Tatuaje Ambos Mundos Robusto #2

[TanithT]

I had a good day today. When I went out to take my morning walk, there was a lovely young adult black rat snake sitting by my doorstep. I was quite delighted and decided to invite him (it turned out to be a male) to be a necklace accessory for awhile. It generally takes a few minutes of gentle persuasion to convince a completely wild snake to relax for handling or picture taking, but it's a much quicker job barehanded with rat snakes than with specimens that require sterner safety measures. I'm glad he's living here, and I'll be knocking on my neighbor's doors to warn them off of hurting him. Though given that this one was a male, it's hard to say where is actual home territory may be. Hopefully it's right here, as it would be nice to visit with him again.

The rest of the stroll was also productive in a good way, with a shirt full of mulberries and some wild onion greens to eat with freshly home baked black bread for breakfast. A day that started as pleasantly as this one had to be topped off by a good cigar, so this evening I fired up the Tatuaje I brought home from Empire the other day. Accompanying the smoke was some fresh roasted Sumatra Mandheling, ice water and "Sailor Jerry" spiced rum. Of these drinks, only the coffee was a good match.

The opening notes were of new wood and fresh leather, with some subtle coffee undertones. There was nothing subtle about the cigar as a whole, however. It was rough and raw, with a harsh ashy bite. The burn was uneven, with the outside burning more easily than the tight core. There were periodic tantalizing hints of espresso, leather and wood, but they were largely overpowered by the overall roughness and out-of-balance harshness of this stick. It finished with some disappointingly sour notes.

I tasted far more potential here than immediately enjoyable smokability. To be fair, there is considerable potential. There is substantial raw power in this stick, and I wouldn't mind sitting on some of these for a few years to see how they mature.