Tabacos El Triunfador No. 4

I've been holding onto today's cigar for a while. It was given to be by a friend at a local event a few months back, and I'm finally going to light it up and give it a try. The Tabacos El Triunfador is produced by Tatuaje, and althughI've had very few Tatuaje cigars before, they've always been quite good, and many of them have a very “Cuban” style to them in terms of feel and appearance, though it's incredibly hard to match that unique flavor of Cuban-grown tobacco. But we'll see how this one does.

Cigar: Tabacos El Triunfador No. 4

Vitola: Robusto (5” x 48)

Price: Unkown (this was gifted to me by a friend, but most sites seem to have it hovering around $7)

Origin: Nicaragua

Wrapper: Ecuador Habano
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Body: Mild-Medium

Rating (out of 10): 9.5

Appearance:
The El Triunfador (I'm not sure I'm ever going to be able to say that correctly) features a mottled, medium-brown wrapper that's incredibly soft to the touch and slick with oil. It is neatly, but not too tightly box-pressed, with a red, white, and gold band that reminds me just vaguely of a Partagás or a Punch cigar band.

Construction:
There's no visible damage or flaws in this thing, no soft or tight spots, and it's very neatly capped, I just need to find where I put my punch-cutter for this one...

Aroma:
I get a little bit of fruit and sweet leather along the length of the stick, and at the foot as well, with a hint of cocoa added in. It's certainly an aroma reminiscent of some of the sweeter Cubans I've smoked before.

First Third:
Had to go on a little side quest to find where my punch cutter got to before I could get started. Unfortunately, there were no Orcs, Ogres, or Goblins along the way, so the side quest story is ultimately a very boring one.

The cold draw is a little bit on the tight side, but offers none of the spicy kick I expected from an Ecuadorian Habano with Nicaraguan fillers. Instead, I'm greeted by distinct sweet notes of dried fruit and cocoa.

A slight hint of toasted cedar comes through once lit, and something almost.... “buttery” on the aftertaste. I'm immediately regretting having waited so long to try this one.

It is a box press, and these tend to give be some burn issues, so I'll be keeping an eye on that as I smoke this one.

Despite the bold sweetness of the flavor, it's overall a mild body, perhaps pushing close to medium.

Getting some slight notes of salt as it starts to burn down a bit more.

I'm getting notes of something else in here... it's very familiar, but I can't quite put my finger on it yet. It's kind of sweet and dry at the same time.

The ash column is building up quite nicely: tight, compact, and a nice medium-grey in color.

Not much trouble with the burn. It's not perfect, but it's staying mostly even.

Of course, as soon as I make note of the even burn, it suddenly stops burning on one side and forces me to touch it up.

Second Third:
There's a slight kick of peppery spice as we progress into the second third.

The burn has mostly evened back out, but now that I've one and said so... I'll keep an eye on it!

The second third is a little less sweet; the fruity notes lean more toward citrusy.

Final Third:
Perhaps the spiciest section of this cigar is the final third. It's not overpowering, but it's definitely got a distinctly sharper cracked pepper kick to it, along with soft notes of toasted cedar underneath.

Soft notes of... toffee. That's the flavor I was trying to think of in the first third.

Closing Thoughts:
The El Triunfador turned out to be a wonderfully complex profile of sweet flavors with touches of wood and spice. As far as comparing this to Cuban cigars, it's mostly an appearance-based comparison, and even then, one has to look past the box press (somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall ever seeing any box-pressed Cuban cigars). But as far as flavor, although it shares some characteristics with some Cuban tobacco (a mild and sweet fruity/woody blend), it is much sweeter, and, at least in my own personal opinion, tastier. I would love to get more of these, if and when I ever open up some more space in my humidors!