Tatuaje


Tatuaje is a brand of handmade premium cigar owned by Tatuaje Cigars, Inc. It was
created by Pete Johnson in close consultation with José Garcia and is manufactured at the El Rey de los Habanos factory in Miami, Florida, and at Tabacalera Cubana S. A. in Estelí, Nicaragua. Tatuaje also has a Private Social Club called “Saints & Sinners” which was created in 2011.

Background and History

Tatuaje means "tattoo" in Spanish, and the name reflects Pete Johnson's tattoos. The brand was developed by Pete and Don Pepin, who worked in a very close collaboration to achieve the blend that Pete was seeking.
Tatuaje was the first brand that Don Pepin made on his own. The first Tatuajes were released in 2003. In the October, 2004, issue of Cigar Aficionado, the Tatuaje Cabinet Especiales was given a rating of 90. The brand continues to get high ratings.

Regular Production

Tatuaje Cabinet

There are six vitolas in this range. Seven are listed below, although the Petit is technically not a Cabinet vitola, but is unique to itself. The band is a simple brown band with white lettering. The Cabinet range uses a Corojo 99 viso wrapper, although those chosen for the Especiales are lighter in color. The filler blends vary, resulting in a range of strength from the refined mellowness of the Especiales to the near-Cuban strength of the Cazadores. A bit of trivia: the first initials of the first six vitolas as given here spell out the name of one of Pete's dogs, Hunter.
FrontmarkVitolaLength Ring Gauge
Havana CazadoresLonsdale6.37543
Unicostorpedo6.12552
Noellacorona5.12542
Tainodouble corona7.62549
EspecialesLancero7.538
Regiosrobusto5.550
Petit Tatuajesmall panatela4.532

Tatuaje Reserva

There are three vitolas in this range. Again, the filler blends vary. The wrapper used is a Nicaraguan viso, except for the J21, which uses a ligero leaf, and the Regios Reserva, which uses Connecticut Broadleaf. The cigars sport a second band, black with Reserva and the frontmark in gold lettering.
FrontmarkVitolaLength Ring Gauge
Reserva J21Robusto550
Reserva RegiosRobusto Grande5.549
Reserva SWChurchill747
Reserva A UnoPresidente9.547

Tatuaje Havana VI

A Nicaraguan long-filler puro, blended by Pepin to resemble the flavor profile of the medium-bodied Havana cigars of his youth. Trivia: the original six vitolas were named so that their initials spell out "Havana."
FrontmarkVitolaLength Ring Gauge
HermososCorona5-5/846
AngelesPetite Corona4-5/842
VictoriasPanatela638
ArtistasTorpedo6-1/852
NoblesRobusto550
AlmirantesChurchill747
GorditosRobusto Gordo5-1/256

Tatuaje Private Reserve

The black-banded Private Reserve were originally a limited-production blend for Pete Johnson and those he chose to give them to. It was modeled after a cigar Johnson obtained from a local maker on a visit to Cuba. In 2011 the "Black Label" joined the regular-production lineup.
FrontmarkVitolaLength Ring Gauge
Petit RobustosPetit Robusto450
Coronas GordasGrand Corona5-5/846
Petit LancerosPanatela638
CazadoresLonsdale6-3/843
Gran TorosToro6-1/252

Tatuaje RC

There are but two vitolas in this range, both figurados. They are medium-bodied cigars which start out strong, then mellow gradually over the length of the cigar. The band is tri-colored, with red, white and blue stripes, and each cigar is foil wrapped from the head to the midsection, similar to the old Cuban style of foil-wrapped figurados. The numbers in the vitola name is the length in millimeters.
FrontmarkVitolaLength Ring GaugeBand
RC 233diademas9.12555
RC 184salomon7.2557

Tatuaje Cojonu

All of the vitolas in this range are full-bodied cigars. Beginning in August 2006, the wrapper was changed to a ligero from a viso wrapper. The latest and final edition of the Cojonu line is unique in that it includes three different wrappers: Ecuadorian Sumatra, Broadleaf Maduro, and Ecuadorian Habano. In addition to the regular Tatuaje band, there is a second, gold band with the year of that vitola's introduction in black, and in the 2012 edition each is distinguished by a different secondary band which is either white, black or gold referring to its wrapper leaf. The Gran Cojonu, however, is bandless. In addition, it has a shag foot. The year in the model name refers to the year of introduction. Thus, the Cojonu 2003 was introduced in 2003. Plans are to introduce a new model every three years. The newest edition, Cojonu 2012 and came with some minor changes.
FrontmarkVitolaLength Ring GaugeBand
Cojonu 2012box pressed toro6.552need image
Cojonu 2009belicoso6.7548need image
Cojonu 2006belicoso5.552
Cojonu 2003toro6.552
Gran Cojonutoro6.560unbanded

A new model/vitola of the Cojonu will be introduced every three years.

Series P

This range is a Cuban sandwich, which consists of 60% medium filler and 40% long-filler. Medium bodied, it is a Nicaraguan puro, and uses the same filler blend as the Havana VI, and is made at TACUBA in Estelí, Nicaragua. The wrapper is Nicaraguan Habano and the binder is, of course, also Nicaraguan. The brand was released in October 2006 in a range of four models. It has a simple white band with red lettering.
FrontmarkVitolaLength Ring Gauge
P1corona gorda5.62546
P2robusto550
P3toro650
P4Churchill747

Nuevitas Jibaro

The Nuevitas Jibaro is actually not part of the Tatuaje line and was created by Pete Johnson. Although Pepin Garcia is usually associated with Mr. Johnson's cigars, he was not involved in the creation or production of this small line. They were made by Pedro Martin's old Tropical Tobacco in Estelí, Nicaragua. The design of the cigar was modeled after a custom-rolled Cuban Cohiba. It was a very strong blend. Mr. Johnson discontinued production of the cigar rather than have the production moved to another factory.
The cigars were unbanded with an unfinished foot and the line was limited to two vitolas, both figurados, the No. 1 and the No. 2.

Special Productions

Jeremy ‘Sega Dreamcast’ Beck