- click on photographs (slideshow / EXIF)-
In the spirit of celebrating 4th of July with explosives and smoke, I followed my fellow cigar smokers and decided to pull couple Tatuaje ‘M80’ samples. This powerhouse cigar is another exclusive collaboration between Pete Johnson of Tatuaje and Dave Garofalo of 2 Guys Smoke Shop. Similar to many other Tatuaje exclusives, M80 arrived in quantity of 333 boxes and sold out in a matter of days. The expectation that was set for Tatuaje M80 was: full, bold, power, spice … yes, if you are a mild connecticut aficionado, you should skip this release. Visually, this cigar along with carefully applied pigtail, or I should say long fuse, resembles its predecessor – Don Pepin Garcia ‘Firecracker.’ There are few other firecracker look-alikes in the cigar industry. I collected and photographed four of them for your viewing pleasure (* see below photograph / left to right: Don Pepin Garcia ‘Firecracker’; Tatuaje ‘M80’; 601 ‘La Bomba’; Viaje ‘TNT’). Clearly, no longer a novelty.
Let’s take a look at the Tatuaje ‘M80’ in more details. The construction of this petite robusto is excellent. No visible seams and one not too obtrusive vein. Packed to the gills, feeling like one solid piece of handmade art. Right from the start, good amount of smoke throughout the entire experience. Couple touch-ups along the way but no negative impact on the bottom line. To my surprise, I was able to extract some sweetness on more than one occasion. Perfect complement to obvious spice and heavy ‘dark’ flavors. Speaking of dark … when I think of dark chocolate, I think of few recently smoked cigars: Oliva Master Blends 1 & Cohiba Genios. Tatuaje ‘M80’ takes dark chocolate to another level. Very heavy, full, bordering bitter, dark chocolate. Somewhere in between, slight hint of leather. Tatuaje ‘M80’ was blessed with tight and light grey ash falling in one inch chunks.
This was indeed a different experience. I faced Tatuaje ‘M80’ right after heavy dinner so I have to blame lack of expected nicotine buzz on a) full stomach or b) immune system. Nevertheless, if you enjoy full body cigars with Nicotine Powder and ‘dark’ flavors, Tatuaje ‘M80’ should definitely be up your alley.
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano maduro
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Length: 4″
Ring: 52
Construction > Good
Burn > Good
Enjoy > Yes
Recommend > Yes
Buy > 5-pack
Please consider the following post:
* Tatuaje Anarchy
* Tatuaje Black Petite Lancero
* Tatuaje Federal 90th Anniversary
#1 by Danny on July 7, 2011 - 9:56 am
Great shots as always.
#2 by Mitch Gurowitz on July 7, 2011 - 10:40 am
I want a box (not sure I want the contents, but the box looks really cool)! Pete has a great knack for creating desire. But the one that has blown me away recently was the Verite 2009. That one totally was worth every cent.
Nice post Jay!
#3 by Tony Blake on July 8, 2011 - 2:51 am
The M80 is a good and quite powerful smoke… I’ve really enjoyed the ones I’ve smoked and have several put away for some aging to see how they change in the next 6-12 months… check out my video review of the stick on my blog…
#4 by Cigar Inspector on July 8, 2011 - 1:24 pm
Great pics as always. You must have already answered this question somewhere, but I didn’t find it on the about page – what camera are you using?
#5 by admin on July 8, 2011 - 5:19 pm
@ Danny – Thanks !
@ Mitch – I agree. Although construction of the box is on the ‘simple’ side (* pin to lock), I do appreciate explosive colors.
@ Tony – Thanks for stopping by ! I did watch the video. Good stuff !
@ Denis – Thanks, bud ! I used Nikon D3 / Nikon D2x
#6 by Cigar Inspector on July 9, 2011 - 8:02 am
I just checked the price of the D3 on Amazon. This is some serious gear :)
#7 by admin on July 11, 2011 - 10:46 am
Denis,
Don’t let the price tag fool you. Cheapest DSLR with cheapest 50 f/1.8 will do just fine. I use what I have but if I was pressed for $, there are many alternatives. I’m actually thinking about doing a shoot with low-end / top-end setup and show the difference – which should be none.
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#8 by Dalamscius on July 18, 2011 - 8:22 am
Looks like the red box here made it easy to add some color to your shots! haha, thye look great of course.
Curious to know what the line up of “wick” capped cigars is in that picture, what are the other ones?
#9 by admin on July 18, 2011 - 2:06 pm
Stop looking at pretty pictures and read my review, buddy !!! LOL.
left to right: Don Pepin Garcia ‘Firecracker’; Tatuaje ‘M80?; 601 ‘La Bomba’; Viaje ‘TNT
#10 by Dalamscius on July 18, 2011 - 11:33 pm
lol, epic fail on my part! Sorry… haha The pics are so pretty I just kept staring at them and forgot to read it! haha
The chocolate notes you mention sound incredible. Like you said, I’ve only tasted that intense chocolate on a Cohiba Maduro 5.