Tatuaje W Nice Ash 2015

In June Nice Ash Cigars launched a mysterious promotional site that teased us with one letter a day for five days, until the full word “whore” was spelled out and it was revealed that it was getting a store exclusive from Tatuaje Cigars. While the term “The Whore Cigar” was plastered all over the site, it was clarified that the official name of the cigar was actually Tatuaje W Nice Ash 2015.

If you’re curious where the name for the cigar derived from, somebody called Rob Roth, owner of Nice Ash Cigars, an “internet whore” in front of Pete Johnson, so from then on out whenever Johnson would see Roth he would say “Hey, it’s Rob, the internet whore”. With a cheeky store name like Nice Ash Cigars, it’s no surprise that Roth got with Johnson and requested a cigar nicknamed The Whore.

As for the cigar itself, it’s a 6 x 52 belicoso using an Ecuadorian Sumatra rosado wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers. It’s the third of five planned single store releases for Tatuaje in 2015, formally known as the Tatuaje Exclusive Series.

• Tatuaje Drinking Age (5 1/2 x 54) — April 2015 — Anthony’s Cigar Emporium — 300 Boxes of 21 Cigars (6,300 Total Cigars)
• Tatuaje The Rumbo (7 5/8 x 49) — May 2015 — Club Humidor — 500 Boxes of 15 Cigars (7,500 Total Cigars)
• Tatuaje W Nice Ash 2015 (6 x 52) — August 2015 — Nice Ash Cigars — 1,000 Boxes of 10 Cigars (10,000 Total Cigars)

• Cigar Reviewed: Tatuaje W Nice Ash 2015
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: My Father Cigars S.A.
• Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra Rosado
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Size: 6 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 52
• Vitola: Belicoso
• MSRP: $11.99 (Boxes of 10, $119.90)
• Date Released: Aug. 17, 2015
• Number of Cigars Released: 1,000 Boxes of 10 Cigars (10,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 2

The first thing that obviously catches my eye is the band, which I have to say is a pretty cool-looking Exclusive Series band, since most just feature text. The Sumatra rosado wrapper is a beautiful medium brown that has been applied quite seamlessly. It has a luxuriously soft feel to it with just the slightest bit of supple oily feel as well. The cigar is quite firm, but not hard, with just a tiny bit of give when squeezed. There is a very earthy barnyard aroma to the wrapper, definitely more towards damp earth than hay, along with a touch of leather and that’s about it. While the wrapper’s aroma wasn’t very complex, the cold draw certainly is with tons of spice, peppermint, leather, earth and a touch of pepper.

The first third starts out much more delicate that I’ve come to expect from Tatuaje cigars, with little to no pepper, even in the first few draws. Instead there’s a huge spice note, along with some cinnamon, leather and earth, which makes for a very solid but not overly bold profile. Draw is ideal, and the burn starts out nice and even. Some milk chocolate develops, giving the profile a bit of sweetness that was lacking before, but that fits right in with the spice, cinnamon, leather and earth.

The profile has shifted slightly again as I move into the second third, with more spice, cinnamon, leather and earth, but the milk chocolate has gotten quite creamy and smooth, still adding a sweetness to it. A smooth cedar note has also shown up, though it’s somewhat in the background at the moment. The one thing that has impressed me so far is the extremely strong ash retention, which I’ve only rolled off twice so far, but the resistance it gave leads me to believe I could have made it halfway through the cigar without ashing it at all.

The final third continues with a very similar profile of spice, cinnamon, leather and earth. The milk chocolate has faded to almost nothing, though it did leave behind the creamy and sweet aspect in the flavor mix. The burn has started to get a little jagged and there is a need for a slight touch-up, but otherwise it continues with the mostly even burn line that I’ve enjoyed throughout the cigar. Finishing up the final inch, sweet cinnamon and spice are shining bright, with leather, earth and a touch of pepper more in the background.

Final Notes

• In a video Roth and Johnson did for the cigar, Johnson stated that the W was a unique blend like all his Exclusive Series are, but “if I had to put it close to any release that I did, it would like a be a baby CQ1.” Looking back at my review of the Mission Pipe Shop CQ1 Belicoso from two and a half years ago, the profiles do seem fairly similar. The one thing I did notice in my notes is there was more pepper in the CQ1, so the smoother profile of the W would explain why Johnson said it was a “baby CQ1”, since the W is physically a larger cigar.
• If you’d like to watch the video they did, it’s odd but amusing—and pretty NSFW.

• The W on the band underneath the bustier looks like a garter belt – which I’m sure was intentional.
• When this was initially teased, I recognized Johnson’s voice in the extended clip by day two. After doing a little digging in the source code for the site, there was a link to www.tatuajecigars.com in it. Johnson confirmed to halfwheel that he was involved in the project, but wouldn’t divulge any info about it until Nice Ash Cigar’s official announcement came out three days later.
• To continue Roth’s cheeky sense of humor, he had shirts made up that said “My Whore Tastes Great” on the front, with “And I Have a Nice Ash” on the back.
• I find the inside joke of calling Roth an internet whore slightly amusing, since the common term I hear for Tatuaje Cigar fans are “Tat Whores.”
• Nice Ash Cigars sent halfwheel some samples for review, halfwheel purchased additional cigars.
• Final smoking time averaged right around two hours.
• You can purchase the cigars here.