Tag Archives: Artesano Del Tobacco

March 8, 2026 · 10:24 am

Tatuaje Cojonu 2015, El Pulpo and 601 La Bomba Warhead Cigars

I love Daylight Saving Time, I just don’t like the change.  I feel like I’m an hour behind today. I guess when you read this, it’ll be an hour later than usual.  Anyway, I smoked three cigars that were new to me, or that I haven’t had in a long time.  As I get older, I invest less time in smoking new cigars, I know, it’s not what “cigar media” is all about, but from the start this site was a journal of my cigar adventures.  I will continue to seek out new or new-t0-me cigars and present my thoughts every Sunday.  The first of which this week is a from a five pack I practically stole from a Smoke Inn deal, a Tatuaje Cojonu 2015, a 5″ x 55 robusto extra.  I can’t remember not enjoying a Tatuaje Cojonu, so this was a $20 I had to spend.  I don’t smoke enough Tatuajes and I really would like to.  This cigar is made at the My Father factory in Nicaragua, has a Nicaraguan Habano wrapper over Nicaraguan binders and fillers.  I think this is an exceptional cigar.  I saw reviews with all kinds of flavors, I just thought it was delicious tobacco, maybe with some pepper to start and earthiness.  I should have bought more, and the next time I visit Cigar Mojo near me I’ll grab some more Cojonus, they have a good selection of Tatuaje cigars.  I get e-mails from Smoke Inn with these ridiculous specials all the time, would you like me to post them to the CigarCraig Facebook page? I can’t get the affiliate program to work, so I’m not profiting off it or anything, it would be a public service.  Let me know what you think in the comments. 

 

I stopped in my local CigarCigars shop last week and grabbed a few cigars, one of which was the Artesano Del Tobacco El Pulpo Toro Grande. This is another brand I’m late to the party on.  I have only smoked a few of their Viva la Vida line, and this is the first I’ve seen the El Pulpo in the wild.  Since changing owners, the selection at this store has improved greatly, and I can only assume the other stores have followed suit.  These are made and (I think) distributed by A.J. Fernandez, and owned by the brothers who owned the Cigar Inn in NYC, which is now a Casa de Montecristo.  Oddly, looking back thought my Facebook memories today, I see that 12 years ago I smoked on of their Cigar Inn house brands, the NYC Brooklyn that I had picked up on a visit there that year.  Anyway, this El Pulpo was right up my alley.  It has a San Andrés wrapper with Nicaraguan binder and fillers from A.J. Fernandez’ farms, made at the San Lotano factory in Ocatel, a bit north of Esteli.  My initial thought is why are these in boxes of ten, when eight would make more sense, given that El Pulpo is Spanish for octopus?  I got past that quickly.  I liked this cigar a lot. It wasn’t your every day San Andrés maduro cigar, it had an interesting barbecue flavor off, smokey and woody,  I also got some black coffee with a little spicy zing. Worth a try, and they have some really interesting shapes in this line I’d like to find, including a culebra. 

 

Another cigar I picked up at CigarCigars was the Espinosa 601 La Bomba Warhead 11 LE  2025. The bomb shaped can that they are packaged in was on a high shelf and I almost missed it. I’ve long been a fan of the La Bomba line, going back to the EO Brands days when it was released.  The Warhead series has also been a hit for me.  This one is presented in a 6¾″ x 54 oval-shaped Figurado, and the band position screws with my CDO (which, of course, is OCD in alphabetical order, LIKE IT SHOULD BE!).  I expect La Bomba bands to be on the foot, but this shape is confusing to my eye!  I can imagine someone who is less obsessed with cigars lighting the wrong end of this, like you see people smoking Short Stories backwards., or leaving the cedar sleeve on…anyway, this is another cigar that is right up my alley.  It is a puro, with a Nicaraguan Broadleaf wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers. Like the El Pulpo, it’s also made at the San Lotano factory. As one would expect by the name, this has an explosion of flavors, some espresso, some cinnamon, maybe some dark fruit. All three cigars mentioned here burned perfectly, I was very fortunate. This might be my new favorite Warhead, but I really like the 7 a lot.   Packaging and presentation are amazing on this line.

 

That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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May 6, 2020 · 7:17 pm

Some Toscano Cigars and a Viva la Vida

My wife decided she wanted a picnic table to go with a couple of benches we had made years ago, so I bought some lumber and started building one. In an effort to reduce the profanity count during this project, I decided to break into a pack of Toscano cigar I purchased in Rome when I was there in May of 2018. I bought a pack of the Garibaldis and a pack of Extra Vecchio, not remembering having seen them in the states. The Garibaldi were introduced here earlier this year (or late last year) and I guess the Extra Vecchio have been here, at least that what Michael Cappellini, the brand ambassador for Toscano cigars in the US tells me. My wife brought me a pack of Toscano Antico from Italy in 2000, and I’ve been enjoying one now and then ever since. I especially like the Modigliani, although it’s quite expensive. The five packs in Rome were much less expensive than here, I think I paid seven or eight euros each, they push $20 here. $20 is still a deal for five cigars, especially since they are rugged, taste great, burn a long time, and you don’t need to keep them in your humidor. I smoked the Extra Vecchio yesterday over the course of about four hours, relit it several times of course, but it tasted great the whole time. These are heavy on the fire cured tobacco, so if you like that, you’ll really like these. It’s also quite OK to cut these in half for a shorter smoke or to share! The Garibaldi is quite tasty too, as well as the Antico. I had a random oddball Toscano that I don’t know what it was, but it was unusually mild and I wasn’t overly fond of it. Toscanos are great cigars to keep one from swearing at projects!

 

Last night I was looking for something interesting to smoke and I remembered I had picked up a Viva La Vida Diademas Finas some time ago. I haven’t sm

oked anything from the Artesano Del Tobacco Company yet, but I’ve heard plenty about them. I remember meeting Billy Fakih when I visited Cigar Inn in NYC several years ago, now he and his brother Gus have launched this brand, made by AJ Fernandez in Esteli. I picked this up at a newer local shop that is largely a warehouse operation that ships cigars to China and has a shop and lounge in the front. It’s an odd sort of arrangement, I haven’t stopped back. Apparently I chose the top end of t

he Viva La Vida line in this limited edition figurado. It’s a 6½”x52 cigar beautifully rolled. It has a Habano Oscuro wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers. I let this rest because the first cigar I smoked that I had bought at this shop was quite over humidified, I played it right and this cigar burned perfectly, just lighting the “nipple” it drew perfectly and evenly throughout. The flavor was good, although I’d have to say it was unremarkable, there was nothing that really distinguished it from another really good cigar. It had very good tasting, well fermented tobacco, but nothing that really wow’d me, or made me excited. I wasn’t disappointed in any way, I was just ambivalent. Obviously, the art of rolling this cigar is without question, and I have no regrets, I just wish there was a flavor sensation that caught my attention. 

 

That’s all for today, until the next time,  

 

CigarCraig

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