La Union My Father for Tatuaje (Black Box)

Today, we review the Black Box edition of La Union My Father for Tatuaje. With both My Father Cigars and Tatuaje Cigars celebrating their 20th anniversaries, the two companies came together for a special limited edition project known as La Union. Both companies not only share an anniversary, but they each have a deep connection. From the beginning, Don Pepin Garcia and Jaime Garcia have been handling the production of Pete Johnson’s Tatuaje Cigars. In addition, Johnson is now the son-in-law of Don Pepin Garcia. La Union consists of two limited-edition humidor sets. Each set contains cigars that have been blended by one company for the other.

The two releases are the Black Box Humidor and the Red Box Humidor. Each box contains twenty cigars using a blend created by Tatuaje Cigars for My Father. In addition, there are twenty cigars using a blend created by My Father Cigars for Tatuaje. The blends differ between the Black and Red boxes, resulting in four different blends. The Black Box has been released, but at press time, the Red Box has not. The boxes will come packaged with one of Xikar’s Xi1 Perfect Cut cutters.

A different wrapper highlights each blend:

Black Box – Tatauje for My Father: Nicaraguan Shade Grown Corojo ’99
Black Box – My Father for Tatuaje: Ecuadorian Habano
Red Box – Tatauje for My Father: Ecuadorian Sumatra
Red Box – My Father for Tatuaje: Connecticut Broadleaf

La Union – Black and Red Box

For now, we turn our attention to the Black Box edition of the My Father for Tatuaje cigar and see what this cigar brings to the table.

La Union My Father for Tatuaje (Black Box) – Cigar Review

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

In addition to an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, the remainder of the Black Box My Father for Tatuaje blend features all Nicaraguan tobaccos. The blend incorporates Pelo de Oro, a staple of many of the limited editions that My Father factory has released over the years. Because Pelo de Oro is susceptible to mold, it is grown in small quantities and used in small quantities.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano (My Father for Tatuaje)
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Factory: My Father Cigars S.A.

Vitolas Offered

All of the La Union cigars come in one size—a 7 1/4 x 50 Prominente Especial. A Cuban 109-style cap highlights these cigars. This cap is tapered by the head but still has a flat top. The Black Box La Union My Father for Tatuaje also features an open footer. One distinction between the cigars blended by Tatuaje and the cigars blended by My Father is that the two cigars (Black and Red box) blended by Tatuaje have covered footers.

As mentioned, twenty Black Box La Union My Father for Tatuaje cigars and twenty Black Box La Union Tatuaje for My Father are packaged together. The Red Box cigars are packaged the same way. There will be a total of 1,500 of each of the boxes. The U.S. market is receiving an allocation of 1,200 boxes for each release, while the International market is receiving 300. The Black Box will be released early this year and numbered from one to 1,500. The Red Box will be numbered 1,501 to 3,000 and will be released at a later date.

Appearance (*)

The Ecuadorian Habano wrapper of the My Father for Tatuaje was medium brown. There wasn’t much oil on the surface of this wrapper, but there were some visible veins. Any wrapper seams were minimally visible. There was a short, gentle taper toward the flat 109 cap at the head of the cigar. Unlike its Black Box Tatuaje for My Father counterpart, the My Father for Tatuaje had an open footer.

La Union – My Father for Tatuaje

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw (*)

A straight cut was used to remove a little more than half of the tapered tip of the My Father for Tatuaje. Once the tip was removed, it was on to the pre-light draw experience. The cold draw delivered notes of earth, cedar, and a slight fruit note. To me, this was a satisfactory pre-light draw. At this point, it was time to remove the footer ribbon of the My Father for Tatuaje and see what the smoking phase would have in store.

Tasting Notes

The My Father for Tatuaje opened with fruit sweetness, cedar, earth, and wood notes. The fruit sweetness had a slight edge over the other notes during the opening draws. Natural tobacco notes quickly emerged and became the primary flavor. The cedar, earth, wood, and fruit notes settled into the background, and black pepper notes quickly joined these. An additional layer of black pepper was presented on the retro-hale.

During the second third of My Father for Tatuaje, natural tobacco remained at the forefront. Notes of fruit, earth, cedar, wood, and black pepper were also present in the background. The black pepper notes gradually increased as the cigar progressed through the second third. The cedar and wood notes gradually diminished, and before the second third concluded, these two notes dissipated.

The final third saw the natural tobacco notes remain primary. In the background, the earth notes were the most prominent, followed by the pepper and fruit. The flavors were slightly muddled here, but there was no harshness. This is how My Father for Tatuaje came to a close. The resulting nub was soft to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn

The burn of the My Father for Tatuaje started out low maintenance on each cigar smoked. As the cigar reached the second third, it required more frequent touch-ups to maintain a straight burn path and straight burn line. The final third was low maintenance, like the first. The resulting ash was salt and pepper colored, skewed toward the firmer side. As for the burn rate and burn temperature, both maintained ideal levels.

Burn of the My Father for Tatuaje

Draw

The draw to the My Father for Tatuaje had a touch of resistance to it, which I like. At the same time, this was a low-maintenance cigar from which to derive flavor.

Strength and Body

The My Father for Tatuaje opened up with medium strength and medium to full-bodied favors. There wasn’t much of an increase in intensity along the way, so the smoke remained medium strength and medium to full-bodied throughout the smoking experience. In terms of strength versus body, the body maintained the edge from start to finish.

BANDING AND PACKAGING NOTES (*)

As I mentioned when I reviewed the banding and packaging for the Tatuaje for My Father, the packaging for La Union was simply outstanding. The primary band is intricate and elegant. The gold-colored secondary band, unique to the My Father for Tatuaje blend, also works quite well. I also liked the orange/peach ribbons around the footer.

One nice touch on the primary band is the initials “E.R.H.” This pays homage to El Rey de los Habanos, Pepin’s factory in Little Havana in Miami, where both My Father and Tatuaje have roots. The band also has a couple of significant dates referring to 2003, the year the factory went into business.

The Black box humidor also gets high grades—this goes from the piano finish to the way the cigars are divided in the box and to the Xikar Perfect Cut included in the humidor.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

As I said in the previous review of the La Union Tatuaje for My Father, the $60.00 SRP surprised me. The same comment applies to the cigar assessed here, the My Father for Tautaje. Considering the packaging, it seems a bargain.

In terms of the cigar, the first two-thirds of this cigar was really good. The final third saw some muddling of the flavors, so it didn’t finish quite at the same levels as the first. Ultimately, the My Father for Tatuaje scores a respectable 89 points – independent of the price point. In the end, this is a cigar for which I’d recommend seeing if there is any chance you can try first before purchasing.

Summary

Key Flavors: Natural Tobacco, Earth, Fruit, Cedar, Wood, Pepper
Burn: Very Good
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium to Full
Finish: Very Good