The Good Stuff:

Starting back in 2008 Tatuaje released its famous Monster series and the cigar community went wild over them. Released in extremely small amounts to an even smaller amount of retailers across the US this cigar line quickly because one of the most sought after releases year after year. I’ve been lucky enough to smoke each and every one and we reviewed almost all of them right there on Casas Fumando:

• 2008 – The Frank
• 2009 – The Drac
• 2010 – The Face
• 2011 – The Wolfman
• 2012 – The Mummy
• 2013 – The JV13
• 2014 – The Jekyll
• 2015 – The Hyde
• 2016 – Krueger
• 2017 – The Michael
• 2018 – The Bride

The Bride is the latest, and final installment into the Monster Series. The cigar is released in one a single 7 1/8 x 49 format carrying a Connecticut Broadleaf Rosado wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers. As usually there are 2 different box options, 666 Dress Boxes with carry 13 cigars and additional 4,500 Boxes which carry 10 cigars each. The Bride runs $13 a stick and I purchased mine over from our great friends at Cuenca Cigars.

Size: 7 1/8 x 49
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf Rosado
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Body: Medium/Full
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $13
Pairing: Bruery Melange 10 (Imperial Ale 15% ABV)

Prelight:

The Tatuaje Bride starts out with an absolutely beautiful, extremely consistent dark-brown wrapper. There is no color difference throughout the entire cigar. The wrapper’s texture is very firm and dense while it is covered with a whole mess of gritty tooth. The wrapper is laid seamlessly over itself leading up to the cigar’s round triple-cap. The cigar feels tightly packed and very firm from foot to cap. The Bride is polished off with the standard white and black Tatuaje band we have all come to expect and with most of the other Monster releases the bands state “Halloween” on each of it’s sides. 

The wrapper on the Bridge gives off a good amount of cocoa, spice, and cherry while the foot of the cigar is more pepper-forward with notes of dirt and musk. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces mostly cocoa and musk flavors.

First Smoke:

The first few puffs on the Tatuaje Bridge release some soft cayenne pepper that just teased my palate before fading away letting the bold cocoa, musk, tartness and plum take over. There is some really nice mixed in cedar that comes and goes as I smoke down the first third. The draw is flawless and every little puff releases just the perfect amount of thick, white smoke which hangs out quite a while before dissipating. The burn line is razor thin and dead even leaving behind a trail of tightly compacted light gray to white ash which held on for an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second this of the Tatuaje Bride and the cocoa has really taken over the flavor profile backed by cinnamon, musk, spice, sweet brown sugar, a bit of dirt, and deep cedar. Its a great mixture of flavors. The retrohale brings out just a bit more of the spice and a bit more of the cedar. The burn line is still absolutely flawless as I close out the second third with only a very minor hint of nicotine. 

Finish:

Into the final third of the Tatuaje Bride and I am absolutely loving this cigar. The flavor profile is incredible with heavy amounts of cocoa, brown sugar, and spice backed by cedar, musk, and vanilla. It took me two hours to take this cigar down to the nub and I experienced absolutely no harshness nor extended heat. I close out with only a very minor nicotine kick wishing that this cigar wouldn’t end.

Overview:

I have been a long-time fan of the Tatuaje Monster series and the Bride is easiest one of my favorites in the portfolio. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t sad these portfolio was closing out. The flavor profile was right on par with my personal preference all while maintaining a medium/full profile that won’t leave any cigar smoker on their ass. I am glad I got a handful of these as they’ll be pretty hard to find going forward.

Pairing:

The Melange 10 is VERY sweet as it leads with candied malt, banana, cocoa, apple, musk, spice, and cinnamon with a very light mouthfeel before the beer finishes even sweeter with more cocoa and cinnamon, banana, caramel, and just a soft touch of Chile. The booze is dangerously well hidden in this beer. The Melange 10 made for a perfect pairing with the Tatuaje Bride as the musk, sweetness, cinnamon, and cocoa really paired up well together. This beer can easily overpower a lot fo cigars but the Bride really held it’s own. I could see pairing this cigar with a great tawny port, spiced winter ale, our a nice barrel aged stout.

The post Tatuaje Monster Series #13 The Bride appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Good Stuff:

It’s that time of the year again. Every year around Halloween cigar smokers nation-wide flock to retailers to get their hands on the limited edition Halloween Series produced by Pete Johnson of Tatuaje. Each release has two different box option. The first is a limited edition Dress Box which features a intricate design, and are limited to only 666 boxes which are only available through 13 retailers nationwide. These boxes contain 13 cigars each. The second option is a standard box which contains 10 cigars each, a plain box design and is much widely available. For the Hyde, Pete produced a total of 4,500 of these boxes.

Following last year’s sub-theme, the Hyde is the alternate version of the 2014 release of the Jekyll and is the eight installment in the annual Monsters series put out by Tatuaje. Here they are in order:

2008 – The Frank
2009 – The Drac
2010 – The Face
2011 – The Wolfman
2012 – The Mummy
2013 – The JV13
2014 – The Jekyll
2015 – The Hyde

Much like the monster itself, the Hyde is relatively the same blend as the Jekyll with only a slight modification. The Hyde uses an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper instead of the Ecuadorian Sancti Spitirus found on the Jekyll. Both carry Nicaraguan binder and fillers as well as the same 7 x 49 Churchill format. Each Monster series is only available in a single size with the exception of the Pudgy and Little Monsters sampler boxes. There are a total of 53,658 Hydes produced which again come packaged in boxes of 13 and 10, and run $13 a stick. These always go extremely fast so grab some while you can. I purchased by box over from our good friends at Bonita Smoke Shop.

Size: 7 x 49
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Body:  Full
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $13
Pairing: Marble Brewing Imperial Stout (Imperial Stout 11% ABV)

Prelight:

Fist off, like most cigars in the Monster series, The Tatuaje Hyde is a beefy cigar. While it’s large in size, it’s also very heavy, hard, and tightly packed. The wrapper is a very dark brown in color with lots of darker, almost black areas scattered throughout the leaf but found more consistently around the edges of the leaf and natural tobacco webbing. The wrapper has a very toothy, grainy texture with some slight oils while it feels very dense and thick. There is only one medium sized vein noticeable in the cigar’s body. The Tatuaje Hyde is finished up with a stubby, round, triple cap and a lime green Tatuaje band.

The wrapper on the Tatuaje Hyde gives off a nice espresso and tobacco aroma while the foot of the cigar carries a ton of spice, pepper, earthiness. The cap cut clean and easily using my Palio double bladed cutter. The cold draw on the Hyde produces some deep espresso, oak, and lots of spice.

First Third:

The Hyde starts out with some slight black pepper which was much more subtle than I had expected. Once the pepper faded out the cigar showcased some nice espresso, grain, oak and spice with a pretty potent pine flavor that hung around on the aftertaste. The draw is flawless. Each tiny, little puff kicks out a massive cloud of thick white smoke. The burn line is solid for the most part with some slight waves leaving behind a trail of white and medium gray ash which held solid for about an inch before giving way.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Tatuaje Hyde and that pine isn’t letting up. It’s not leading the charge backed by the oak, honey, spice, and espresso. This cigar isn’t nearly as bold as I thought it would be yet, but the flavors are great and combine to create a great profile. The retrohale really showcases the spice an pepper the cigar carries with it and helps add that extra dimension to the experience. The burn line is still slightly wavy while I close out the second third with no harshness or nicotine kick.

Finish:

Into the final third of the Tatuaje Hyde and now the cigar is really showing what it’s all about. The pine has faded completely and now the cigar is letting loose a full-bodied profile which leads with a lot of sweetness that wasn’t there in the first two thirds, chocolate, espresso, lots of oak and spice, as well some great honey and tartness. I wish the rest of the cigar preformed this well. It took me a little over two hours to smoke this cigar down to the nub and I experienced no harshness, no extra heat, and a decent little nicotine kick at the very end.

Overview:

Like the Jekyll, the Hyde isn’t one of my favorites in the Halloween series, but it does hold it’s own. The flavors were interesting, and enjoyable, but I just felt as if it fell short of the “umph” that the Monster series usually have. The final third really showed what this cigar had to offer and I only wished the rest of the cigar smoked the same. It’s not often that I say this, but this cigar could use some aging. Is this worth picking up? Absolutely, especially since they won’t be around for long. It’s still a great cigar. While the price is a bit steep, it’s expected with this release and more time than not the Monster series fare very well when stored away for a few months.

One note: I smoked a Jekyll as well this week and the difference a year made in that cigar is incredible. It was leaps and bounds over what it was when I first smoked it. Maybe some time in the humidor is just what the Hyde needs to get to the next level.

Pairing:

Marble’s Imperial Stout is a thick double stout aged in oak barrels. Coming out of Albuquerque, New Mexico this beer clocks in at a whopping 11% ABV and is pretty easy to come by in these parts. When I say “these parts”, I mean New Mexico of course which is a few miles west of here. I often venture out there a few times a month to see what they have cooking that I can’t find in Texas. It’s great to be so close. The beer leads with lots of malt, chocolate, vanilla, and espresso with a very heavy mouthfeel before finishing milky with lots more malt, chocolate, spice, and oak with just a splash of booze. The flavor profile married up very well with the Tatuaje Hyde while it added more sweetness to the experience which I wish the Hyde produce more of. I think the Hyde would go great with any sweet stout, porter, or bourbon.

The post Tatauje Hyde Monster Series #8 appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.