATUAJE” printed on the left and “T110” on the right. A secondary band is neatly and seamlessly placed just below the primary band and uses a forest green and white motif and describes this as the “TUXTLA”
Running the cigar along the nose I picked up a light pungent aroma along the barrel with a little more pungent fermented leaf note off the foot.
I used “The Baller” cutter form Cigar Medics to open the cap, which did a perfect job as always. Once opened, I gave it some cold draw puffs that I found to be perfect with restriction and offering notes of nut and a growing pepper. A few more cold puffs and it was time to fire this one up and go on a Tatuaje journey.
Using my double flame torch, I warmed the foot to an even orange glow and drew in the first puffs of cheek warming and nose opening cayenne pepper smoke. Follow along as I burn this one to ash.
Cigar Review Notes
- Initial light offers vibrant cayenne pepper note especially on the retro-hale
- Pepper recedes after half inch of burn and morphs into a cinnamon note in both flavor and aroma
- Solid white ash forms on top of a thick and mildly wavy char line
- Natural tobacco sweetness soothes the profile into more of a sweet cinnamon
- Cocoa adds additional pleasure close to the inch mark
- Full volume of smoke
- Aroma shifts to more of a chocolate note
- Oak and nut begin to fill in the profile – much like a toasted oak bourbon
- Ash dropped in big chunk revealing an excellent ash cone
- Creamy notes keep the journey interesting
- Dark chocolate notes and mild cinnamon spice nuances continue
- Touch of caramel sweetness adds to the profile down to the end
- Medium Plus in Strength
- Total Smoking Time was 1 Hour and 20 minutes
Final Analysis
The Tatuaje T110 TUXTLA was an awesome cigar journey with a well balanced profile of flavors and aromas. Starting with a nasal awaking cayenne pepper this gem quickly morphs into a core of cinnamon spice and pleasurable natural sweetness. I very much enjoyed the oak and nut deep in the first half and was pleasantly surprised with the caramel sweetness at the end. The burn was pretty much spot on the ash carried for a good half of the journey. I took this one to the nub and again on the second one. This is most certainly worthy of a box buy. I rate this a 96.
Point Deductions: (-1) Mild Wave in Burn
Bonus Points: (+1) Extreme ash; (+1) Consistent and pleasurable across multiple samples; (+1) Buy a box
