TX Duo Review - Tatuaje Holiday Blend PC (Advent Calendar)

[Çnote]

@Capn_Jackson

We actually smoked a cigar together for once! Unfortunately I didn't take pics. We did talk about this as we went, so maybe a lot of crossover.

Heavy on anise and clove, touch of fresh holly wreath, maybe psychosomatic with 'holiday.' Dense syrupy smoke. Lightened up at about 1/2 way with some bready textures, but monolithic flavor. No real transitions beyond that. Still better than most NCs.

It is very possible we -didn't- smoke exactly the same cigar here, there were 2 releases of Advent Calendars, I got these from a B&M that shredded slow moving stock for singles. I had seen a comment somewhere in the multitude of Tatuaje Fanboi channels that implied this particular cigar was a single batch spread over both releases, but who knows? Mine smoked like a machine, Jackson had some issues, I think he even took pictures.

[Capn_Jackson]

This cigar had some flavors that I noticed.

[Çnote]

10 minutes ago, Capn_Jackson said:

This cigar had some flavors that I noticed.

Wow. 

[CigarCulture09]

What is your overall opinion of Tatuaje in general? This brand seems to have a cult like following. 

[Capn_Jackson]

Here’s my side of the story…

Starts with milky coconut, a little bright caramel.

Going on, goes into mild pepper and cocoa. Coffee and strains of cheese funk, light on the funk. Very savory flavors, Tons of anise, though. Loads. @Çnote and I both noted holiday-type spices. Bready flavors later on for me, rye or pumpernickel. Not much change after the first third, all the way to the end. Somewhere near the band I do detect a bit of stout and a touch of dark cherry.

The wrapper starts to come loose with a little over an inch left, and eventually sheds like a snakeskin. Now I’m holding binder.

Binder says goodbye too. Nobody told me we were playing strip poker.

Other than the unraveling at the end, a nice smoke, but not overly interesting. Might go well with a holiday egg nog!

[Çnote]

On 6/5/2025 at 3:33 PM, CigarCulture09 said:

What is your overall opinion of Tatuaje in general? This brand seems to have a cult like following. 

That's a rabbit hole question.

I would first assure you that Tatuaje-is-a-cult, just like Cohiba, OpusX and Davidoff. 

Construction is great. Blending is always good, especially when you don't like it.They boxcode, which to me is very big for NC. They seem to age very well. In general, I'd say the prices are fair. King of NC boutiques? Maybe?

I'd only smoked a double handful maybe of Tatuaje 2015-2021, as CC were easier to get and in general Tat wasn't everywhere. I've put more effort into getting Viaje over time, but over the last year or so there hasn't been much Viaje released in my vitola and wrapper preferences, and I've been able to try more Tatuaje as it's available more places locally than it has been. I really made a effort over the past year to get a large sample-size of older Tatuaje to review with Jackson.

That being said, there's-alot-of Tatuaje. Off my fingertips, maybe half of the sku 'regularly' produced are very limited availability. Even well stocked specialists may only have 10-12 selections at any given time.

The most sought after sku are semi-annual releases, anniversary releases, and store exclusives. The hot thing right now June 2025 is Pork Tenderloin, which is I believe the 3rd release since 2009, and that doesn't include Pork Chops, Lomo de Cedro, or any of the other 'Butcher' series, which all started as a store exclusive.

Tatuaje is probably best known for the 13ish releases of Monsters, which have a few one-off variants of each, plus redux of the most-most popular, but regular production is only in lancero.

I should mention they release a reliably good PCA annually and anything named after a wine is probably pretty serious. Pumpkins are an event only thing that gets a lot of notice, and they've shown up other  places, like Advent Calendars and SnS boxes.

Saints and Sinners is the heart of the cult. That's another 8 or so different sticks each year that are only available in small quantities to paid members of the club, which is invite only.

Every year, Tatuaje is sure to bring to market 2-5 'must have' releases. I've found that I'm not the biggest fan of the shiniest annual release. So far this year, I haven't picked up anything besides old stock I've come across.

Personally, I pickup Escasos, Black Label and L'Atelier vitolas that I like when I see them at fair prices, and I actively trade and churn up older stuff to smoke now while waiting for everything else I've put down over the last few years to age or fully acclimate. 

[CigarCulture09]

On 6/5/2025 at 6:23 PM, Çnote said:

That's a rabbit hole question.

I would first assure you that Tatuaje-is-a-cult, just like Cohiba, OpusX and Davidoff. 

Construction is great. Blending is always good, especially when you don't like it.They boxcode, which to me is very big for NC. They seem to age very well. In general, I'd say the prices are fair. King of NC boutiques? Maybe?

I'd only smoked a double handful maybe of Tatuaje 2015-2021, as CC were easier to get and in general Tat wasn't everywhere. I've put more effort into getting Viaje over time, but over the last year or so there hasn't been much Viaje released in my vitola and wrapper preferences, and I've been able to try more Tatuaje as it's available more places locally than it has been. I really made a effort over the past year to get a large sample-size of older Tatuaje to review with Jackson.

That being said, there's-alot-of Tatuaje. Off my fingertips, maybe half of the sku 'regularly' produced are very limited availability. Even well stocked specialists may only have 10-12 selections at any given time.

The most sought after sku are semi-annual releases, anniversary releases, and store exclusives. The hot thing right now June 2025 is Pork Tenderloin, which is I believe the 3rd release since 2009, and that doesn't include Pork Chops, Lomo de Cedro, or any of the other 'Butcher' series, which all started as a store exclusive.

Tatuaje is probably best known for the 13ish releases of Monsters, which have a few one-off variants of each, plus redux of the most-most popular, but regular production is only in lancero.

I should mention they release a reliably good PCA annually and anything named after a wine is probably pretty serious. Pumpkins are an event only thing that gets a lot of notice, and they've shown up other  places, like Advent Calendars and SnS boxes.

Saints and Sinners is the heart of the cult. That's another 8 or so different sticks each year that are only available in small quantities to paid members of the club, which is invite only.

Every year, Tatuaje is sure to bring to market 2-5 'must have' releases. I've found that I'm not the biggest fan of the shiniest annual release. So far this year, I haven't picked up anything besides old stock I've come across.

Personally, I pickup Escasos, Black Label and L'Atelier vitolas that I like when I see them at fair prices, and I actively trade and churn up older stuff to smoke now while waiting for everything else I've put down over the last few years to age or fully acclimate.  

You definitely know a lot about Tatuaje. I appreciate your response. Very insightful.