Initial Thoughts
Every year I try to make it my mission to smoke all the cigars from CA’s top 25 list. I typically stay away from trying to smoke the Cubans because they are really difficult to get and plus… they’re illegal. This Tatuaje Cojonu 2012 Sumatra was on the top ones on my list. In the past, I had not been a huge fan of the other Tatuajes that I had smoked. I went through the entire Little Monster’s collection and I wasn’t overly impressed. In fact, I’ve smoked quite a few Tats and wasn’t blown away like most people. I had some high hopes for this cigar though. After all the word “Cojonu” is translated as “ballsy” so I’m excited to see what’s in store for this smoke!
Looks
This Tatuaje Cojonu 2012 Sumatra is a great looking stick! Standing tall at 6 1/2″ x 52 it seems to have a nice little trunk press/box press. The Sumatra wrapper is a beautiful dark milk chocolate and has a great sheen to it. Some small dark veins run the course of the barrel.
It has a great-looking triple cap where you can see the individual lines on each cap. There is a little small pinch spot where part of the cap isn’t staying glued down. The foot of this cigar is packed to the brim with tobacco and you can really notice the slight trunk press of this cigar by looking at the foot. You can somewhat feel it when holding the cigar, but it’s more noticeable while looking at the foot.
One of the distinguishing characteristics of this Tatuaje Cojonu 2012 Sumatra is the double band. From what I can tell, each of the three wrappers has a different second band. This Sumatra has the bright white Davidoff-esque second band. It’s trimmed in gold stripe and it has a nice gold font in the middle of the band that says Cojonu 2012. Very classy and subtle, I’m a big fan. The top band is the understated and simple Tatuaje brown band seen across some of Pete’s other cigars. Overall a very classy and fantastic-looking stick.
Function
The first thing out of the gate is the pinch test. I picked this up from my local B&M and most of these were sitting on the bottom shelf almost hidden from the eye. Luckily, I’m not afraid to get on the floor to reach for a cigar. When I asked Marcus (the store manager) why he had them so low he said he has to hide some of those cigars for his regulars that buy them all the time. Too bad I know his hiding spot now and I’m sharing it with the world! Ha!
While I was down on the floor trying to find the perfect Tatuaje Cojonu 2012 Sumatra. I ran through quite a few doing the pinch test to find a perfectly stuffed cigar for me to smoke for this review. They all felt pretty good I just wanted to make sure I had the right one. Boom found a perfect one and brought it home with me.
When I got home with this cigar there was no need to do the pinch test again I just went straight for cutting off the head. The cold draw on this stick was excellent. Just a little resistance, but not enough to where it feels like you’re having to work for it. It’s time to put the flame to the foot and get this thing smoking. I’ve been using my Stratosphere a lot lately to light all my cigars. In fact that’s what I used here as well. Initially, I had one spot on the foot that had some trouble taking to the flame and that caused a little bit of a burning issue. It straightened itself out pretty quickly though.
Smoking
As I said above this Tatuaje Cojonu 2012 Sumatra had a bit of trouble at the start, but then it took off, burning perfectly after that. On the first third, the draw was excellent and the burn was perfect. This cigar released a good amount of smoke. A nice white smoke flows up through my lamp and creates a beautiful image of glowing smoke.
The second third and final third continued burning straight and the draw never was an issue. In the final third, I did have to resuscitate this cigar. There was a bit of some tarry build-up that was affecting the draw, once I burned it out the draw was clean and it let me smoke this bad boy all the way down to the nub!
Flavor
Thus far, everything seems great about this Tatuaje Cojonu 2012 Sumatra. But is it a Top 10 cigar? The first third of this cigar brought out a nice creaminess to it. There was a nice bit of spice on the lips and the finish. I had a feeling that the retrohale might pack quite a punch, but it was less intense than I thought it would be. There was a nice dose of spice but nothing overwhelming. On the finish, I also picked up a very tasty nuttiness and some meaty/savory notes that were pleasant to my palate. There wasn’t much sweetness, which I didn’t really expect there to be based on the history of the other Tatuajes that I’ve smoked.
The second third of this cigar really brought out the flavor. It seemed to have hit its stride. The nuttiness began to develop even more and there was a nice complexity to it. There was a bit of pepper still sticking around, but the dominant notes were nutty and savory.
The final third of this Tatuaje Cojonu 2012 Sumatra was very similar to the other two. There was a bit more of the pepper blast on the retrohale. It tasted more like a dark pepper kick rather than a spicy pepper. It’s hard to describe it more than that. It wasn’t overly spicy, but more of a dark spice. The nuttiness is still there and has been prevalent throughout. Overall I’m very happy with this cigar it offers quite a bit in regards to flavor and consistency all the while throwing in some complexity to keep you on your toes.
Would I Buy It Again?
Without a doubt, it’s hard to buy too often based on the price point, but I definitely want to have a few on hand in my humidor.
Is It an Every Day Smoke?
Not at the $13 price point, unless you’re rolling in fat stacks of cash. I would like to smoke them every day if I could swing it!
Would I Buy a Box?
I’ve certainly entertained the idea. Right now the box is on sale for $320 on Famous Smoke, I just don’t see myself swinging that much but it’s definitely enticing.
Conclusion
Overall, very impressed with this cigar. It’s something that I would love to smoke every day, but at the current price point, I just don’t see that happening. I thoroughly enjoyed the cigar though, the flavors were on point, it had a great draw, and it looked incredible. All three really good things in my book. So if you haven’t tried the Tatuaje Cojonu 2012 Sumatra yet then I would suggest you go pick one up ASAP.
