La Union — Tatuaje for My Father (Red Humidor)

Every once in a while, a cigar project comes along, and it just seems to make sense. The cigars, the packaging, the people involved, and yes, even the price. When I think back to walking into the My Father Cigars booth at the 2023 PCA Convention & Trade Show and seeing La Union, I remember thiking “of course.” Of course the two companies would create a project, called La Union, to celebrate their long-standing and tightly intertwined relationship.

The backstory of the project has been well-documented, but as a quick refresher, Pete Johnson of Tatuaje and Jaime García of My Father Cigars each created a pair of cigars dedicated to the other company. Those cigars would then be divided into two humidors, one red and one black, with the black humidor released in February 2024, while the red humidor would follow in September 2025.

Those cigars would all be different blends, all rolled in a 7 1/4 x 50 size called a prominente especial with a 109-style head, a tapered design sits between the sharper point of a belicoso and the flatter, round head of a parejo, or straight cigar..

For this cigar, the La Union — Tatuaje for My Father (Red Humidor), Johnson created a blend that features a broadleaf wrapper of undisclosed origin, paired with a pair of Nicaraguan binders and a Nicaraguan filler.

Like the other cigars, 30,000 cigars were produced, with 20 included in each humidor alongside the cigar that García made for Tatuaje and a XIKAR Perfect Xi1 cutter. Each set is priced at $2,400, which works out to $60 per cigar, though that number doesn’t factor in the humidor and cutter.

• Cigar Reviewed: La Union — Tatuaje for My Father (Red Humidor)
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: My Father Cigars S.A.
• Wrapper: Undisclosed (Broadleaf)
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Length: 7 1/4 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 50
• Shape: Round
• MSRP: $60 (Box of 40, $2,400)
• Release Date: September 2025
• Number of Cigars Released: 1,500 Boxes of 20 Cigars (30,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

*A box contains 20 cigars of each blend.

The cigars all look very good, and I see what I think is a spot of crystallization on the dark brown, evenly colored and just slightly shiny wrapper. I like the rounded, 109-style head that the cigar has, a distinct feature that feels almost like an architectural reference. There’s just a little bit of give to the cigars, not concerning, but notable how they contrast with what seems like the average. There’s not a single visual flaw, as the seams are flat, the heads are well-constructed, the veins don’t stand out. The covered foot has a mild aroma of chocolate cake on the first cigar, the second cigar’s is drier and thus less of a chocolate aroma, while the third cigar’s aroma is smoother and rounder, but only a little bit richer, with plenty of room to develop in that category. Air movement on the cold draw is good; the first cigar is pretty ideal, the second’s is a touch firm, and the third’s is the most open of the bunch, seemingly because the foot on this cigar isn’t completely covered the way the other two are. The flavor is about as mellow as the aroma, though I get a lot of tingling sensation on the inside of my lips and the front of my tongue, particularly on the third cigar.

Once again, a mild aroma and cold draw do not equate to a mild flavor out of the gate, as I get a good bit of dry wheat bread and a touch of black pepper, which mimics the tingle I got on the cold draw but now stimulates my taste buds. It’s distinct enough that it makes me think of the initial blast of pepper that cigars from José “Pepín” García became known for, and that the La Union — Tatuaje for My Father (Red Humidor) might be an homage to that. About half an inch in, I get a very subtle creaminess but it’s far from driving the profile. Retrohales are more pepper-forward with the toast as an accent, and on some of them, I get a little peppermint, starting at various spots in the first inch and making sporadic appearances throughout this portion. When the first clump of ash drops off around the one-inch mark, it seems like a lot of that opening flavor goes away with it, and I’m left with some semblance of the flavor but one that doesn’t have much definition other than a powdery sensation that has a bit of light, dry soil. While I don’t want to call it a bland flavor, it’s one that’s not particularly engaging, like plain crackers or chicken broth. There’s not much change to the flavor, which, after starting medium-full, is now medium-minus, while the body is medium, and the strength is fairly mild. Thus far, the construction is very good, as the draw is smooth, the burn line is even, smoke production is good, and combustion hasn’t presented any issues.

The second third of the La Union — Tatuaje for My Father (Red Humidor) shifts to a fairly tight flavor that has me rifling through my mental inventory of woods to come up with the right term for what I’m tasting. It’s not a hardwood or anything like that, and it has a dryness that reminds me of cutting down an old tree with fairly small branches. There’s a bit of dusty earth and cocoa powder in there as well, but the cigar keeps hitting my taste buds with a restrained flavor that makes it challenging not only to identify the flavors, but also to enjoy them. The retrohales are a little bit brighter, and the earthiness here reminds me of Honduran tobacco with its dry, dusty sensation. The cigars are all consistent with their profiles and progressions, truly as if I were smoking the same cigar three times, not three separate cigars. Around the midway point, the flavor and body get a little bit softer, almost finding the soft core of a pretzel from inside the crunchier outer layer, while pepper takes the reins on the finish. There is one spot towards the end of this section in the third cigar where it differentiates itself from the others, and it’s because there is some tar in the flavor. A flavor of chalk and metal suddenly appears, and pressing my finger onto the top of the cigar reveals a little brown liquid on my skin. The flavor here is largely uneventful, with the exception of a bit more detail in the third cigar, though unfortunately, that good gets countered with the bad of the tar. Flavor is medium, body is medium, and strength is medium-minus. The burn line, draw and smoke production remain good, though I find myself falling out of the puffing pace the cigar needs, and I need to touch the cigars up to correct things.

The final third of the La Union — Tatuaje for My Father (Red Humidor) gets a little toastier as it swaps out the wood, but the flavor still feels tight, offering only short, generic answers to my questions about what it’s trying to offer. The third cigar—tar-stained head now clipped off—has more creaminess than the other two, though the finish is peppery and a touch sharp. The retrohales crack the door to flavors and aromas open a bit more, returning the peppermint sensation with just a touch of pepper. About two inches left in the cigar, the flavor makes some changes, though again, I can’t quite place just what it is I’m tasting. My mind goes to a broth of some sort that has some seasoning added, and then thoughts of that mix that would end up on top of an everything bagel. I can feel the flavor causing some salivation in my mouth, which seems to amplify the flavors a touch. The third cigar has more of a sharp wood taste than the others, a different expression of the sharpening of the flavors, though the net effect remains the same. The flavor finishes medium-full, the body is medium-plus, and the strength is generally medium-minus but more medium-plus in the third cigar. On the whole, construction remains good, and I’ve become more attentive to the puffing rate, which helps avoid relights.

Final Notes

• As I mentioned in my review of the My Father for Tatuaje cigar that came in the black humidor, the primary band has the initials E.R.H. and two dates on the right side. E.R.H. is an acronym for El Rey de los Habanos, the Garcia family’s factory that was in Miami’s Calle Ocho. That’s the factory where Tatuaje got its start. The first date, 5-20-2003, is a reference to when the factory was incorporated, while the second date, 10-22-2003, is accompanied by another number, 29, which Johnson told me related to a particular invoice related to his products. The inside of the band has 2003 on the top band and 2023 on the bottom band.
• Tatuaje’s cigars for My Father have covered feet, while My Father’s cigars for Tatuaje do not.
• The cigars are produced by just two pairs, who were limited to making 250 cigars per day.
• The third cigar hit me with a little bit of nicotine strength, the only one of the three to do so.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.

• The company lists these as measuring 7 1/4 x 50. The numbers above are the measurements we found for the three cigars used for this review.
• Final smoking time was two hours and 40 minutes on average.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Site sponsors Atlantic Cigar Co., Cigars Direct, and Corona Cigar Co. carry the La Union — Tatuaje for My Father (Red Humidor).

Patrick Lagreid

I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and the G-League’s Valley Suns. I was previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League, and Goodyear Ballpark, spring training home of the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Guardians. I also work in a number of roles for Major League Baseball, plus I’m a voiceover artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.