Tatuaje El Triunfador SODO

This week's review is of another Tatuaje single store release, the El Triunfador SODO. Yet again I am a little late to the party with this one, which was released in November of 2010 for a store in Seattle called J&J Cigars. 200 boxes of 25 were released. This is the same blend as the original Triunfador Lancero, just a shorter 6x38 instead of the original 7.5x38. This has a very tasty looking broadleaf wrapper and Nicarguan binder and filler.  

This Petite Lancero has a slightly softer feel to it but an overall even roll. The broadleaf wrapper is dark and oily with a rougher texture. The pigtail cap is always a nice finishing touch. There are a few minor cracks in the wrapper around the middle of the cigar, but I doubt they will cause any problems. When I clipped the cap some of the wrapper started lifting around the seam but it should be able to hold together. The prelight draw has the right amount of resistence for this vitola and has plenty of dusty cocoa and light cedar flavors. After lighting with a single flame torch, there is some spice around the edges of my tongue with plenty of dark cocoa and just an overall rich flavor profile. This cigar just begs to have something tasty to drink with it, so I grabbed some Ron Zacapa rum to pair with it. What a pairing! I don't often pair a drink with a cigar when reviewing because I really just want to get an accurate idea of what the cigar has to offer, but I only have one of these cigars and pairing a great rum with this one was something I didn't want to pass up. Other than the really nice dark cocoa flavor there is some cedar on the finish and some sweetness that balances out the spice and cocoa nicely. The cracks in the wrapper didn't mess with the burnline at all. The burn has been even and the snow white ash holds on for just under an inch. 

At the halfway point a nice espresso flavor joined in with the cocoa, cedar and sweetness. This is very much like the original El triunfador Lancero, which isn't really that shocking since its supposed to be the same blend. I would say this is a full flavored medium bodied cigar, right in line with a lot of the Tatuaje's. This burned right down to the end without ever having to relight or touch up the burn. 

Like the original El Triunfador Lancero, the SODO is a tasty cigar!  Being that it tastes just like the Lancero size, I don't know if I would go out of my way to find it in the smaller vitola, but I will say that it is a great choice when you have around an hour to devote to a cigar. The SODO retails for $8, but I am not sure if these are even available anymore. I kind of doubt it because most of the single store Tatuaje's tend to sell pretty quickly. If I came across these for the $8 price I would probably pick up a few, but it's nice to know I can get this blend in the lancero format at anytime at my local shop and not have to hunt it down.