Today, we review the Black Box edition of La Union Tatuaje for My Father. In 2023, My Father Cigars and Tatuaje Cigars celebrated the 20th anniversary of their respective companies. Over that time, the companies have shared a tight 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. So it’s no surprise the two companies have come together for a special limited edition collaboration known as La Union. These will be two limited-edition humidor sets. Each set contains cigars that have been blended by one company for the other.

La Union has two releases: a Black Box Humidor and a Red Box Humidor. In each box, there are 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
Black Box Tatauje for My Father: Ecuadorian Sumatra
Black Box My Father for Tatuaje: Connecticut Broadleaf

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

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

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

The remainder of the Tatuaje for My Father blend features all Nicaraguan tobaccos, in addition to the Shade Grown Nicaraguan wrapper. 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: Nicaraguan Shade Grown Corojo ’99 (Tatuaje for My Father)
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. These cigars are highlighted by a Cuban 109-style cap. This cap is tapered by the head but still has a flat top. The La Union Tatuaje for My Father also features a covered 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 Tatuaje for My Father cigars and twenty Black Box La Union My Father for Tatuaje 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 boxes will be numbered 1,501 to 3,000 and will be released at a later date.

Appearance (*)

The Nicaraguan Shade Grown Corojo wrapper of the Tatuaje for My Father is what I would best describe as a light rosado. In other words, it’s on the lighter side of medium brown with a slight reddish tint. There wasn’t much oil on the surface of the wrapper. A slight amount of toothiness existed on the surface of the wrapper. The wrapper also had some thin visible veins and thin visible wrapper seams present. There is a short, gentle taper toward the flat 109 cap at the head of the cigar. As mentioned, the footer of the cigar is covered.

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw (*)

A straight cut was used to remove a little more than half of the tapered tip of the Tatuaje for My Father. Once the tip was removed, it was on to the pre-light draw stage. The cold draw delivered a mix of sweet cedar and a fusion of earth and natural tobacco. This was a satisfactory pre-light draw. At this point, it was time to remove the footer ribbon of the Black Tatuaje for My Father and see what the smoking phase would have in store.

Tasting Notes

The Tatuaje for My Father opened with notes of natural tobacco, earth, cedar, and baker’s spice. The natural tobacco notes didn’t take long to move into the forefront, and the earth, cedar, and baker’s spice settled into the background. The retro-hale produced a unique sweet chili pepper note. Toward the end of the first third, the sweet chili pepper note surfaced on the tongue as a secondary note.

The second third of the Tatuaje for My Father saw the natural tobacco notes remain grounded in the forefront. The baker’s spice note slowly diminished, and it had dissipated by the end of the second third. At the same time, the sweet chili pepper notes increased on the tongue. In the more distant background were the earth and cedar notes.

The final third saw the natural tobacco notes remain primary. The sweet chili pepper notes were the most prominent of the secondary notes. Some residual cedar and earth also remained in the background. This is the way the Tatuaje for My Father cigar came to a close. The resulting nub was soft to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn

The Tatuaje for My Father Cigar had a slight amount of jaggedness and some meandering from time to time, which resulted in more touch-ups to the cigar than I preferred. The resulting ash was a very light gray color, skewed to the firmer side. The burn rate and burn temperature maintained ideal levels.

Draw

The draw to the Tatuaje for My Father had a touch of resistance during the first half. The second half saw the draw open up, and it became a little more open than I prefer. Throughout the smoking experience, this was still a low-maintenance cigar from which to derive flavor.

Strength and Body

The Tatuaje for My Father started out with medium strength and medium-bodied flavors. Both strength and body slightly increased in intensity during the smoking experience. By the end of the cigar, there was more strength and body, but I still assessed both attributes as being in the medium range.

The body maintained the edge throughout the smoking experience in terms of strength versus body.

BANDING AND PACKAGING NOTES (*)

The banding and packaging for La Union are outstanding. This goes from the piano-finished boxes to the way the cigars are divided in the box to banding. There are two bands and a ribbon on a cigar. The primary band is the La Union band, and in the case of the Tatuaje for My Father, it contrasts nicely with the Corojo wrapper. As for the secondary band, it indicates who the cigar was blended for (in this case, for the Tatuaje for My Father, it says “for My Father”). The orange/peach ribbons also contrast nicely with the bands. Finally, the cutter in the box is a nice touch.

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.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

One note on the pricing. Both cigars in the Black Box were priced at $60.00 SRP. On one hand, it surprised me because, considering the packaging, it almost seemed like a slight bargain. On the other hand, it’s still a $60.00 cigar. Like many cigars that exceed the $25.00 to $30.00 price point, proving its value is difficult. There were some unique flavors from this cigar, but in the end, it was not enough to wow me. It scores a respectable 89 points – and that’s independent of the price point. In the end, this is a cigar I’d recommend seeing if there is any chance you can try first before purchasing this cigar.

Summary

Key Flavors: Natural Tobacco, Earth, Cedar, Baker’s Spice, Sweet Chili Pepper
Burn: Very Good
Draw: Very Good
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium
Finish: Very Good