17. Tatuaje L’espirit de Vérité 2013
Tatuaje Cigars, Inc.
- Country of Origin: Nicaragua
- Factory: My Father Cigars S.A.
- Wrapper: Nicaragua
- Binder: Nicaragua
- Filler: Nicaragua
- Length: 5 Inches
- Ring Gauge: 50
- Vitola: Robusto
- MSRP: $16 (Boxes of 10, $160; Boxes of 25, $400)
- Release Date: Oct. 31, 2016
- Number of Cigars Released: 2,230 Boxes of 10 Cigars and 76 Boxes of 25 Cigars (24,400 Total Cigars)
- Original Score: 91
As with the La Vérité 2013—which came in at 25 on this year's list—the Tatuaje L’espirit de Vérité 2013 paid tribute to owner Pete Johnson's love of wine by incorporating the wine-esque practice of producing a cigar using tobacco from a single vintage and farm, which were rolled and then aged for at least a year in master cabinets. The line debuted in 2010 and the third release in 2016 was blended exclusively with tobacco from a 2013 harvest.
Priced at $16 each, the L’espirit de Vérité 2013 had slightly more cigars released than its bigger brother, though at 24,400 cigars, it's not much.
Although the La Vérité 2013 was both creamy and sweet, I found the L’espirit de Vérité 2013 to be quite different, with a dominant floral and cedar combination on the palate as well as noticeably more pepper on the retrohale. The nuanced blend was extremely enjoyable, which it had to be to end up as the 17th best cigar out of the near 300 we reviewed in 2017. — Brooks Whittington.
