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Tatuaje “The Drac”

Kingantz

Growing too fast.
Joined
Oct 6, 2007
Messages
7,648
It’s turned out to be one absolutely gorgeous day with temps in the low 80’s and definitely feeling it. Even the nice breeze blowing feels a bit warm. After getting my belly full of stuffed bell peppers that just came out the oven, I decided to head out under the walnut tree to put fire to a Tat Drac. I have to say up front that I just got this smoke in the mail today and it’s quite dried out, however I’m thinking it actually might be a good time to fire it up as I would’ve probably dry boxed it a day or so anyway.

The cigar has good construction with a prominent vein running the length in the dull, dark brown wrapper. There are no oils at all to be seen, looking as if someone used fine sandpaper on it to make it look dull. The cigar actually does look like a wooden stake. It’s very light in the hand, too light and the bunching looks quite loose in the foot. I clip a small piece off the tapered cap and find the draw with slightly less resistance than I like, however not too bad. I will say that there is definitely a very strong taste of varnish (not kidding) coming through in the cold draw.

It takes no time at all to light the cigar, even with the breeze blowing, and I take a few puffs to get the smoke flowing. I hold off on taking a good draw until there's about a quarter inch of ash, and then when I do, a very powerful blast of peppery spice hits the back of the throat, which is what I was hoping to avoid by letting the cigar “settle in”. I’m having a hard time discerning any flavor due to the peppery spice, so just take a few puffs every minute or so for a little longer, hoping it will smooth out.

The burn has a fairly bad run in it right from the start, and when I knock off the light gray, flaky ash, the filler looks to be burning very loose. I touch up the cigar and continue on, getting strong pepper in the full strength smoke. What flavor I am getting is not that good to my palate, simply a charred wood taste and bitter.

At halfway, the burn is absolutely terrible, running down one side a good inch and a half or so. Strong spice continues to dominate and not so good flavor continuing to flow through. I am not exaggerating when I say that same varnish I tasted in the cold draw is also coming through in the smoke, and is most noticeable in the second hand smoke wafting through the air.

Towards the end, the burn started to go straight and the draw really opened up with copious amounts of full strength smoke flowing through the somewhat loose draw. The strong pepper spice calmed down just enough to actually taste what this cigar possibly could’ve been. There was definitely a richness in there with a depth to it that was really good. I mean really good. Cocoa, wood, and leather taste came through with a touch of vanilla. But, unfortunately the cigar got very hot leaving a bitter, dry taste in the finish.

As mentioned at the beginning, I just received this cigar in the mail today, so that may have had something to do with how it tasted, however I do feel it probably didn’t have much to do with the burn issues. I have a few of these now, so will let them rest for a while before trying another and hope that they smoke better than this one. Time will tell.

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Excellent review Greg, but now after reading it my eyes hurt from all this orange. Read you guys tomorrow.
 
Excellent review Greg, but now after reading it my eyes hurt from all this orange. Read you guys tomorrow.
You don't have to live with the orange. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. In the bottom left hand corner, it'll say Halloween. Click on it then change to IP board.

Doc.
 
Well that must have been a disappointment. Have you tried the boris yet?
 
Jeebus. I'm surprised you smoked the whole thing with those kinds of issues, Greg. :(
 
Damn Greg, that unlit stick looks exactly like an RP Edge maddy. Even has the band on the foot!!

To bad you had a rough one. Take out the dry part where you just got it in the mail, and from your description it almost seemed like it was too wet.

On a different note, I'm envious and jealous of your weather there Bro. It was blowing a gale here today and just got above freezing
 
x2 on the orange...I feel lost

But I just got mine today in the mail and in smoking my first right now, I have the same burn issues...unfortunately the end was blown out, wrapper was loose. But the cigar was good, just had bad burn. Second one a few months later should be worth it.
 
Well that must have been a disappointment. Have you tried the boris yet?

No Boris yet, however I'm hoping soon.

Damn Greg, that unlit stick looks exactly like an RP Edge maddy. Even has the band on the foot!!

To bad you had a rough one. Take out the dry part where you just got it in the mail, and from your description it almost seemed like it was too wet.

On a different note, I'm envious and jealous of your weather there Bro. It was blowing a gale here today and just got above freezing

Definitely wasn't too wet as it had been sitting out for several days (some of it in 90+ heat). May have played a small part in how it smoked.
 
Good review!! I have to say I have heard that the varnish only affected the smell and pre draw before several times. But when I smoked mine earlier I had the taste of varnish in the back of my throat for the entire stick. Very disappointed that Pete would allow this to happen.
forgot to mention that I am opposite of most and liked the Boris much more than my Drac!
 
Thanks for the review Greg. The box of these I got had the same smell as everyone else's, shocking I know. I removed mine from the coffin on Thursday and now the smell is pretty much gone. After reading several comments from people who have smoked these I think mine will be remained tucked away until sometime next year. I did smoke a Boris Friday night with much better results than what I am reading about the Drac's.
 
Damn Greg, that unlit stick looks exactly like an RP Edge maddy. Even has the band on the foot!!

To bad you had a rough one. Take out the dry part where you just got it in the mail, and from your description it almost seemed like it was too wet.

On a different note, I'm envious and jealous of your weather there Bro. It was blowing a gale here today and just got above freezing

I think it looks like a Cain maddy :p

btw, nice review again Greg :thumbs:

Rene
 
Sorry to hear that Greg. The one I have smoked had a perfect draw and burn. There was no taste of paint or varnish.
 
I wonder how this stick matches up to others. Do you think getting it out of the mail was where the mistake was? I have had plastic bags that have added a odd cat urine smell to cigars. Anywho, thanks for the review.
 
Wow, it is interesting that there are two accounts of a varnish taste.... With the energy people are seeking these out, I figured every cigar was almost guaranteed a cosmic experience, if not an orgasm or two. It sure looked like a tasty stick.
 
My box or cigars didn't smell like varnish at all. I took them out of the box as soon as I got them home.
 
I wonder how this stick matches up to others. Do you think getting it out of the mail was where the mistake was? I have had plastic bags that have added a odd cat urine smell to cigars. Anywho, thanks for the review.

That could be the cigars gassing ammonia as they age, with no place to escape in the plastic bag until you open it.
 
I'll jump on the "they're great!" bandwagon... Bought 3 single Dracs + a box from my local B&M. Had one of the singles yesterday... The prelight draw had shades of varnish to it, but was gone after lighting... The only thing I didn't like about it was that it ended. An excellent cigar IMO, FWIW...

Regards,

BT
 
Just smoke my 2nd Drac after the disappointing paint tasting 1st. I must say I found it to be very flavorful and enjoyable didn’t have the burn issue but towards the end had to relight a few times. Still not as good as the Frank. I give the Drac like 7-8 scale.. :cool:
 
I met up with some friends and CP brothers this past weekend for a Drac/Boris event downstate. I smoked the Boris first and was not at all impressed with it. No burn issues that I can remember. The Drac I enjoyed a bit more than the Boris, but it still wasn't too impressive. After that, I picked up a J21....much better than all of them. I don't think they come close to the Frank, IMHO.

Great review as always Greg!
 
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