I feel like I’ve perhaps come to the “meat and bones” of the 2024 Saints and Sinners member pack with a couple of darker cigars…the type that are generally among my favorites from the Tatuaje brands. The third cigar in the series had a deep dark chocolate color with a little oiliness and a bit of a sandpaper raspiness under my fingertips. A little rougher and a little less oily than the Connecticut Broadleaf I love so much, I think. Bringing the cigar to my nose, I got the characteristic earth with a touch of chocolate that I’ve gotten from pretty much every one of Tatuaje’s Tuxtla wrappers.
The Tuxtla sub-line uses a Mexican San Andres Maduro wrapper that is probably the best I’ve ever had on a regular basis. Why is it called “Tuxtla?” It’s the name of a city or town around the San Andres area, I believe, but the word also seems to be a way to set this Mexican wrapper apart from all the others out there…a way of saying “this is really its own thing.” Because it is. So much so that Pete Johnson is continuing to expand the Tuxtla-wrapped offerings to almost everything in the Tatuaje brown-label line.
Once lit, this cigar had a fantastic mix of earthiness, bell pepper freshness, chili pepper spiciness, and cocoa powder with just a hint of sweetness. Truly, if Tatuaje continues to make excellent cigars like this, I might end up putting Connecticut Broadleaf as my second-favorite wrapper leaf! (But not today…)
I poured some Baker’s 7 Bourbon to go with the S&S 2024 #3, which brought it’s own mix of sweet molasses, vanilla, and cinnamon spice to the proceedings. My rule has always been “any cigar goes with any bourbon,” but these two pair up exceptionally well.
