Vitola: Churchill- 7.25” x 48 ring gauge
- MSRP $13
- Purchased at Burns Tobacconist
Background
It is the end of an era…10 years ago—October 2008—Tatuaje started something special with the annual “Monster Cigar” release. The Frank (“Frankenstein”) was that first installment, available only in 13-count, coffin-shaped boxes, of which they only made 666, and they were only available from the “Unlucky 13” stores that Pete Johnson picked for the release. Subsequent years saw increases in the numbers of cigars made as they were put into non-dress (plain wood) boxes for those people that just wanted to smoke the cigars, different permutations of all the blends with the Little Monsters, Pudgy Monsters, Skinny Monsters (3 different versions of Skinny Monsters exist now), and the inevitable copycats. The 13th blend was produced this October (though only 11 have been done as full-size releases, with the “Chuck” and “Tiff” only available in the Pudgy and Skinny collections), purposely tying into the first by making it “The Bride”…as in the Bride of Frankenstein.
The Frank was a 7.625” x 49 ring gauge stick, utilizing Nicaraguan filler and binder, along with a Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro wrapper. Keeping with the theme, The Bride is just slightly smaller—7.25” x 48 ring gauge—and is wrapped with a Connecticut Broadleaf Rosado leaf.
The Bride was released nationwide at the beginning of October…a bunch of “dress” boxes (that collectors mostly snapped up, I’m sure) as well as a plethora of “non-dress” boxes. People are loving this blend so far and the shop I work at ran out very quickly…as did other shops I’ve heard about. If you haven’t picked them up yet, you may have to rely on friends or the secondary market.
Like I said, it’s the end of an era. This marks the end of the series of Monster Cigar releases from Tatuaje. What does that mean for next year? I honestly don’t know, but I wouldn’t mind seeing the series start over from #1. If that happened, I would like to see different vitolas for each year’s release than were used the first time around. I guess we’ll know by the time IPCPR 2019 rolls around.
Prelight
The box and band combo of The Bride continue with the traditions established previously by the Monster Series…coffin-shaped (curvy this time) dress box with some extra art on it, along with a plain wood non-dress box with that same art printed on it. The band is a reverse of The Frank…dark green type on a white background.
Without they explicitly saying this wrapper was Connecticut Broadleaf Rosado, I would have a hard time identifying that last part…it was almost as dark as I would expect a Maduro to be. It was really a milk chocolate brown with just a hint of a reddishness under certain lighting. Like other Broadleaf wrappers I’ve seen, there is a good amount of veininess in this one. The aroma from it was earth and espresso bean and a touch of cocoa powder, while the foot was earthier, with just a touch of cedar.
Clipping the end, I got an excellent draw that had a flavor mix of wood, earth, light chocolate, and floral notes.
Flavor
Initial light-up on The Bride created notes of earth and cedar, as well as the floral notes I picked up in pre-light. The sweetness was subtle, a mix of milk chocolate and orange citrus notes. The finish offered up a bit of a vegetal note along with a lingering peppery burn. The retrohale had the floral notes, along with coffee and a red pepper that dissipated quickly. As the first third burned along it occurred to me that I was getting two big differences in this cigar and a Maduro Broadleaf version: first, the sweetness was more fruit-based here instead of the chocolate you tend to get in the Maduro; second, there was less pepper overall, although it was starting to build up as I continued to burn the cigar. The floral notes were a third thing…I guess nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition (see what I did there?).
The Bride was chugging along around medium-plus in body and strength as I got into the second third. I was still getting plenty of sweet, almost-orange notes with pepper and floral notes backing that up. The flavors of coffee and earth continued steady along, while the cedar faded away to a big extent.
The final third of The Bride was characterized by an increase in coffee notes while the sweetness settled back into a more supporting role. Pepper notes were steady and the floral notes faded a bit.
Construction
I experienced a fantastic draw, very even burn line and solid ash for half an inch or more.
Value
The price tag on these has not moved in 10 years…which is extraordinary in and of itself…of course, part of that is wanting to use the number “13” as many times as possible, but I’ll take it.
Conclusions
My favorite installment of the regular Monster Series is The Jason, but I was never able to get my hands on an original Frank. The Bride takes second place in my estimation of Monster Series releases that I have tried. The Broadleaf Rosado wrapper changes up the flavor profile enough to be unique and interesting, with a very nice complexity and richness. After a few years where I found the series to be a little on the commonplace side, this final installment brings it all back home with something very special. Get them if you can!
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10
